Can you go down? Our builder vented ours down in the wall, over the 3' to the exterior wall and out the space above the rim joist.

Nope, the M/W and range are on an exterior wall with a stud right where the exhaust outlet needs to go. That's why I need to go up throught the cabinet, over a bit and then out the wall.

Glad that worked for you ~ I never would have thought of that!

Unfortunately the cabin is pretty far out of the way in a small town, and finding a contractor who will make the drive for a tiny job is very difficult. :(

I keep going to HD to stare at the parts and hope a solution will come to me! (LOL)

Why not just cut the stud out, frame it like a window, run your vent out and slap on a new piece of drywall?

how about one of those ductless ones?

Outside wall, you cut the stud and frame it out like you would if you were adding a window or door but on a much smaller scale.

Or just buy the ductless kind if that exists for microwaves.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

We're so close to the final inspection (cabinets in, kitchen painted) that cutting out drywall and re-framing would be too much like a huge backward step. It would also put the vent right at eye level right where you step out onto our side porch. Might have to do that, though.

Recirculating micro-hoods just pump the steam/smells right back in to the kitchen, which is right next to the great room. I'll only use that option if I can't think of anything else.

Again, thanks for the replies. If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. :)

I would not use flexduct, kitchen exhaust carry grease vapors which would build up in the ridges of flex. You can't clean out flex duct as you can with rigid either. Somthing else to keep in mind is that rigid duct would hold up alot better to a small chimney fire than flex. Also a good quality ventless hood will have two filters. One is an aluminum mesh to catch grease vapors and can be cleaned out, the second is an activated charcoal filter for removing odors which cannot be cleaned and should be replaced every 6 months or so. I can tell you from personal experience that these hoods work quite well as long as they are kept up.