Why bother?

Weedmeister, that certainly was my first suggestion! But then my brother who is a builder (in another state) guilted me into "the next owner might be a gourmet cook" .... after hours of searching on the web, I'm thinking about just nixing the idea, since I can't seem to find what I'm looking for. My DH agrees wholehearted and he's acting GC on this house.

>Most people who recirculate won't spring for the CFM necessary to actually pull the steam through the filters.

The CFM rating for a truly vented hood usually has nothing whatever to do with its performance as a recirculating one. If you look at the ratings from the companies that are most honest about this, that column is usually just blank.

Recirculating is not a desirable situation, but it's not as horrific as you make out, either. There are many thousands, probably millions, of people who live in circumstances where we are not allowed to vent externally and we're not all sweltering in grease, you know.

I agree with writersblock. Those of you with gourmet kitchens and powerful rangehoods need to get down off your high horses and understand the realities many of us must live with.

That said, Are you sure you definitley want a cabinet mantle hood? There are some very nice wall mounted hoods that have a recirculating option. Actually, here's one that looks like a mantle.

Here is a link that might be useful: Futuro

If your range has gas burners you've better to have a vented one.

"The CFM rating for a truly vented hood usually has nothing whatever to do with its performance as a recirculating one"

Writersblock i'm sorry to disagree. Either exausting or symply filtering air, the more is powerful the blower, the more effective is the hood. First hand experience

while i would always prefer to Vent (gas cooktop), in city apts, that is usually not possible.
Therefore, we settled on a very thin profile unit that pulls out from the cabinet,mounted right underneath the cab, and when closed, doesnt protude toward your head. You pull it out whereupon the vent and or the light comes on (depending on your setting). The suctioned air goes thru filters in a box in the overhead cabinet and then ultimately expels the air back into the kitchen thru another place. NOT ideal but does reduce SOME of the kitchen odors, espec since our kitchen is not fully enclosed and has wide openings to the dining room and on the opposite side too.
Drawback is noisy. Tho admittedly we did this work in 1998 and it and all the kitchen remodel has held up beautifully, perhaps there are units avail now that are quieter.
(Note that in a country cottage in a rural area, we are installing a Vent where the fan and mechanics are EXTERIOR, so that there is little noise. This is the ideal.)
I think having some option is better than none. And makes cleaning better too.