leel.....glad to get your feedback on the induction. Thanks! As for me, I certainly wouldn't mind having to buy a new pan or 2 for the new oven. :-) gsciencechick....thanks for the pots and pans suggestions and the confirmation about induction. I'm ready to be done with gas (although I love the way it cooks) because it's just so dirty to keep clean. muskokascp.....I HEAR you!!! Whatever happened to the days when we just went to the store and asked the opinion of the saleman or perhaps picked out a unit because of style or color? These days we almost have too much info, and it can become crippling, honestly. At some point I just need to make a decision. davidro1.....I love your 'final answer' comment. I WISH!!!! Although I certainly know a lot more than I knew before, I still have questions. But today at the appliance store helped clear up some things. (Meaning that they don't know anything either and I can basically do whatever I want). The inspector on our job (both HVAC and electrical) don't know anything about MUA and can't advise us what we should get. So I just told them I'd get something that wasn't too powerful, and they seemed fine with that. They told us to adhere to the recommendations in the manual that comes with the hood. I swear!!! It's not rocket science.....why is it that nobody knows about this technology?

OK, youall have succeeded in drawing me into another argument. Let's start with the purpose of the overhead vent. The vent is intended to capture and contain effluent contained in the rising and expanding cooking plumes. It has an overlap capture requirement that depends on height, and a flow rate containment requirement that derives from plume velocities and secondary factors. It is not for capture or blockage of grease splatter, as that could require enormous air velocities to achieve. Down-draft "venting" and pop-up side-draft "venting" cannot achieve the needed capture and containment provided by an overhead hood of proper specification for these reasons: Air flow velocity drops rapidly as a function of the smallest dimension of a slot air intake (see the 2003 ASHRAE HANDBOOK, HVAC Applications, Fig. 6). The air velocity in all cases is too low to significantly change hot cooking plume momenta except those plume portions close to the pop-up, so the overhead hood depends on the natural rise of the plumes. Deviation of the upward momentum to the side, or by 180 degrees to head downward, can only work if the plume has low momentum, as in steam from boiling water. Hot oil/grease/moisture plumes from wok cooking and searing will be poorly deviated sideways or in reverse. Fume hoods can have horizontal hood configurations, but the top and sides are blocked from allowing fumes to leak out. The turbulence issue is complicated. Up-rising plumes can be disturbed by side drafts, poor insertion of make-up air into the kitchen, and cook motion. Side-drafts will be pulling air across pan and pot clutter, so some added turbulence is possible, but I don't think it will be a significant addition except close to the pop-up due to the velocity fall-off introduced above. On the other hand, a pop-up can block splatter trajectories from the burner up the the angle between pan and the top of the pop-up and as far as the pop-up sides shadow the area beyond. For this function, no air flow is needed and much of the pop-up system hardware can be dispensed with. If a blank face is used (no vent holes/slots), cleaning may be greatly simplified. Underfloor ducting, blower, external cap can all be deleted. Some cabinet space for the elevation mechanism has to be sacrificed. While a pop-up splatter blocker is a good idea if the degree of blockage is deemed sufficient for the expense, the subject raises the question of why children are sitting in range of hot grease splatter. At a minimum they would need eye protection. There are requirements (that I don't have at hand) for desirable rises and/or runs of seating countertops connected to cooking surfaces. I recommend proper desks in quiet areas for studying. The student should be fully absorbed into the material to be studied without distraction (or at least as little distraction as a post pubertal youth can manage).

There are two operational requirements for ventilation hoods from which the detailed requirements derive. o Removal of combustion products from cooktops (usually from gas combustion, as wood and coal fired cooktops are rare on this forum) o Removal of grease vapor and odors The first requirement, if applicable, is mandatory. The second requirement is somewhat optional as determined by the homeowner's preferences, but most don't want to depend on a window fan to remove grease vapor. Lack of immediate capture and removal will cause the kitchen to slowly gain a coating of grease. In order to meet either requirement, the hood must accomplish two functions: capture and containment. Capture relates to having the uprising plume of effluent flow into the hood without missing it; containment relates to keeping it there and exhausting it without any leaking back out. Effective capture depends on the hood being large enough to extend beyond the rising and expanding plume unless the airflow is very high; hence, higher mounted hoods need to also be wider and longer hoods. Containment depends on internal depth of the hood, air flow rate, and other details of the hood design. As a rough approximation, assume that rising effluent expands from a pan boundary at a 7-degree half angle. This means that if the hood extends from the back wall significantly less than the cooktop does, one may wish to fry only on the rear burners and use the front burners for boiling water. Otherwise, odor and grease may excape the hood. In that case odor will be cleared from the house slowly as the fan exhaust replaces the household air volume a few times. This may require hours to accomplish. My choice is having the hood above my head, both to minimize bumps and improve sight lines. As a consequence I have to make it larger with higher flow rate. There is a potential hidden cost, though, of high flow rates. Depending on how much air one needs, undesirability of opening windows at any time of the year, and local political demands, one may have to install a makeup air system. All the above assumes that significant cooking activity is intended. If the kitchen is mainly for show, then the hood becomes less important. I have seen photographs of elegant houses with island mounted gas cooktops for which no vent hood was apparent. Catered delivery would seem to be the cooking method of choice in such cases. kas

Allison, I have a 30" range and 36" (high cfm) hood with new white cabinets. Well, the other night when I was cleaning up the kitchen, I noticed there were these tiny, little, clear spots (assume grease?) all over my right upper cabinet. It got less and less spotty as it went to right. It's also on the wood range hood cover. I tried to wipe it off, but it is not coming off! Grrrr! I am thinking it is because that right front burner is the power burner, and we use it the most. We also have the hood at the highest recommended height which reduces the capture area. I hope it hasn't wrecked the paint on my new cabinets! So my recommendation is to get a nice powerful hood that is at least 6" wider then your range, unless you don't cook a lot and/or you are diligent about wiping down the fronts of your cabinets after cooking. I'm bummed about mine. :-(