I imagine you've already sorted this out, but in case not---we had a local roofer do ours (though my husband did the one for our bathroom vent quite successfully---we just had to patch an old chimney hole in the kitchen at the same time so decided to get it all done professionally). It was ridiculously cheap (though our roof is not shake and that might be a little more complex) and they color matched the cap to the roof for aesthetics. They squished us in between big jobs during rainy season and it only took an hour or two---easy peasy. Our HVAC people were also happy to do it, but were planning to charge something like $500 to add it to our furnace job, which was nuts. They did a nice job on the caps they did do so I imagine they would have done fine with the hood as well, but in the end my husband opted to do all of the interior hood ductwork himself, and just attached it to the cap the roofer had put in.

I installed a 42" wide and 24" deep Rangecraft hood with 600 cfms over a gas 36" CC rangetop with 6 burners. My criteria when choosing a hood were: -42" wide -24" deep at least -baffles instead of mesh filters -600 cfm minimum -quiet -attractive shape I cook almost every meal from scratch every day, and, as a SAHM, I cook a lot. We also entertain a lot, which to me means that I cook for everyone. I don't do potlucks in my house...ever. I saute, steam, stir fry, simmer, and boil regularly. I haven't deep fried in the new kitchen, but will tomorrow when I fry Arancini di Riso for a dinner party. Aesthetically, I love the hood. I wanted an uber expensive Modernaire barrel hood, which was way out of my budget, but was lucky enough to find my RC on their clearance page for a decent price. Functionally, it's a bit too loud for me to use every time I cook. Like TR, I try to turn it on 5-10 minutes before cooking if I'm doing something really messy or stinky. Then, I let it run for at least 5 minutes afterwards. For just a grilled cheese, for example, I don't turn it on to save my ears and my mental sanity. I'd like to investigate putting a silencer in the duct run in a couple of years if that's possible. I throw my baffles in the DW about once a week or two. It's nice to see the grease on them instead of my kitchen. It's so easy to throw the baffles in the DW, and they come out perfectly clean every time. As far as the cfms go, I had planned on a 1000cfm Kobe until I found my RC hood. The hood already had a 600cfm fan installed, and, since it was clearance, it was as-is. I gambled that the wider hood would help make up for the less than recommended cfms. I find that on high, my hood does an adequate job of sucking HOGS for almost all my high-heat cooking. I seared some steaks once last winter in a very hot pan and found a little smoke and odor escaping. BUT I do all my messiest and stinkiest high-heat cooking on the rear center burner so the HOGS have the best chance of being captured by the hood. I do occasionally wish I had more cfms, if only for the noise factor. (A hood with 1000 cfms will be quieter at 400cfms than will a hood that maxes out at 400cmfs.) An in-line silencer would help mitigate my sound issues. As mentioned above, I think the depth of your hood is an important criteria often overlooked when shopping. Mine is 24" deep, but it just barely covers the front edge of my rangetop burners. 27" deep hoods aren't common, but I often wish mine was that deep. I sometimes see a little steam escaping out the front edge of the hood when I have the hood on the low setting. All in all (after all that rambling ;) ) and knowing what I know now, I would make the same hood choice again.

Sorry if I was not clear or I do not understand your suggestion. I have the chimney style hood, but do not have the tile for the backsplash. I was told it would be too difficult to tile around the hood (plan is to go to the ceiling), so it is better not to install the hood before installing the backsplash. I am not sure how putting in the plywood would help (seems like it would just as difficult to remove the plywood to install the tile). I read about all these GW posters not putting in their backsplash for months and wondered if they waited to install their hoods.

@pittsburrito I uploaded some pics below to help describe my situation. While a 10" duct would fit in the space between my cabinets and ceiling, I'm not sure the soffit strategy will work. My ceiling joists *should* be 2x10 16" OC (won't know for sure unless I open it up, but we guestimated it based on looking at the 2nd floor landing) and the stud finder on the ceiling shows that there should be enough space against the wall to at least put the duct in vertically, whether I can fit it between the joists will be the head scratcher. Can see the OTR microwave to the right of the picture - we will be removing the microwave and cabinets above and the crown molding for the install. There is a passageway to the left - straight back is the utility room, the doorway to the right is to the dining room behind this kitchen wall. Facing more to the left - you can see the door to the half bathroom. A breakfast nook is to the left of the bathroom. Right side of kitchen. Far right door leads to garage. Archway straight back leads to the front of the home and foyer with stairs, broom closet, etc The only potential soffit strategy I can see is to go left of the range, run against the wall over the doorway to the dining room, punching a hole in the wall above the utility room doorway, then run it through the utility room and out the side of the house. I don't think I can go through the garage because my furnace is sitting in the garage right against that wall. What do you think?