This doesn't exactly answer your question but I didn't rule out a Futuro Futuro. I got the Galaxy island hood and have been using it for about a week. Tomorrow is the big test...fried chicken. I'll let you know how it does. It is pretty quiet except when it's on high but so far my husband who is very sensitive to noise has not complained. I had to do the oven burn-off for my Bluestar range a couple of days ago and the Futuro Futuro did get a lot of the bad smells out of the house so I'm very happy with it so far. Good luck with your decision

Thank you carecooks. "Bluestar" sounds like you have a lot of BTUs. I will love to hear about how it goes with the fried chicken. Did you see it before buying it? If not, were you happy with the looks once you received it?

I had only seen the Futuro Futuro online here in photos of other people's kitchens and at FF's website. I took a chance based on what a few other people had said. I have to say that several of the workmen including my contractor were impressed with how beautiful the hood is. My husband took a few pics of the almost finished kitchen yesterday. Here are a couple with the hood. The green of the lower base cabs didn't come out well in these pics but that just annoys me, it doesn't affect the hood photos!

Have a Happy 4th!

Thanks for posting, carecooks. Your kitchen is gorgeous! I'm considering a Futuro Futuro island hood so I'll be very interested in hearing how things go with the fried chicken. Also, you mentioned that your husband is very sensitive to noise. I am, too. Did you happen to install any of the sound deadening accessories (i.e., the their "silent system" or the remote blower)?

Sorry Emily. I don't mean to hijack your post. Hopefully, some people who ruled out FF hoods will respond. FF hoods look very attractive and have impressive sounding specs, but they don't seem as popular among GW folks as some of the other brands. I'd love to know why.

Beautiful kitchen, carecooks.

Carol08, glad you added. Great questions. Which Futuro are you considering? I'm tempted to fly to Brooklyn just to see them. But the warehouse may not be set up for show.

FF may be seriously limited because they are only available on the net but there are very few images. Look at the visuals. A video of men in white coats, their factory, lovely shots of Italy, and a Marilyn Monroe allusion. I don't want to be sold on image. I want to see the hoods in kitchens and videos of them working over a stir fry. Sound frustrated? Yes.

Physics is what tends to rule out most who consider them. THey use a 6" duct but claim high CFM and little noise. The physics of that just don't add up. Yes, they're pretty, but in a hood, pretty isn't the first consideration. FUNCTION is. In a low use, low heat cooking install, they may be sufficient, or sufficient for the occasional bout of deep frying, but for someone who stir fries, or grills, I suspect that they are not going to cut it and you'll be cleaning grease off the walls and yelling "What?" a lot to any other kitchen occupants. This is conjecture on my part, as I've not experienced them in person, but the math isn't conjecture. It doesn't add up.

First of all, let me say that my experience with hoods is extremely limited. The hoods that I have owned were either useless or broken. I have lived in this house for two years with no hood whatsoever. I do cook most every night however and have cleaned up the grease myself. I'm bothered more by the smells of deep frying and stir-frying even more than the grease. When I would stir-fry in this kitchen my husband would come running in to open every available window door to let the smell out. So for me the hood was more about smells than grease.

Last night when I did pan-fried chicken it took almost an hour since I couldn't find my big fryer and had to cook in batches. I asked both my husband and my daughter what they smelled and they both said "cooking". There were no heavy oil smells and the grease around the stove was pretty minimal. I did turn on the hood 10 minutes before cooking and used the 15 minute auto-turn-off switch at the end. We went out to watch fireworks and there were no smells when I got home. So I have to say that so far, I'm a happy camper.

Like many of you, I wanted to get the best hood possible. I read great reviews of Kobe hoods here on GW and was all set to get one until I saw a picture of their island hood. I just hated it. It was then that I asked more about the Futuro Futuro and the few responses that I got were positive. That being said, they were not from people who were heavy grillers or stir-fryers. So I had to make a decision. I stir-fry maybe two or three times a month and I grill outside so that wasn't an issue for me, but I was going to be looking at the hood everyday. So I went for something that I thought might work well-enough and that would make me happy to look at. I have to say that so far I'm more than pleased. But Live Wire Oak makes good points and if it is all about function for you then you have to make your own decision.

Carol08-In response to your questions, since we didn't have a hood before and because we have bedrooms above the kitchen I couldn't do a remote and I didn't do any noise deafening. I was fortunate that we could run the duct straight out from island over the soapstone sink and out. So it's a very short direct run. From what I understand, a lot of the sound issues come from the turns in the duct. Back to the Futuro Futuro, at it's lowest, I would say that it's very quiet and you can definitely hear it at the highest level, but at that level it should really be working hard. YMMV.

I wish that I could give it a stir fry test soon, but they just started refinished the hardwood floors in the house and they asked me not to cook things that could splatter grease until they're done which won't be for at least 10 days.

Thanks for all of the info, carecooks. It sounds like you made the right choice for you, given your needs and priorities. I don't do a lot of frying or grilling, so maybe it would work for me, too. I'm pleased to hear that your hood is reasonably quiet, even without a remote blower or the noise dampening accessory. Maybe I can get away without the extra expense, given that I'll have a pretty short and straight run of ductwork.

I still have a lot of comparison shopping to do, but Futuro Futuro is definitely still in the running, based on your report (and some earlier GW posts I found).

And thanks for your comments, live_wire_oak. I now better understand the concerns people might have about this brand (e.g., the cfms must be overstated)--especially when one couples the physics concerns with the fact that(as emily_mb so aptly pointed out) one can't actually see them before purchasing them without going to New York! It sounds to me as if they might not be as good as their marketing implies, but might still work for those of us who don't have super heavy duty venting needs.

