>>It's interesting that there's crown molding on the columns and a lot of detail on the wall, but no crown in the kitchen. Is there crown molding elsewhere in the house?Oh my, have you hit on a sore subject. Crown molding was only included in the formal areas and master bedroom. They also crowned no sloped ceilings. Adding crown to other areas was $250 per "room". $250 now, not so much. 20yrs ago when we're building a house and running out out money, it was. Crowning just that hallway and the adjoining family room cost $500 because it counted as 2 "rooms" even though it was only as much crown as a bedroom; the exterior wall is sloped so the family room is really only 1/2 crowned (one wall not crowned and open on one side). I didn't crown the kitchen because the only wall that would have received crown is that single wall (because again, the outside wall is sloped), and it would have cost me $250. Don't think so. I did the crown in my office myself (come on -- a box) along with the sloped ceilings in the formal living room. If *I* can do it, why in the heck couldn't a carpenter? New cabinets will go up to the ceiling in the kitchen. They put tile crown where I cared in the master bath when it was remodeled. What I should have done was made them crown the hallway to the bedrooms just to punish them. It has so many compound angles it would make any carpenter cry.

Sahmmy, if the wood is finished with a good lacquer / varnish, it's not much harder to clean than SS. My cabinets wipe right off :) Rebecca - the biggest benefit of using a cabinet insert is the option to have the hood become "invisible", blending in with the rest of the kitchen. This is the setup we considered, before changing the layout to an island-based setup with an island stainless steel hood (can't hide it on an island, might as well show off then). As far as installation goes, the biggest challenge is keeping track of the dimensions, and making sure everything will physically fit. If you're not sure - call the dealer & double-check that the width, height, and depth of the hood will not interfere with the inside dimensions of the cabinet / custom hood enclosure. This almost tripped us up a couple of times, good thing we checked. Also, get the details on the mounting system - how does it actually attach? Also, while looking for the cabinet insert hoods, I found this gallery page, which explained some things and has 30+ pictures. Might be helpful in your decision! :) Here is a link that might be useful: Range Hoods Inserts

No. "Under cabinet" simply refers to the way a range hood is supported. It hangs from something overhead -- can be a cabinet, a shelf, a soffit. It may or may not have a canopy. For example, the hood in my old-house kitchen is a flat-bottomed, cabinet hung vent-hood (It is an old Zephyr Cyclone -- the newer versions look rather like a shallower version of what I see in the photo you posted.) I wound up with this because I chose to keep the old-fashioned, glass-door wall-hung cabinets rather than ripping out and cutting up portions to make the taller space needed for canopied hood. (Can you tell I've got an old house?) Likewise, wall-hung and ceiling-hung hoods may or may not have a canopy. The XO you looked at is an example of a chimney-style wall-hung hood without a canopy. Since you plan on taking out the paneled area, above the present shallow hood, you can easily put in wall hung (or ceiling or soffit hung) canopied hood or a chimney-style canopied hood.

I'm getting ready to install the backsplash tile and it will be going up first then the rangehood and chimney. My reasoning, my sister remodeled and her GC installed her hood and then tile was applied up to the ceiling in a herringbone pattern, 2 months later the hood malfunctioned and research showed a defect in the electronics. The new hood that was selected didn't match the tile layout outline and the tile had to be taken down to just above the range, her nightmare continued when she learned the marble tile had been discontinued. I figure its easier to chip out the tiles containing the anchor mounting hardware and replace them, than a whole wall of marble tile. Having done many kitchen tile jobs if the wall is flat, the tile will be flat.