drtom77, Wolf recommends 36" for max height, so you should be fine. Are you measuring from the top of the rangetop grates? Here's my situation: I have a Wolf rangetop, interior wall, 36" tall counters, and I'm 5'11" tall. Ventilation is a Broan Elite 1200 cfm external roof mounted blower, 10" duct, a long run with 2 -90 degree turns and an angle. My arched wood hood is 34 1/2" above the rangetop grates at the center of the arch(gives 2" clearance for my head). My liner/insert is recessed inside it at 38 1/2" above the rangetop grates. Too high IMO! My hood operates by a variable speed knob. The lowest setting is worthless. Medium is great for most jobs and high effective for very smokey or grease spattering stuff. There are no lingering smells in my kitchen and operation is quiet. I wouldn't lower the hood and bump my head, but I'd stay at the 36" max height. Also if you do have to run your hood at a tad higher speed for effectiveness, the operation should be quiet with your in-line blower. Just my opinion. Hope it helps!

I can't answer most of your questions, but . . . None of the major hood manufacturers recommend having the hood that high over the counter - 30" is recommended and 36" is maximum, usually. I'm 6'1" and we originally thought 36" would be too low, that it would get in the way of cooking. When it was framed in it looked WAY too high, so we lowered to 36". I would suggest you go with the manufacturer's recommendation and not go any higher.

We've selected our hood (a 42" wide Best by Broan WP29 with an 1100 cfm in-line blower) and are trying to determine the best depth (24" vs. 27") and mounting height. It will be installed over a 36" Wolf rangetop with charbroiler. Our GC is recommending mounting 30" above the countertops for best exhaust efficiency, but at that height I think the 27" deep hood and my head would become too well acquainted (I'm 6'0", or at least I used to be before gravity started catching up with me). One of the reasons we chose that particular hood is that the most likely "contact area" is angled in such a way that striking it would distribute the impact over the largest possible area. That assumes, of course, that the hood's "crease" is above the danger zone. The height decision is also influenced by the 6" and 12" soffit chimneys available from Broan. Our GC would prefer that we use the 12", as doing so would make the transition to the duct to the outside world easier for them (and less expensive for us). Comments and suggestions? Here is a link that might be useful: Best by Broan WP29 Hood

Wow, I'm very grateful to all of you who took the time to reply! Great to see your pictures, too. Some responses (if you're interested), now that I've finally been able to go through: Sammy and The Kitchen Place are correct that we could put it in the upper above the dishwasher — that's the only upper that is the right size that wouldn't block other cabinets. (Thanks for the pictures, The Kitchen Place!) I was intrigued by nidnay's idea of bumping into the bedroom closet, but that closet is filled with custom cabinetry so it would be a huge project to put the microwave there.If Icould put a Miele microwave (/speed oven) in an upper cabinet, I'd try for that, but of course our uppers are only 13" deep and the Miele opens down, so not workable. My better half is against mounting a "normal" microwave in an upper cabinet (he thinks in that case we might as well go OTR, and that it will pull away from the pretty stove/hood that's the whole reason for this conundrum). (ci_lantro questions the whole premise of opening the kitchen. Others in our building have done it and it makes a significant difference in the feeling of the whole unit—we're confident it's the right move, long term.) Helen, HU-41121833, Buehl, Interior Concept, RTHawk and others: Thanks for saying good things about the Sharp microwave drawer. nidnay, thanks for your criticisms of it, too! The slimline microwaves are attractive too! Unfortunately induction sounds great, but not in the cards for us. I do believe everybody who says we need something more powerful than a microwave fan — the Vent-A-Hood system does look quite good. kaseki, thanks for your hood comments. pittsburrito, I hear what you're saying about external ventilation. There is a small vent in the kitchen and windows in the living room, so we try to be careful. Thank you all! Still not sure what we'll do, but I'm grateful for all the advice on the Houzz forums.