I would also check Kobe Island hoods. I have a wall 179 and am very pleased. They give the noise ratings.

Thank you for the reply. I checked the link, and they do have a glass 42" island fan with 600 cfm. And the sones look good too. I'll check them out at my appliance stores.

Noise ratings on the Kobe are a bit of a marketing gimmick. I have (long story) two Kobe vent hoods, a 179 and 122 undercabinet version. The 179 looks very nice and the build quality is top notch, but the baffle filters in a word suck. Or more appropriatly DON'T suck. The baffles filts are built on top of the oil catcher cages that are on the non-baffle filter hoods (like the 122). With the baffle filters removed and using my Rat-shack sound meter, the hood is essentially silent on the lowest setting. The meter only goes down to 50db and it did not register on the meter with the meter sitting on the cooktop. With the filters in on the same setting it was 65-67db. Plus the baffle filters slow down the air flow. To Kobe's credit thier response to this and another issue was to send me a new 122 at no charge. The 122 is much more quiet but I like the looks of the 179 better. If they made the 179 without the baffles filters it would have been the best combo for me. The workmanship on the 122 was not the best, but I can't complain with free. The 122 is installed, the 179 is sitting on the floor wondering what to do with it.

Thanks for the info. I still have a lot to learn about the 'insides' of a hood. eg baffles or what? Zephyr has a good looking hood, the Milano-G, and it has over 700 cfm which is good for me. Don't know what kind of filters or baffles it has, or it's noise factor.

First, what 36" cooktop will you have? If it is very powerful, i.e. a lot of btu's, the cfm's of your hood choices may not be enough. The rough rule of thumb is 100 cfm's for every 1000 btu's. E.g. if you have 4 burners with 15,000 btu's each, totaling 60,000 btu's, you'd need a 600 cfm exhaust.

Regarding noise levels, a lot of the noise has to do with the ductwork, not the hood itself. If your duct diameter is too narrow for the hood, or it has a lot of bends to the outside, or it is very long, your noise will be greater, regardless of what hood you have. That is why the same hood installed in two different homes gets reviews of "very noisy" or "very quiet"--the ductwork in those homes is different. The GE and the Electrolux/Frigidaire you mentioned require an 8" diameter duct. The Imperial requires a 7" duct. Do you have your ductwork installed already? If so, what is the diameter? If not, make sure to instruct your contractor to install an 8" duct, even if he says something like "oh, 6" will be fine" (they frequently say that cause 6" duct is easier to install).

Out of the hoods in your OP, it's preferable to go wider than your cooktop, so the 42" Electrolux has that advantage. On the other hand, the GE is deeper at 27-9/16" (the other hoods are 25-3/16" deep), which is also preferable. A glass canopy style hood isn't going to have the capture ability of a SS hood that has a deeper curve. So, it is better to at least go wider and deeper if you can. There are so many choices out there, you could keep looking, but at least try to stay with a 42" width, 27" depth glass hood if possible and if within your budget.

Also, some people on this forum say that the glass canopy hoods show grease splatters instantly, and need to be wiped down after every use. Others say they don't notice or don't mind the splatters and spots. So that's a personal style kind of thing, but I just wanted to mention it.

Baffle filters are preferable to mesh (I have no knowledge of the Kobe oil catcher cages). Mesh filters clog quickly with grease, and lose efficiency because of that. You must put them in the DW very frequently. Baffle filters do not lose efficiency as they collect the grease from your cooking--of course you should clean them as needed too! Restaurants all use baffle filters in their exhausts. Having said that, I don't know if glass canopy hoods are made with baffle filters; it looks like the ones you've mentioned all have mesh filters.

Hi Chicago, Thanks for your informative post. You brought up some issues I hadn't thought about yet. My old drop ceiling is being torn out and raised, and the duct work will be replaced at that time. So I'll make sure to get the right size. Don't know how many turns there are between the ceiling and the roof vent. If I can minimize them, I will. All the hoods I'm considering are 42" except for the Monogram, I didn't even think to check the width. Others are Electrolux, Imperial and Zephyr. I'm leaning toward the Zephyr. I've narrowed down my cooktop choices to 3, all 36" gas, 5 burners, drop in style: Wolf, DCS and Monogram. They each have about 60.000 btu's total. I doubt I'll ever use all 5 burners simultaneously, but never say never. I figure I need a minimum of 600 cfm, but 700 is better. If I was getting a more powerful stove-top, then I think I'd have to go with a big stainless hood vent. But I'd rather not have a big stainless monster dominating the eye level in my new open floor plan. We are tearing out walls to open the kitchen to the dining and living areas, so the result will be something like a "great room". I'll be able to see the ocean from the kitchen (when the fog's not in). So a glass hood has more eye appeal for me. But "pretty is, as pretty does". Function has to come first. I've read the posts from owners of glass hoods, that they think glass is easier to keep clean than stainless. So I'll have to keep my fingers crossed on that. I really appreciate the help.