Of course, even if I decide to go with FF, I'll have to decide on which one. I like so many of their island hoods. My favorite, aesthetically speaking, is acqualina glass, but I'm not sure about the glass (cleaning hassles, capture ability). And one of the models I had thought I had ruled out based purely on aesthetics was the one carecooks has. I had thought it looked too bulking, but now that I see it in carecooks' kitchen, I really like that one, too. Good thing I still have some time to decide!

First of all, let me say that my experience with hoods is extremely limited. The hoods that I have owned were either useless or broken. I have lived in this house for two years with no hood whatsoever. I do cook most every night however and have cleaned up the grease myself. I'm bothered more by the smells of deep frying and stir-frying even more than the grease. When I would stir-fry in this kitchen my husband would come running in to open every available window door to let the smell out. So for me the hood was more about smells than grease.

Last night when I did pan-fried chicken it took almost an hour since I couldn't find my big fryer and had to cook in batches. I asked both my husband and my daughter what they smelled and they both said "cooking". There were no heavy oil smells and the grease around the stove was pretty minimal. I did turn on the hood 10 minutes before cooking and used the 15 minute auto-turn-off switch at the end. We went out to watch fireworks and there were no smells when I got home. So I have to say that so far, I'm a happy camper.

Like many of you, I wanted to get the best hood possible. I read great reviews of Kobe hoods here on GW and was all set to get one until I saw a picture of their island hood. I just hated it. It was then that I asked more about the Futuro Futuro and the few responses that I got were positive. That being said, they were not from people who were heavy grillers or stir-fryers. So I had to make a decision. I stir-fry maybe two or three times a month and I grill outside so that wasn't an issue for me, but I was going to be looking at the hood everyday. So I went for something that I thought might work well-enough and that would make me happy to look at. I have to say that so far I'm more than pleased. But Live Wire Oak makes good points and if it is all about function for you then you have to make your own decision.

Carol08-In response to your questions, since we didn't have a hood before and because we have bedrooms above the kitchen I couldn't do a remote and I didn't do any noise deafening. I was fortunate that we could run the duct straight out from island over the soapstone sink and out. So it's a very short direct run. From what I understand, a lot of the sound issues come from the turns in the duct. Back to the Futuro Futuro, at it's lowest, I would say that it's very quiet and you can definitely hear it at the highest level, but at that level it should really be working hard. YMMV.

I wish that I could give it a stir fry test soon, but they just started refinished the hardwood floors in the house and they asked me not to cook things that could splatter grease until they're done which won't be for at least 10 days.

Oops! My computer went wonky and posted a second time. Sorry.

Carecooks, I am so grateful that you have taken the time and care to describe your experience. It is very helpful to me. I am in a very similar situation. I care about how it looks and I am not a MEGA cook. live in a condo and the kitchen is the first thing you see as you open the door. It's part of the study, DR, LR, and balcony. So, unless you are in one of the bedrooms or bath, you are in the kitchen. I do stir fry and sautee -- no grilling, no frying -- but even then, mostly it's only for DH and I, so the quantity of smoke will not be as much as for a family of 4. On the other hand, it's also important that it work because currently I don't stir fry during summer because I can't open the windows (too humid) and can't stand to smell it when I wake up in the morning. So, anything reasonable will be an improvement.

Carol8, I'm thinking about streamline. It will not block the view much. I like Aqualinea, but worry about cleaning the glass. The Murano collection was my first thought but it has to be placed really low and what's the point of opening up a kitchen to then block it with a "lamp" that will not work as well a other hoods (the capture area is small). Have you looked into the "perimeter suction" of some of the models they have. I'm wondering how well it works. See various concerns expressed in some of postings.

I go back and forth -- yesterday was back and then I looked at the Miele and saw that it too had a 6" duct, and isn't German engineering supposed to be excellent? So, maybe FF isn't 940, maybe it's more like 600 or 500 and ...

got worse things to worry about... the man who said he would do the work has "disappeared" and the cabinets are ready.

Hi, emily_mb--
I've been reading a little bit about the "perimeter suction" issue mentioned in some other posts and wonder whether it works as well as other systems. I also wonder whether something shaped like carecook's vent (galaxy) would work better than the flat ones, such as Streamline--though I really like the unobtrusiveness of the lower profile hoods. Much to consider...

So sorry to hear about your disappearing cabinet installer! Good luck finding someone to replace him.

Oops! I forgot about your Miele comment. I don't know much about Miele range hoods, but their ovens get good reviews on GW--and their hoods look good. In fact, when I first started looking into renovating my kitchen a couple of years ago, I saw a Miele island hood that I liked very much. Beautiful and seemed well made (tho also more expensive than some other brands, including FF). When I checked back recently, however, it was no longer available and I found that on Miele's web site the smallest island range hoods they sell are now 40 inches. Their 36-inch model (the size I want) is listed as "retired." That rules them out for me...

Carol08, but if that hood is retired, you may be able to find if at a reduced price. What I think is of concern is that they are no longer making 36". Is that because they don't think that 36" gives enough of a capture area for a 30" cooktop, or is it that their typical clientele installs larger cooktops? I wonder if they would say.

Oh, and on the perimeter suction, I had it wrong. It doesn't suction at the very edge. It's in from that, so the concern that someone had, that it might suction air that doesn't need to be suctioned, might not be something to worry about. I have been meaning to call them to ask why the perimeter suction but have been very busy at work.

Good points. I checked a couple of vendors in my area that carry Miele hoods and they don't have any, but the better Q, as you noted, is why the 36-inch island model was retired. Miele still sells small wall hoods (36", 30", and even 24")... I'll try asking the local Miele dealer, but I don't know that they'll be willing to say...

Thanks for the info about the perimeter suction. I hadn't read the materials that carefully. If you do end up calling FF, I'll be curious to hear what you find out.