I own a self-clean Culinarian and the only thing that might entice me about the Precision is if it had the self-clean oven with motorized rotisserie. No rotisserie no deal.

Ergo, I would go for the AR. 600 cfm is sufficient for either.
I take it $5.2 is a hard ceiling on your budget. I would make sure there are no make-up-air(MUA) regulations/building code in your locality by asking your contractor or kitchen guy. This would add at least a couple of hundred dollars for ambient MUA and thousands if it required heated MUA. These regulations are usually enacted in colder climates and I don't think any locality in Texas should have them but better to make sure before finalizing budget.

I usually recommend range hoods that are at least 23.5" deep to adequately cover the rising steam, smoke and grease off the pans on the front burners. And with baffle filters. For 36" width these go for $1200 and up.

Given an $800 budget for the hood I would go for the Zephyr Europa Roma Series ZROM90BS for $782 delivered.

Here is a link that might be useful: LINK

You might be a little off on your figures here. I just bought an arrob636, not yet installed, its in my garage. If you want to install it against a wall the specs require that you purchase a riser back. The range comes stamdard with an island back. The 4" riser is another $250 at least. Also the leg caps shown in all photos are not included and will set you back another hundred bucks. All in we paid $4790 for this range, delivered.

I had trouble finding a cheap 36x24" range hood. the best I could do was about $700 for a z-line nominal 900cfm hood. I was more concerned with depth than cfm, but anything I could find $500 and below was only 20 inches deep which given the depth and high zoot of this particular range seemed woefully inadequate.

Thanks Deeageaux for your opinions and suggestions.
We are going to get the ARRob636 range (I have made an executive decision,,,,he,he,he!) and I have found a hood that's close enough to budget to make it work. It's the Zephyr Tempest I, Under-Cabinet Canopy Hood with 600 CFM Internal Blower. I think it's all inclusive and it's $880 on the website where I'm planning on buying the range. It's 22.5 inches deep and has baffle filters (which i reallllyyy want -- hate the mesh filters). What do you think? Btw, no MUA restrictions for Texas at least where we are building.... phew!

Goldenguy, thanks for sharing your setup and prices. Where online did you buy (if you don't mind sharing :) ? And please tell me.... do I need the leg caps? What do the legs look like w/out the caps? Is it for cosmetic reasons only? Also on the riser back, I would so prefer to NOT add the riser back ...I've seen pics of it just with island back installed against the wall... what's the reason? Ventilation of the oven I guess...I don't like the look though....Does it say this on the installation instructions? Thanks for your input!

Vivi

Opps! It duplicated my response. Deleting.

This post was edited by vivi88 on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 0:00

I like Zephyr but I prefer the XO XOT36S.

Zephyr is made in Taiwan.

XO hood is made in Italy and the blower in Germany.

And comes with two year warranty.

$889 with baffle filter upgrade and shipping included in link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: LINK

I contacted an eBay seller directly once the UMRP went up for
4399 to 4999, to get the 4399 price you found already. You don't NEED the leg caps. Without them the front legs are 1" thick black metal rounds.

The specs specifically state that the island trim back (standard equipment) requires clearance to a combustible surface. So at the least youll need to put hardieboard concrete board backer behind your backsplash and not drywall if you want to use the island trim.

The stub or riser backs do not require clearance behind. The oven and broiler vent out of the back of the range. Also it might have something to do with having one of the 25k burners in the back row. If that flame fans out along the bottom of a pot I could see it running up a back wall pretty easily. Add this to the likelihood that the backsplash surface would discolor over time with the island trim and we decided that the stub back was worth it.

Thanks goldenguy! Well I think that I will have to order the back riser because of the reasons you state. The leg caps will have to come later since my husband will croak if I keep adding a couple hundred dollars here and couple hundred there!!! I really appreciate your feedback and would not have had any idea about this issue w/out your help. Thanks!! I found the 4399 price at an online vendor, do you think it will "go away" sooner than later?? We are about 3months away from needing the range....do I order and store it??

