Broan has an excellent product line, including hoods with which the motor can be installed remotely, which reduces the noise level. I would get the hood with the air intake surface that covers almost the entire underside of the unit. This should provide a greater "capture" of smoke and grease, and the large surface area should cut down on the sound of moving air.

Why are you getting a 1200 CFM hood? I have a DCS 30" AG range and have a 600 CFM hood and it's more than enough - I rarely run it on high. A 30" wide hood should be fine but get as deep a hood as you can - I have a DCS Eurohood and it's only 19" deep and I do get grease on the outer front of the hood. Get a hood that's 24" or 27" deep. By the way, if you do get a 1200CFM you may well need makeup air which can get expensive.

I am getting a 30" Berta, and plan on getting a decent 30" hood also. I'm looking for 500-600 CFM. Also looking for one that is 24" deep...any recommendations?

Several points:

1) Higher cfm will not make up entirely for decreased capture area. I think of blower performance as what determines how quickly smoke etc. that has been captured by the hood can be evacuated. Inadequate cfm means the hood will not clear fast enough to "make room" for incoming smoke, thus leading to spillover. However, an overly small capture area means that some smoke will never enter the hood at all. Remember that smoke diffuses laterally as it rises, and that is compounded if there is any cross-current of room air. As a first approximation, smoke that drifts laterally beyond the edge of your hood is lost no matter how high the cfm rating is. Kind of like trying to go faster on an icy road by installing a bigger engine, when the limiting factor is the spinning tires.

Re haus proud's comments: all of the major hood manufacturers other than VAH allow remote blower installation. In the case of the OP, though, it sounds like he/she is venting through a side wall. That eliminates possibility of using a blower mounted inside. Only remote option would be to mount an external fan on the side of the house, which on the first floor of a house would look pretty weird.

"Air intake surface covering entire underside of hood"? Isn't that all of them, except for some of the "Euro-style" hoods that have a flat piece of glass extending beyond the edges of the hood? Otherwise, the entire underside of any hood is "capture area." However, that is not related to airflow noise. That is almost all generated at the actual point where the ducting connects to the hood. "Forcing" the air through the much narrower diameter duct causes acceleration and turbulence, thus the noise. And remember that the largest duct in any standard hood is 10'', so that's pretty much fixed independent of brand.

weissman: my experience differs somewhat. I have a 42'' 600 cfm VAH over a 36'' Dacor cooktop. I clearly get spillover. May reflect how I cook: I love to sear (favorite salmon recipe involves preheating dry pan on max heat for 4 minutes then dumping in fish). I'm hoping the new hood with 1200 cfm remote blower will do better over the Lacanche, and if I could, I would choose a different hood with higher cfm over the Dacor as well. Agree totally that increasing the depth from standard 24'' to 27'', or at least mounting the hood out an extra 3'' or so will partially compensate for the narrow width.

amysrq: re choice of hoods--all the companies you name are good choices. As always I'll throw in a plug for Modern-Aire (Modern-Aire) with whom I've had an excellent experience. I know others have liked Metallo Arts for really wild, over the top designs. Any of these companies would make a good hood for you. I think it's more of a design decision: find one you like the looks of and you should do fine.

clinresga - you make good points - in my case, I have cabinets flanking my range and hood and the sides of the cabinets never get greasy unlike the front of the hood which is why I believe that depth is more important than width. In an island setting on the other hand I would agree that the extra width would make a difference.

weissman: you make a great point. Flanking the range with cabinets has the effect of "widening" your hood to some degree, as it will limit the lateral diffusion of the smoke. Thus, your correct conclusion that width is even more critical for an island location. Sounds like the OP has range against the wall, which does help in and of itself, versus island location.

My range will be 30" and will be against a wall, but there will not be cabinets on either side of the hood. The range will sit in the corner, on a 45°. Am I better off with a 36" hood?

Thanks...

Thanks for the input everyone.

I know about the issue of make-up air. I think the builder is already making noises about that. He's not so happy about the 600cfm. I hate to see what he'll say about the 1200. And you're right clinresga, an external blower wouldn't be appropriate as the wall faces the front street.

I have to go back to my design and see if we didn't leave some room for filler to slide that hood over some. I can't imagine I didn't do that...but then I don't know how clear I was about the trim either. I am also considering changing my trim slightly which may help the problem. Because ultimately, it doesn't sound like I want to go to 1200 and 30".

qhound, it sounds like you'd be the perfect client for a custom design from Modern Aire!