Thanks for your reply. I didn't think anyone had responded. I will take your advice as I still haven't decided what to buy. In the mean time, we are setting off alarms every night.

I would suggest a 36" hood if it is 19" or deeper. You could also go with a 30" if it is 24" or deeper. Both choices should also have at least 600 cfm, more if you plan on a lot of grilling, stir frying or using all the burners at once. If you can get the lights on the sides or in the middle between the baffles or screens that will help with capture when you use the front burners. Try looking at Kobe or Zephyr.

@sarina: I have had the Kobe RA02 for about 8 months now. Being an engineer, I did the install myself, although the chimney cover is still not in place, as I need to redo the crown molding behind it (procrastination is the name of this game). Overall I like it, but that doesn't say much, as my previous ventilation was just a fan-in-a-ceiling-hole. The quiet setting is quiet, but the other two are noisy; without previous experience, the "sones" numbers don't translate well into actual noise levels. Otherwise, on High, the hood is pulling out all the smoke and airborne grease steaks in a cast-iron skillet produce. You will have to open a window or install a MUA to help it pull all that air volume. The baffles need scrubbing every month or so, but that's a very small price to pay for not having cabinetry and walls smeared in grease. The model you're looking at is a little more elaborate, as it has some sort of electronic control. The RA02 is bare-bones, just two rotary switches.

The stainless will not be exactly the same, but it never is from appliance to appliance, even ones from the same manufacturer. However, stainless between two appliances will always be close enough to match provided one of them isn't a special version of stainless like "Smudge Proof" which is not the case here. You probably won't be able to notice the difference, especially once they're installed. This post was edited by hvtech42 on Sun, Feb 8, 15 at 8:52