Thanks Deeageaux for the new hood recommendation. I agree and will go with your advice. I had seen so many posts on Zephyr that I thought it was top notch. But again...not an expert, never bought one before...builder grade and substandard is what I've always used. But to be fair, I've always had electric cooktops. Anyway, thanks!! If you think of any other recommendations, send them my way!! The help is appreciated!!

Vivi

FYI Standard drywall is not a combustible item.

from Wiki

When used as a component in fire barriers, drywall is a passive fire protection item. In its natural state, gypsum contains the water of crystallization bound in the form of hydrates. When exposed to heat or fire, this water is vapourised, retarding heat transfer. Therefore, a fire in one room that is separated from an adjacent room by a fire-resistance rated drywall assembly will not cause this adjacent room to get any warmer than the boiling point (100°C) until the water in the gypsum is gone. This makes drywall an ablative material because as the hydrates sublime, a crumbly dust is left behind, which, along with the paper, is sacrificial. Generally, the more layers of Type X drywall one adds, the more one increases the fire-resistance of the assembly, be it horizontal or vertical. Evidence of this can be found both in publicly available design catalogues, including DIN4102 Part 4 and the Canadian Building Code on the topic, as well as common certification listings, including certification listings provided by Underwriters Laboratories and Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC). "Type X" drywall is formulated by adding glass fibers to the gypsum, to increase the resistance to fires, especially once the hydrates are spent, which leaves the gypsum in powder form. Type X is typically the material chosen to construct walls and ceilings that are required to have a fire-resistance rating.

Fire testing of drywall assemblies for the purpose of expanding national catalogues, such as the National Building Code of Canada, Germany's Part 4 of DIN4102 and its British cousin BS476, are a matter of routine research and development work in more than one nation and can be sponsored jointly by national authorities and representatives of the drywall industry. For example, the National Research Council of Canada routinely publishes such findings.[21] The results are printed as approved designs in the back of the building code. Generally, exposure of drywall on a panel furnace removes the water and calcines the exposed drywall and also heats the studs and fasteners holding the drywall. This typically results in deflection of the assembly towards the fire, as that is the location where the sublimation occurs, which weakens the assembly, due to the fire influence.

When tests are cosponsored, resulting in code recognized designs with assigned fire-resistance ratings, the resulting designs become part of the code and are not limited to use by any one manufacturer, provided the material used in the field configuration can be demonstrated to meet the minimum requirements of Type X drywall (such as an entry in the appropriate category of the UL Building Materials Directory) and that sufficient layers and thicknesses are used. Fire test reports for such unique third party tests are confidential.

It's important to consider deflection of drywall assemblies to maintain their assembly integrity to preserve their ratings. Deflection of drywall assemblies can vary somewhat from one test to another. Importantly, penetrants do not follow the deflection movement of the drywall assemblies they penetrate. For example, see cable tray movement in a German test. It is, therefore, important to test firestops in full scale wall panel tests, so that the deflection of each applicable assembly can be taken into account.

The size of the test wall assembly alone is not the only consideration for firestop tests. If the penetrants are mounted to and hung off the drywall assembly itself during the test, this does not constitute a realistic deflection exposure insofar as the firestop is concerned. In reality, on a construction site, penetrants are hung off the ceiling above. Penetrants may increase in length, push and pull as a result of operational temperature changes (e.g., hot and cold water in a pipe), particularly in a fire. But it is a physical impossibility to have the penetrants follow the movement of drywall assemblies that they penetrate, since they are not mounted to the drywalls in a building.

It is, therefore, counterproductive to suspend penetrants from the drywall assembly during a fire test. As downward deflection of the drywall assembly and buckling towards the fire occurs, the top of the firestop is squeezed and the bottom of the firestop is pulled. This is motion above that caused by expansion of metallic penetrants due to heat exposure in a fire. Both types of motion occur because metal first expands in a fire, and then softens once the critical temperature has been reached, as is explained under structural steel. To simulate the drywall deflection effect, one can simply mount the penetrants to the steel frame holding the test assembly. The operational and fire-induced motion of the penetrants, which is independent of the assemblies penetrated, can be separately arranged.

My mistake deeageux. I was referring to the installation instructions that can be found here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Performer specs