I find the drive for higher and higher ceilings baffling. I have never yet felt cramped in a room with 8' ceilings. These were standard for much of last century. Many (most?) of us probably grew up with 8' ceilings. Anyone living in a tract-built home from before 2000 probably still has 8' ceilings. And the average height for men in the U.S. is 5' 9". So unless you play in the NBA, you'll probably have between 1.5' and 3' clearance above your head while standing. (Anecdotally, my 6'4" husband just looked at me like I was insane when I asked him if he'd ever wished we had higher ceilings. :) ) If you're making decisions strictly on an aesthetic basis, then I'd say optimal room height depends on the use and size of the room. A large room that you want to feel grand and impressive would probably benefit from a high ceiling, but it runs the risk of feeling cold and exposed. An area that you want to feeling cosy (e.g. a reading nook) could have a lowered ceiling. Sara Susanka talks about ceiling heights extensively in The Not So Big House. Higher isn't necessarily better. A 9' standard will likely do you just fine in most areas of your home.

duplicate post

Stack in the back right corner. Honestly it would have been better, space wise, to put them across the back of the room. Architect probably wanted to hide the appliances from view, but this makes them hard to access. Seriously consider putting in a stack, washer tower, something. If it were me i would put in compact units, but thats a personal choice.

My hood is dimensionally similar to what OP is thinking about, although quite different in other ways, I have a 48" commercial CaptiveAire hood with side panels, much like this one Captive-Aire Systems, Inc. 3036BD-2-6-4 4ft BD-2 Series Stainless Steel Low Proximity Hood (acitydiscount.com) It is over a 36" range with counters on either side, so there is 6" of counter inside the side panels. The side panels angle back at a 45 degree angle, so while they obstruct movement of a pot from the burners straight to the back part of the counters beyond the side panels, they don't obstruct movement to the front part of the counters. It doesn't feel cramped - there is plenty of room for moving pots, pot handles, etc. The wider your range, the less risk of feeling cramped. If I need to quickly move a pot off a burner, it is much faster and safer to simply slide it to another burner, than to lift it and move it to the counter. In fact, I don't think I've ever had an emergency need to quickly move a pot from burner to counter. If you have 12" of counter on either side of the range, before the side of the hood (you call it the "legs"), I think that will be fine. Presumably the hood interior material will be reasonably heat/flame resistant. The interior of a hood gets greasy, so the hood sides should be some smooth material that is easy to wipe down - tile would work and is also inflammable. If I had a flaming pot of oil, I'd turn off all burners, maybe slide the pot to another burner, and reach for the fire blanket or fire extinguisher. Seems I'd want to keep said flaming pot on the rangetop inside the hood - why would I want to lift a pot of flaming oil, move it through the air, and set it down to burn on an open countertop with flammable stuff around? A hood design like this may also improve capture of heat/effluent a little - which is why I installed the side skirts.