I've only ever dealt with powered MUA in commercial applications. In residential, just dampers that are interlocked with the hood. Yes powered ventilation is obviously more effective than passive ventilation, but a simple damper has done the job in any residential application I've ever seen, integrated with the HVAC system if needed. The separate switch would only make sense if you were doing a separate blower which I think is overkill for most residential. As I said before, simple is the key! Simple design, simple to operate, simple to service. Most people just want to be able to turn the fan to a certain speed and get cooking. They don't want to futz around with a bunch of variable speed controls balancing exhaust flow with intake. And I'm never a fan of putting complicated crap like that into a house that only makes sense to the owner. You're going to flummox guests and future owners for no real advantage. Of course, if you are going to connect to the HVAC system, you should have a HVAC person who can deal with that, including automatic blower activation if needed and making sure you're not bringing too much outside air into your return duct. This goes especially if you have gas heat. You do not want to kill your heat exchanger prematurely. Makeup air has been a real problem in the residential appliance biz. Clueless salesmen/kitchen designers spec'ing these gigantic ranges and gigantic accompanying hoods (often that are too powerful for even the gigantic ranges), and they have no idea there could possibly be a consequence. Kudos to Broan for coming up with a prepackaged solution that does not require an engineering degree to understand and use, or any expert for that matter (although as I said above, an HVAC tech's help may be needed for some installs). I guess you could rig up a dedicated blower and resistance heater for the kitchen, but most people I know would rather ditch the prostyle range than cough up the cash to install and operate that. Nobody is "interested" in MUA. It is not a creature comfort. Either you need it or you don't. If you don't, there's no point spending the $$$ for it. This post was edited by hvtech42 on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 23:45

As thr former owner (and slow learner) of two Vent-a-hood installations in two previous homes I can say from experience I found them to be very noisy at all three speeds. Thoroughly cleaning grease deposits was a difficult if not impossible chore. In our present home we recently installed a 36RNB Bluestar range with a Best #WP29M427SB hood and a 1,266 CFM Fantech FKD 10XL in line blower. Results - PERFECT ! No smoke or cooking odors, quiet operation at all speeds and the dishwasher does the cleaning.We couldn't be happier with the results.

I am by no means an expert with ventilation - this was one of our biggest challenges with the reno. But, we have the Broan Elite hood (RMPE7004) and an inline blower (HLB6) - this is 600CFM. Originally we had planned to have the Best by Broan insert (PIK33)800CFM. We have a wood chimney hood and could not get the PIK33 to fit so we ended up with the Broan elite. The 600CFM does not have baffles. At one time I went thru the calculation of the BTU cooktop and oven and it calculated to the 800CFM. But we have been cooking in the kitchen for 3 months and I have not needed it on high yet. I don't think that it is terribly loud, and I am happy that I have now have ventialtion that keeps the smoke detector from sounding when I have the oven on high heat! The Best hood quote was approx 25% higher than the Broan hood. Hope this is helpful.

Mine is from builder. It is one of Thermolec air heaters ( http://www.thermolec.com/en/productView.aspx?type=product&id=77) plus a separate current triggered flapper. The heater tries to heat the air to 15 C (PWM), activated by the air flow. It is a passive one and connects to the air return of the furnace via a 10 inch duct. It is not as sophisticated and highly performed as Kas's.