You need to check the specs and make sure that all of the wood is covered by metal if you choose a smaller insert. I don't think the Broan you're talking about here will do that. It's a fire hazard otherwise. Choosing a wood hood is never a cheap choice. $1200 honestly is not a bad price at all for an insert with the capabilities that you need. Then there's the 2-3K for the wood surround. And the ducting, if it's not in place. And the electrical work, and the time intensive work of the cabinet installer to make it all work together. By the time you add up all of those additional costs that you're not thinking about here, that little bit of difference between something that might do the job, and something that will do the job is negligible. If you want to go cheaper, do a stainless chimney hood or an old fashioned under cabinet stainless steel hood.

Thanks for help. FWIW, the distance from concrete soffit to floor is 7 feet as expected. I have narrowed it down to either Zephyr or Kobe insert liner as both have the horizontal vent in the rear. The horizontal attachment will be moved slightly to the left as that will be where the new cooktop will be moved. I am assuming that there will be some kind of attachment to the current opening which vents to the building's venting system - whence it goes after it leaves my kitchen I have no cares as long as it passes inspection. I am not familiar with either of these brands - does anyone have any recommendations as to one or the other. My venting needs frankly are minimal as I don't deep fry and will have an induction cooktop. I am considering mid range in each brand: KOBE CORE COLLECTION - This retails for about $850. It's ADA compliant with a remote which seems like it would be more convenient than reaching for controls under the cabinet. Monsoon I Insert Monsoon I takes one-piece liners to the next level. Includes dual-level halogen lights, and ADA-compliant wireless remote control, 6-speed electronic controls and either a powerful 600 CFM blower (30″ and 36″ models) or 1,200 CFM blower (42″ and 48″ models). ACT™ available on all models. Vertical and horizontal Zephyr - I couldn't find any functional difference in these two models except one has slightly higher CFM but I am sure the lower would be perfectly adequate for my needs DELUXE IN26 SQB-650-5A BUILT IN / INSERT 30" - 36" 700 CFM $803.49 PREMIUM IN2630SQB-700-2 BUILT IN / INSERT 30" - 30" 750 CFM Build.com $771

Heh! Yes, mattress is a very good example. This is why ca. 2007 I started reading up on kitchen ventilation so I could ignore the magic that was being asserted and determine for myself what was needed. In a hood, most of the effectiveness is embedded in the sheetmetal shapes and the blower motor and fan. I rarely hear of fan failures (I can only recall one on this forum). Broan absorbed NuTone that used to provide a lifetime guarantee. Wolf uses Broan. If the hood exterior is non-magnetic stainless steel, it shouldn't ever rust or develop surface staining. What tends to fail in lower quality hoods are fan and light switches. These hoods may have thinner sheet metal, but that is not a point of failure. It might have a relationship with rattles. Mean time to failure with electronics will typically decrease with increased parts count. So some risk of shorter lifetime may be present where fancy motor control circuits are in use. It is fine to go shopping and look at hoods from the point of view of ease of use or lighting or construction quality, or aesthetics of design, but nothing should be purchased until you have gone through the process of understanding what you need a hood system to do and what its parameters have to be to achieve it. Since modern higher performance residential hoods for pro-style cooking equipment derive their requirements from commercial cooking ventilation, you may wish to start by downloading and reading the first dozen or so pages of the Greenheck Guide: https://www.tagengineering.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/KVSApplDesign_catalog.pdf

The loudness of the hood is often more a function of the size of the duct that goes from the hood to the outside which you did not mention. For a 1200 cfm motor, the duct size must be 8" diameter minimum, or 10" diameter (you can check the specs of the Wolf and Zephyr to see). If the duct diameter is too small, you could have the quietest hood made in the universe, but it will still be noisy. The 19" depth you mentioned is a non-starter. Ranges are at least 24" front-to-back, and the "pro" styles are deeper than that. So the 19" insert won't cover the front burners. That's a lot of money to spend not to have the front burners covered enough to exhaust them.