The hood has seen plenty of action during all these years and it continues to work relatively well — no complaints about its ability to move air. Interesting that you’re asking about the lighting; about a year ago it started malfunctioning, sonetimes it’s dimmer, sometimes it’s even flickering. My guess is that the LEDs are just fine, it’s the supply that is going bad. If it becomes unbearable, I’ll either fix it or replace it with some other supply. Noise level wise, the fan still sounds like when it was brand new, although I can feel some vibration on the medium speed. Maybe a deep cleaning of the fan assembly is in order.

Kobe has some less than 12" tall, and I'm pretty sure they all either vent from above or rear.

I read this when I was looking to purchase the Kobe: "Kobe Range Hoods are designed and manufactured by Tosho & Company, Ltd., their Japanese parent company." (misleading statement, states only "Japanese parent company" leading one to assume that it is made in Japan. They need to go on to state "with manufacturing facilities in China). A lot of info here about Kobe: http://www.thenaturalhome.com/stainlesssteel.htm An interesting read about the quality of these hods, but then again they are selling them and are somewhat biased. I try whenever possible to buy locally and support sustainable manufacturing practices. China does not have a very good record when it comes to the environment. The quality is variable but some companies who locate their facilities in China maintain excellent quality control. So you can get excellent quality with Chinese made but at what cost? I ordered the Kobe hood from the website listed above. I called first and had the best customer service so far compared to other companies I contacted. It was ordered via the internet late Monday night, order processed on Tuesday and the hood arrived on Thursday afternoon. All the paperwork was English with some Japanese writing on it. Looked everywhere to find where it was made to make sure and could not find it stated anywhere. Finally on the outside of the box I saw "Made in China". I was a little disappointed but no surprise really. Does anyone have a list of countries of origin for appliances? I went and looked at a few different websites and none of them stated where their product is manufactured. I think that as individuals we can vote for changes by how we spend our money. Another point might be individual parts. While an appliance might be "manufactured" in one country, they still might get individual parts from Chinese manufacturers. Not sure if this is true but someone told me that most refrigerators have compressors which are made in China. My next search is for buying a Bosch dishwasher and a Sharp OTC MW. Thanks for all the input on the hood decision! Wade

Thanks everyone sooooo much for your replies @kas The damper is just a flap controlled by a servo motor that opens and close as the pressure in the exhaust duct changes. So I don't think orientation matters as it depends on the pressure drop in the house to draw in outside air. But what I worry is that there is not enough room in the wall to fit a 6" or 8" duct, and they dont sell a unit with rectangular duct. May have to do some modification myself. Yea I do realize that the cooking heat is going out in the hood. Basically what I want is that a big part of the air will go from outside -> damper -> bottom of stove -> rise up and feed the effluent -> hood -> outside, instead of drawing all the air from inside the house. For the air that spills out under the range I will probably need a pair of wool socks lol. But most of the time I wont need the full power of the hood for more than 30 min so I guess I can handle that. @eshmh Yes I have done the calculation with the depressurization limit of the house. Since my house is an older construction (50 year old), it will have ACH50 rate at about 6. That way house leaking can supply a portion of the make up air. Yes I do agree that the insulation in the area of the duct is going to suffer due to the duct taking basically the whole thickness of wall insulation. What is the condensation issue you mentioned? I have never heard of that before and would really like to know more about it. @3ilovepie This is the hood I have decided to get. 36" wall hood with heat lamp @teachmkt1 Yea I saw your post about the ikea shelf and that is what prompted me to think about warming shelf idea. That is exactly what I plan on getting. In most of my cooking scenario, it will be the front 2 hobs being used at full power. The back will likely be used for simmering a big pot of soup or something.