All I know about vent hoods is what I learned in buying ours. From what I understand, there are 3 types of blowers -- one in the hood itself, a remote fan that sits on the roof or an inline that goes inside the wall or attic space between your hood and and the exit point. on your roof. I saw inline blowers that needed I think 12 or 14" of space, and I had a little over 10" between the joists. I could not run straight up due to a bathroom, plumbing and the fact that the walls upstairs were not directly over the downstairs wall, so I was limited to the space between my joists and a 10" duct. Trying to buy a hood that doesn't sound like a jet engine taking off (i.e., at their loudest) is very frustrating. It seems no one wants you to hear theirs, and that never seems like a good thing. I was trying to think of a way to describe the sound leve on mine, so I went in the kithen and tried to find something everyone could relate to. On the lowest setting, my hood has about the same volume but a lower pitch than my microwave drawer while heating a cup of water or similar to my oven fan, but again, at a lower pitch. On the highest setting, it's a little louder than my prep sink faucet running water into the open sink drain and quieter than my new KA pro mixer. I am still missing a panel that will sit in front of the duct, so that may have some impact. We had to reorder that piece, so I ought to check it out when it gets replaced. Hope that helps.

I only saw one Ventahood where I could try to figure out if the cleaning or the more raw underside would bother me, and it was not connected to power so I don't know about their sound level. I've heard they are quieter and I've heard they are louder. I think the looks of the cages vs baffles would be more of an issue for me. While I was trying to decide whether that was a bit "raw" looking, I was led to a guy at the place where I bought my appliances who said he'd seen and heard both side by side. He said the Best by Broan was better for sound and operation, so I went with it. Very scientific, huh? Unfortunately, buying a vent is like that. I have a 1200 cfm model with an external blower and got the baffles. The blower sits just above my sink on the opposite side of my kitchen (better than the toilet or shower straight above --LOL) and it is quiet when you are outside. I'm not sure that in my set up the remote blower made that much difference. If I'd have another inch or two, I'd have been able to put in a silencer. Most of the time, I run the vent on the lowest setting or up to about 1/3 power -- rarely over 1/2. At that level, the fan on my ovens is as loud. You barely hear it away from the vent, but you will standing right under it. At full power, you will hear it, but even then it is not as loud as the ineffective downdraft my last cooktop had -- with only one speed. If you turn it on when you first start cooking and run it higher for things like fish, popcorn, bacon, you will not smell them all over the house. I made 120 bags of popcorn, both on the stovetop and in the microwave (bags opened under the vent)one afternoon. I delivered them to the school, came home and could not smell any popcorn. Maybe it could be more perfect, but I'm happy with my choice.

Yes, the Bluestar induction is too new for any reviews. It has 12 settings, not 9 as was first thought. And the knobs are what I will demand on the next induction cooktop I get. The touch controls just don't work if your hands are damp, and you have to watch them to make sure they don't change (any spatters may change the settings). Other than the lack of knobs, the Wolf is fine. For the hood, Vent-a-Hood is better in my opinion (and the factory is not far from where I live). However, 600 CFM is just right for induction, but it's not even remotely good enough for gas. [This assumes the standard 3" extra on each side. eg. 36" cooktop = 42" hood. If the hood is larger--6" or 12" on each side--and the distance up from the cooktop is close to the minimum, or the gas cooktop has no greater than 8K BTU burners, then you might get by with 600 CFM and gas, but if you're going for a 18K to 25K Bluestar you need some serious airflow.]

Well, I have had 18" with a OTR Microwave, 24 with a cabinet depth range hood (12" deep), and right now we have one at 23.5, a cheap one that sticks out maybe 16" that came with the house (renovation to come). So I don't think 24" is quite low and I would think 36" would be quite high, unless you are using a professional range and cooking at high heat like they do in professional kitchens. And that would require a much more powerful hood than what you have. We have 5'4" in the house and we have 6'1'' and I don't know that there has ever been an issue with "not being able to see" something cooking on the cooktop because the hood was in the way. I don't think we've paid too much attention to the height of the current hood, anticipating that the kitchen would be remodeled, and 6'1" is a former professional chef. (And as it turns out we've lived with it for 8 years waiting to get to the kitchen) My recommendations are to follow the Manufacturer's Guidelines for your particular hood and cooktop and make sure the two are compatible. Most codes will accept manufacturer's requirements. People often quote distances to Combustible Surfaces as coincident to proper distance to a range hood, any range hood and that is not the same thing. Range hoods are not combustible surfaces.