Hi, Thanks Maks for sharing your experience. That does help a lot.

I met with the distributor rep today about raising the height. She is contacting her Zephyr rep to see about getting a smaller sleeve to raise it up. I'll update when I find out. I'm glad my info helps. :-)

I just rechecked all the specs. The Zephyr is 42" x 26", 715 cfm, 6 sones max, with 6" ducting. The Electrolux is 42" x 20", 600 cfm, and 9 max sones, with 8" ducting. So apparently the Zephyr has the wider hood, higher cfm, and lower noise. What difference does the ducting size make? I can't figure out what has baffles or catch screen, etc. I've heard from a couple owners who like their Zephyrs, I haven't heard back from anyone with an Electrolux hood. So maybe the Zephyr is worth $400 more than the Electrolux? My 36" gas cooktop will have approx 60,000 btu max, and I can't imagine ever running all 5 burners at max output simultaneously. So maybe 600 cfm is sufficient? DH liked the interface control panel on the Electrolux, haven't seen the Milano in person yet. I'd really like to make a decision before the current Electrolux promotion ends in a couple days.
Thanks for your input.

Actual cfm will vary with duct design and house tightness causing a pressure drop across the fan. Fan design will then determine how much the flow rate is reduced due to pressure loss.

Ducts should be sized for the actual flow such that the velocity inside the duct at full power (which you will always use for greasy cooking, I presume) is at least 1000 feet per minute.

kas

Fun2cook - the Zephyr, just by its specs of higher cfms and deeper measurement, sounds absolutely like the better choice over the Electrolux you mentioned. Just get the 8" duct installed--as I just posted on the other thread you posted ("how many cfms do I need?"), you are better off with an 8" duct over a 6" duct. I am not familiar with the Zephyr brand, but the Elecctrolux, at 20" depth you mentioned, is not a good design for efficient smoke and grease capture.

As to the filter type, I cannot tell on the Electrolux. You can call Electrolux customer service and ask them. Which Zephyr model are you talking about? The Milano G? The Napoli? Wall-mount? Island mount? The Milano G Island Mount model clearly states in its specs that it has 2 metal mesh filters.

Hi, I do think it's worth going with the Zephyr. It's specs call for 6" duct. Can I install still 8" ducting if it's larger than the specified size for the hood?

Fun2cook - yes, install the 8" duct.

Thank you all for your help. With the ceiling torn out of my kitchen now, it's very easy to see what I have to work with. The old duct was 8", and I'll be using the same existing vent on the ceiling. It's about an 8' straight shot from the hood to the exterior vent, so I won't have to worry about elbows and turns. I will be installing a 36" Wolf gas cooktop which puts out a max of 55,000 btus.
Given all I have read here, my best choice would be to go with the Zephyr Milano-G, It has the larger capture area and higher cfm, but since the blower is only 6", I will install an adapter to 8", and run 8" ducting from the ceiling to the roof vent. I guess there is some variance of opinion on the cfm/duct size issue. On another thread I read that the 6" blower adapter to 8" still won't be as effective as an 8" blower with 8" duct. Does the size of the fan compensate for the difference in cfm and coverage area? I did search again and looked for other manufacturers to see if I could find a similar hood with an 8" duct and higher cfm and/or capture area, but I could not. The others only have only 600 cfm with 6" ducts. So these 2 do appear to be the best options.
Also I can install the 42" hood 28" - 36" above my cooktop. Is there an optimal height I should aim for?

fun2 cook and marks 2000, I am also trying to decide on a hood and it would be helpful to know if you knew about Futuro Futuro and chose Zephyr instead. If so, why? Their stats look good. The design makes some compromises for the sake of looks. But, I don't know how much the compromises affect function. I can't see one function because they are only in Brooklyn.

Hi Emily, I honestly don't know anything about the Futuro Futuro hoods. I din't consider them because neither of my trusted appliance dealers carried them. I just checked their website, and the specs do looks good. Their Acqualina glass model is similar to the other hoods I'm looking at. It has very high cfm and low sones (noise). But I really want a 42" hood to provide greater capture over my 36" cooktop, and Futuro model is only 36" and smaller. Also their duct size is 6", and I'd prefer 8". Sorry I can't help you anymore than that.

i went back to my appliance shop with my husband to show him the Zephyr Milano - G. While there, the owner suggested I might prefer the Imperial hood. As a plus, they are made locally in So Cal. But I haven't read anything about them on this forum. Does anyone have or recommend the Imperial hoods?

fun2cook - read your post (sorry its a bit old) and hoping you can help me. Did you end up buying the ZEPHYR Range Hood? We have a 36" island range and are looking at the Zephyr hoods. I'd really appreciate if you could share your experience with Zephyr or Imperial if thats what you ended up buying.

I'm going utterly crazy trying to find the right hood.