I tried posting this on the kitchens forum but not much response so thought I'd try here..

My plan: Get rid of OTR microwave with its ineffective vent (KitchenAid OTR only 2 yo BTW, went kaplooey a few wks ago.) Replace with vent hood (http://www.thenaturalhome.com/ra094.htm in 30" Kobe RA-094). Will need to vent to ceiling and out through roof as range is on interior wall. The cabinets above the range will be taken out.

Currently, there is a contiguous bank of cabinets along the range wall. With the vent hood, it will be broken up (2 cabs, vent, 2 cabs). My question is whether you think this won't look right, ie too chopped up. An option is to leave the upper cabs and do a vented undercabinet hood, but then the vent would come out the top of the cabs and go to the ceiling, and I can't visualize that looking good, plus I'd prefer the look of the wall mounted vent hood.

The fourth pic on the link shows where the micro will go -- the upper two drawers on the left will come out and I'll either do a microwave drawer or a cubby with trim to put in any old micro (and given my recent experience I'm tending to believe the "disposable" argument and leaning toward the latter). Step 3 is replacing the fridge with a countertop depth model. Having trouble deciding on that one but leaning toward the LG french door with 2 bottom freezer drawers (http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/LMX21981ST.html). I've heard of trouble with LG fridges though.

The red paint looks a bit obnoxious in the pics but it's more toned down in person; it's SW Adobe Red. I'm thinking of changing to RL Fairy Wren when I put in the vent.

Advice and opinion on what the new vent hood would look like in relation to those upper cabinets?

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Photos