Currently I have no ventilation. I don't even have a stove pipe, so we sometimes have a lovely "gas" smell in the kitchen. I do little frying/sauteeing b/c the wall behind the stove gets so gross! So I'm looking forward to doing more! But only on one burner at a time. And the griddle is strictly for pancakes (so no fat frying). The stove is 39", so I'll need the 42" hood. Eventually I'll have a cabinet unit on one side only. I *think* the 600 would be between $200-400 more (I was quoted 1471 for 400cfm at 18" high vs 1855 for 600cfm and 30" high. So those prices encompass 2 different heights as well as blowers. And rats: just realized those prices probably don't include those nifty cute bands that give the hood its retro look. Oh shoot!!!! Why does everything stylish have to be soooooooo expensive!!!!!???????TheHusband and I are not $2,000-hood-people. Rats, rats, rats!!!!!!! The Modern Aire is just much more beautiful than the Vent-a-hood. Francy

We have a 36" 6-burner Bluestar with a 600cfm 42" wide 24" deep VAH over it. Our duct goes straight up and out of the roof of our 1-story home. I hightly recommend that you go with the 27" deep model. Whenever we use the front burners, some of the steam escapes the front of the hood, even when the hood is on high and it's the only burner being used. The 24" hood exterior does cover the burners completely, but the thing is, the front 3-4" of the inside of the hood is a ledge that houses the lights and controls. The steam bounces off of that ledge and some escapes. If I had to guess, probably ~15% of the steam escapes. With the 27" deep model, the control ledge would be beyond the front burners, and that bouncing off of vapors would probably be eliminated or at least greatly reduced. A 900 cfm hood that's only 24" may correct the problem too, but I couldn't be sure. It's just I can literally SEE the vapors hit that control ledge and be deflected out of the hood.

First, a warning -- I have never lived in a house that needed make-up air. Not even close. Double-pane glass makes little sense for us since all the heat goes around the sashes in our Victorian. My experience with MUA is related to commercial systems. What follows is an opinion about the kinds of things that would make me consider MUA. Unless you have a Code requirement for make-up air, you have a fireplace you use when cooking (I seem to remember that you are South Bay?), have a "naturally" vented gas appliance in "connected space" (no always-closed doors between the hood and the appliance), or have a "tight" house (recent, energy-efficient construction, most likely), I would skip MUA. Even if you do need MUA, the difference in the maximum hood flow probably wouldn't significantly influence the the cost of the MUA system, which I would think was primarily labor driven. If not significantly more expensive, and you can run at least an 8" duct (preferably a 10"), I'd go with 900 CFM for two reasons: * You have it when you need it -- guests over, and the kitchen fills with smoke... * A 900 CFM blower at 600 CFM may be noticeably quieter than a 600 CFM blower at 600 CFM The 24" will serve you well. Enjoy your new range!

Think of it as a shiny tile backsplash with poor vertical alignment. :) There are some pre-patterned stainless steels that can look fairly pretty. Just keep the angle of tilt-out (from vertical) shallow enough that a rising expanding plume that hits it is still reflected upward. Three inches of tilt over 32 inches (less if the range has its own backspash) is easily sufficiently shallow in angle. Even a less observable short metal piece close to the hood could be built and be 30 degrees or less from vertical. For example, a six-inch piece of metal tilted out 3 inches at the top would be at 30 degrees. Tour http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/p/kitchens-alphabetically.html for ideas. In any case, a serious gas range needs some consideration of what the wall behind it is made of, and I'd start with 5/8 firecode sheetrock (or stone or brick) covered by something fire resistant, such as metal or tile. Assume a raging grease fire in your planning, because that is what the range manufacturer did to comply with UL and to specify offset distances to combustibles, and what the hood manufacturer did to comply with the hood filters performing their fire blocking function. kas