There are a few sources of noise in a hood ventilation system (and potentially also in a powered make-up air system). The dominant noise when a silencer isn't or can't be used is fan blade tip turbulence noise. Second will be either baffle turbulence noise (more like a hiss), or its counterpart if mesh filtering is used, or duct turbulence noise. Baffle noise domination assumes that the duct is damped on the outside and the air velocity in the duct is not too high. Otherwise duct turbulence noise may dominate baffle noise, and the duct may also rattle passing on blower unbalance vibration noises. External blower noise is usually lower with a long duct than with a short duct, but one should not expect a really big reduction in noise just because the blower is outside instead of in the hood (for equal volumetric flow rate). (The exception would be a commercial external blower, configured deliberately so that the fan is oversized and the belt drive sheaf ratio is set for a slower tip speed.) For residential operation, where room for a silencer is available, an external roof blower and inline silencer is the quieter approach, leaving baffle hiss below normal speaking levels at full power. That is my configuration. Part of the duct turbulence noise will also be removed -- that from the duct between the silencer and the external blower. Fantech silencers are larger than the ducts, e.g., 14 inches in diameter for a 10-inch duct. http://www.fantech.net/products/fans--accessories/accessories-ventilation/silencers/ld/ld-10-silencer/ They have the general appearance of a motorcycle muffler scaled to a dragline excavator engine. The silencers are also somewhat longish, so if the duct was going to go up into an attic and straight to the roof at the roof edge, it would be necessary to use an angle duct after entering the attic to extend the duct length in the attic to accommodate the silencer, thence use another angle to bring the duct to the roof. Avoid horizontal ducting if possible. Try to make the ducting accessible if possible.

I love the range Lizzie! We had and OTR microwave when we first installed the range. It would come on automatically every time I used a burner. I didn't even know it had a default to come on automatically (had been using it for 5 years), and EVERY time I turned on the range, the fan in the OTR started. We quickly decided that the OTR wasn't going to work and we had to get a hood. We actually have MORE room with the hood as it is only 10" deep (about 6" shorter than the microwave). But yes, we did have to get a counter microwave and put it in a corner. Are your cabinets already installed? I wanted an under COUNTER microwave, that hangs from the bottom of the cabinets and still leaves me a little bit of open counter space underneath, but they have to plug in inside the cabinet, and since we were retrofitting everything, we didn't have a plug in the cabinet.

Yes, it's essentially the Kobe CH-100 (but their earlier version with halogen instead of LED lights). The owner's manuals for both the NXR and Kobe are exactly the same. The NXR looks well-constructed and high quality, and like you said, it's about half the price with the added bonus of Costco's excellent return policy. I don't have any experience with how well it functions yet, but Kobe itself is highly regarded on this forum. HTH!

Thanks everyone for the all the comments! It is awesome that every one loves their Bluestar! I can't wait until I join you all. barryv_gw and opaone, thank you so very much for the hood advice. It is extremely helpful as I have to research and pick out a hood soon. Getting the right hood is very important to me. Thanks everyone for all the oven and microwave information too. It will help a lot. One of the reasons I am leaning towards the Platinum is the removable griddle... currently I have never used a griddle and while it sounds cool, I think there is a good chance I won't use it that often. Having a built in one is just too risky especially because I was only planning on a 36" range... I do see some recent threads about the Platinum, but not much from actual owners of the range. maire_cate, I am convinced that you are the only person on Houzz that actually owns a Bluestar Platinum :). Before I posted this, I had read your post where you had just got the range but hadn't tried the oven yet. Thanks very much for sharing your experience. I am glad to hear that it works well enough for you. It is very helpful to hear that it won't be totally just decorative if we choose it. Also your Thermadors look great! How is that that rotisserie? That is a cool feature I may want to look at... Hope your DH is still loving to cook. kaseki, this is a partial tear down that we have been planning for a very long time. We will be moved out for 10 months. We are choosing things based on the timeline set by our contractor and designer. You don't have to have things like the exact molding, cabinets, floors, or appliances in a plan before you start a project this big... it will take months just for the structural work.