Only you know how much you can afford to spend for something you really want. In my case, I ended up spending almost as much as my 36" RNB on my ventilation, and we don't even have MUA requirements! But it was worth every penny when I cook on the range, or even walk into the kitchen :)

Whether you get a bluestar (which you would love) or a GE DF (which you probably wouldn't be too impressed with), you should at least get 600 cfm venting. No matter range you have, you'll appreciate the house not smelling like whatever food you're cooking.

As for make up air, I don't have any and I have a 1200 cfm hood. And yes, it was code here too. Just put the hood in after you get the cert of occupancy.

Reflecting on what gtadross said about sizing a hood, I recall that the general rule of thumb for matching hood capacity to gas burner cookers is to have a hood capacity of 1 CFM per 100 btus of the rated capacity of the burners. IIRC correctly, the GE Cafe dual-fuel's five burners are: 20k btu + 17k btu + 9.1k btu + 8k btu + 5k btu. Add that up and divide by 100 and you get 591 CFM. IIRC, the BlueStar ranges straddle this figure: the RCS model with 15k burners and a 6k simmer burner equates to a 510 CFM vent capacity where the RNB with three 22k burners and a simmer burner would be about 700 to 800 CFM under this rule of thumb.

Seems to me that you've pretty much got the same hood requirements regardless of whether you get a Blue Star or GE Cafe.

At this point, somebody is likely to suggest an induction range. (For electric ranges, the rule of thumb is 100 CFM per lineal foot of stove top which, for a 30" ranges, translates to a minumum of 250 CFM of hood capacity. ) I suspect that you've already considered that option and rejected it. If nothing else, I'm guessing that, if you really like the Blue Star ranges, the aesthetics of induction ranges won't appeal to you. (I mention this from personal experience of stove shopping a year ago where one of the considerations for me was that I did not care for the appearance and touch-pad controls of the induction ranges that were in my price range.) Still, if you haven't considered induction, there are a couple of good choices in the price range you seem to be talking about.

Beyond that comment, it seems to me that there are two different considerations in addressing hood sizing and your kitchen's need for venting and make-up air.

(a) code requirements which only some places have adopted but which your contractor must follow if your locality has adopted them. Some folks may view these requirements as a bureaucratic game of regulatory over-reach, the rules of which can be flouted with impunity.

and

(b) Practical safety: You cannot flout these with impunity. So, how tightly is your house is buttoned-up? Do you have gas-powered fixtures (water heater, furnace) and/or fireplaces/woodstoves from which your hood may backdraft CO? Btw, I'm using "CO" as the abbreviation for carbon monoxide, not Colorado. I did recently see a couple of rangehoods that seemed large enough to backdraft a state, though. :>)

Anyway, if you have all electric heating or a large and drafty house or if your other gas fixtures have their own make-up air, or if you live in a warm climate where windows can always be left open, then you may not actually need an in-kitchen MUA system.

It happens that, in my (very-cold climate) house, the water heater and furnace were isolated enough down in the basement that their MUA systems cost me than less $200. The take-away for me is that fixture-MUA can take care of any potential back-drafting without the difficulties and expense on adding MUA into the kitchen. However, this is very much a YMMV kind of thing.

For me, the main consideration is that physics (e.g., air flow) and chemistry (e.g., the toxicity of CO) cannot be evaded the way that building code requirements can be disregarded,

Now, as gtadross's post implies, most localities will allow you to install a BS range without any vent hood at all. But, doing the hood later raises some practical questions. Can you later install a hood yourself? If not, and you have to contract the work, then any competent contractor is going to have to address the regulatory and practical MUA considerations then. It will be more expensive later. Just my 2 cents worth.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Sat, Nov 2, 13 at 15:20

Best has automatic make-up air dampers for about $130.

And a 600 cfm chimney hood for under $1k.

Here is a link that might be useful: LINK