I have a VAH and a MA. The MA you're looking at is not "MA at its best" given the limitations of an undercabinet mount and internal blower, but I'd choose the MA every time based on superior baffles vs "squirrel cage" system and infinitely variable speed control, if nothing else. I really have been underwhelmed with our VAH.

Thanks so much for your responses! anna_chosak - the overall depth of the hood will stay the same 24", but the curve won't be as pronounced since the top will be 15 3/4" deep instead of 12" deep. Pat did a drawing of it with the dimensions and it looked ok, but I like the look of the 12" deep at the top better but that won't work for us unless we do option #2 in my post above and that causes issues w/ crown molding! I looked into the 30" tall(& brought it up again to DH after seeing these responses), but DH really doesn't like it - too big and too much metal he says. Same with the stainless duct cover. What size, color and trim options are you ordering? How is your layout with the cabinets around it - are your cabinets to the ceiling? Pat at Modernaire has definitely been great to deal with! jillsee & Pevo - I do like the wood hood too, but just not too sure if it would be too dark since we are going w/ dark cabs! Geesh, I really wish I could see all these options in my kitchen IRL! breezygirl - that's the only place where we have cabs of different heights only b/c of the hood venting. I suggested to DH perhaps we should look at extending cabs to the ceiling with maybe stacking 12" glass front on top and he didn't like that idea at all (I'm not too sure I like it either - seems like it would make the room smaller since we're going with dark cabs). Any thoughts on that? sayde - I was all ready to go with the wood hood but then thought it would look to heavy and dark and stainless would really break up that wall of dark cabs. I do like both though and they are so different!! DH vetoed the duct cover - too much metal. remodelfla - I so wish we could back vent so I wouldn't have to put anything above the hood for the venting! histokitch - can you expand more on what you area suggesting? I'm trying to picture it - are you talking like a vertical "soffit" above the hood? celineke - I know - they are 2 completely different looks and I am having such a hard time deciding!! I do love the PS26(DH not so much though), but I'm afraid I will disappointed with the way it looks w/ the modifications that would make it work with our cabs. And I love the look of the wood hood too, but I don't know if I'll love it IRL since I've only seen a drawing of it! I think that's the issue on why I can't make a decision on this - b/c it's a big decision (and not a cheap one!) and I don't know if I'm going to love it. It took us a long time to pick out the cabinet color - but once we saw kitchenaddict's KM peppercorn kitchen and then ordered a sample door, we both agreed that was definitely the color we wanted (which so surprised us b/c we were not looking at dark cabs at all!). DH cannot believe that I'm still wavering on this decision after 2 weeks! Thanks so much for taking the time to look at my post and respond with suggestions. I really appreciate it, even though most suggestions I've gone through with DH and he really didn't like (30" tall PS26, stainless duct cover). Any other votes or suggestions? For the option #2 which has the issue with the crown return from adjacent cabs, does anyone have pictures of kitchen cabs & hood where this was done??

Thanks, romy718. I fell in love with that style PS-33 on MA's website, http://www.modernaire.com/modernaire/PS-33.html. So I asked them to duplicate the one in the picture, using my dimensions. It has brushed stainless with polished mirror trim. I am 5'9" tall, so I made sure I had enough height not to bump into it but still provide as much draw as possible. It's 34" above the burners, and 27" deep to be able to cover the front burners, which I use most of the time. It is 42" wide, for a 36" cooktop. I priced out having a local metal shop do this for me, and it was almost as expensive as MA so I went with MA. BTW, they packed it REALLY well!! My builder did the wood trim at the top to match the crown molding in the house. We decided to do a roof mount instead of a wall mount because the grill would have been right next to it. We chose the 1400 cfm Abbakka roof top blower Hyek 1.4 with a 10" vent. All I had read said when it doubt, go bigger so you can turn it down and let it run quietly, which this does. We have an open floor plan so being able to talk while the blower was running was important. Hope this helps.

The Wolf 1500 nominal CFM blower that I have is sourced from Broan as Joe noted above. As I recall, being an induction motor, it requires two-conductor-plus-ground cable, probably with AWG 14 conductors. (If you are desperate to know this, I can get into my attic to look.) Romex (NM) cable should do unless your municipality has some peculiar requirement otherwise. Even an amateur electrician should have the needed cable on hand. My Wolf hood (made by Independent in those days) uses a rheostat-controlled diac/triac circuit for motor control. (This is probably described somewhere on Wikipedia, as well as in various 1970-ish transistor circuit guides, such as the one by GE.) More sophisticated integrated circuit motor controls exist if one wants to initiate a research hobby to look them up. Note: Semiconductor motor controls operate in a reverse direction from lighting controls. Upon turn-on, the motor is given full power to start up, and then further clockwise rotation of the control reduces motor power. (In the diac/triac circuit, the reduction in power is due to increasing amounts of the electrical cycle being removed from the motor power waveform.) The Wolf blower housing has its own damper that opens when the motor starts. I believe it to be forced open by the air pressure. The hood damper is still useful as one wants to keep wind impinging on the system from leaking into the house, and warm household air from leaking past the hood into attic spaces. If your hood doesn't have a damper, order one from Fantech for your size ducting, along with a couple of duct clamps. I'm not sure that locality of repair is really an important factor in a roof-mounted blower. You or your designated victim will have to get up there and remove parts to get the motor out, and then replace it. If a meteor hits the blower, just plan on replacing the entire assembly. While my unit generally keeps the roof below it clear of snow, or at least self clears the snow, in very cold weather with a humidified house damper freezing is possible. If you have very deep snow, a more commercial style up-blast blower assembly on a suitable pedestal may be a better choice. kas