I agree the Wolf hood is a good price at $2k but if you add on the $400 - $500 with no blower I would suggest the Modernaire would be the better buy overall, I think the $4300 you were quoted was either over priced or a mistake. Three problems I see with the Wolf from a function and design perspective in comparison to the Modenraire are. 1) It requires a transition from rectangle to round, this creates drag and extra noise. 2) The lip seems recessed which means the coverage is not 24" but closer to 23". 3) The light bar is not recessed up into the hood so the true capture are area may well be 20" or less, which is 5" less than the front burners on the AG Wolf which extend 25" from the back wall. Hopefully someone with a Wolf hood will comment to help you out with my concerns, which may well be groundless.

I think the sizes you reference are height, mine was when I ordered the pro wall hood (not chimney style). Anyway, the height I needed was odd sized and the tallest extension they offered at the time was maybe 12 inches. What ever the limitations were, I remember I was going to need 2 pieces which meant a seam, then I was going to have to have a sheet metal shop cut one to size (one not enough, 2 too many...) and the pieces were expensive as sin. My Wolf distributor said they rarely used Wolf's rectangular SS chase's but rather had them custom made locally by a sheet metal shop for a fraction of the price. Interestingly enough, I checked into it and he was right. I had a local specialty sheet metal shop make one out of 18 gauge brushed SS and it matched perfectly! Actually, the protective film on the SS unit made locally was the same as on the hood that came from Wolf and ou could not tell it was not part of the Wolf package. I measured the width and depth needed and subtracted 1/8 inch to give a 1/16 inch (not noticeable) inset. You will never notice if the chase sits just inside the perimeter of the hood deminsions but will more likely notice it if hangs out even ever so slightly past or outside the finished hood perimeter. Then I had the height made to fit the exact height from the mounted hood to the ceiling. I also had (and this is VERY important) a 1/2 inch lip put on all of the "free" edges of the sheet metal enclosure to stiffen up the unit walls all of the way around. I spent less than half what Wolf's would have cost.

I am reading these posts with great interest as we moved into a house in September that has an island with Jenn-Air 4 burner gas cooktop and downdraft vent. We've always had electric but wanted gas in an island with an open floor plan so I could interact with our guests while cooking. The Jenn-Air system has many drawbacks. 1. I want/need 6 burners 2. Only one larger burner, two medium and one tiny. 3. Fan is LOUD on high and ineffective, even on high. 4. Fan IS EFFECTIVE at drawing the gas flame away from the pots/pans, thus greatly increasing cooking time. I want to replace this with a 6 burner gas cooktop that has enough space between the burners to use a couple of 12" saute pans plus a couple of 6-16qt pots and a couple of smaller pots. Based on the discussion above and the fact that I installed an 800CFM Broan under cabinet hood that barely kept up with the fumes in the old house, I think I'll want a 1200 or 1600 CFM blower (mounted in the attic to reduce noise in the kitchen). Problem is the master bath and walk-in closet is above the kitchen so I will have to shoehorn the ducting in the walk-in closet. I assume the extra run will eat some of the CFM. Does anyone have recommendations for a cooktop and vent/blower for this application, or links to sites with good product selection and design planning info? What about so-called "stacked" burners that are supposed to allow low simmering without compromising high output? If this post belongs in another category please let me know. I did a search but this seemed to be the discussion that most accurately covers my concerns. Thanks, Don

10:07 is our kitchen, and how far up to tile was a hotly contested issue! I pushed for the whole wall but it blew our tile budget, and that's also one of the only parts of the kitchen where we really have wall color. The reason we didn't meet the hood was mostly because ours was a DIY first-time tile job and we weren't confident we could cut the tile to the exact specifications of the hood width without it looking like a hot mess (since our hood is not an even 36"). The gap still bugs me and is the reason we added that utensil bar (which helped a lot, at least for me). So I would either go all the way up or go up to the hood and run it even with that all the way across, I think. That was my first choice for ours--our top shelf is lined up with the edge of the hood, so it would have worked perfectly. HTH!