Florantha, It is very likely that one of us will be at the range and the other at the MW. Funny about the "excuse me"! We are planning the kitchen so that we never again have to say "move, move". When we come home from work we are both starving and the MW gets heavily used, we reheat leftovers while DH cooks on the range. That was the rationale for separating them. What we have in mind for an exhaust fan is probably what northcarolina describes. It is about 6" high and as wide as the range. We have one in our current kitchen and, as northcarolina, have plenty of storage space in the cabinet above it. It will be vented outside. For this reason, we figured that a microwave hanging from a 24" wide cabinet and an exhaust fan will actually eat less cabinet space than an OTR MW. Northcarolina, please, can you tell me which brand fan exhaust you have, and how much power it has? thanks to all who answered!

So, let me get this straight: you guys seem to be saying that a powered attic vent will: 1) possibly cause a negative pressure in the attic space, also possibly drawing cool air from the living space 2) not decrease the attic temperature significantly I'm thinking you are using some seriously fuzzy logic/math here. As for the "research" posted... the pdf I read was not even worthy of being posted. The other link has expired. Consider these points: 1) According to building codes, an attic space should already have soffit vents and ridge vents at a rate of one pair per 150-300 sq. feet of attic space. So that equals at least 5 square feet of wide open venting, not including a gable vent at the opposite end of the attic. If this is the case, there is NO WAY that a significant negative pressure will occur on the living space unless you have some serious holes in your ceiling. A 1600 cfm powered gable vent is going to pull it's air from these existing vents, or, ideally, from a gable vent at the opposite end of the attic. While ridge vents are indeed designed to exhaust air, they will also allow intake of air. It's just a hole. So this talk of backdrafting in furnace units in the basement (two floors away?) is just silly. Adequate attic venting as required by standard building codes is enough to eliminate this risk. If this venting is not already present, this will of course need to be remedied. But to assume that a negative pressure situation will be typical situation if a power vent is used is erroneous. 2) As for not reducing temperatures significantly, if the fan thermostat is set at 90 degrees, it WILL reduce attic temperatures and keep them lower. Let's say you have about 1500 sq. feet of attic to vent, or roughly about 9000 cubic feet of air volume. A 1600 cfm fan will completely exchange the attic air every 6 minutes or so. If the air enters the attic at 90 degrees from outside, it is NOT going to go up 30 degrees in 6 minutes. That just makes zero sense. The key is to have the vent come on at a lower temperature to ensure that temps don't have a chance to climb to 120 or more. As far as electricity consumption, a powered attic vent pulls considerably less than an a/c unit. I don't have any links for you. Just using common sense.

Mine, over 30" induction cooktop, is a 36" Kobe in the CH191 series. It has max 720CFM, although the long run and multiple turns in my duct means the effective CFM is less. I usually run it on the second lowest setting anyway. It's quiet and easy to clean, and the corners are curved so no one can impale his head by accident. Mine has halogen bulbs, but I understand that they come with LED now. I thought ventingdirect.com had pretty good prices, although others have found even better deals on other sites. I think I read that there is a more affordable Kobe-made hood sold at Costco. Maybe the Brilla? Marcia's right - it's better to have 36" hood over 30" stove. But if you aren't changing the cabs and you're replacing a 30" MW, I don't know that you can avoid having 30" hood. Not the end of the world. Still much better than OTR MW. There are more discussions of hoods over on the Appliances forum. Try googling "gardenweb hood recommendation" or something similar.

PS My GC's electrician was here today (he is very experienced, does lots of high end homes around here - which includes MCM). He said he has the Fantech 4" fan grill/light combo and loves it. Prefers it to the Panasonic WhisperRecessed - even though he admits he doesn't have it - because the motor on the Fantech installs away from the ceiling, so no chance of vibration (and thus additional noise). That all said, reviews say the Pansonic is very quiet too (and, well, some white noise in a bathroom can be good!), and I think someone going for your aesthetic should investigate the Panasonic b/c it sounds like (but I'm not sure) the placement and adjustability of the light bulb in it might work better for you - sounds like from their website that it can be recessed far up casting a different area of light. Something like that. HTH!