I am looking strongly at Kobe, Electrolux, and also some others such as Zephyr, Faber, and Windster. The Windster is quite affordable. The Faber and Zephyr brands have some ones that have some 'rounded' design elements on the pipe area and front of the vent that look sort of nice. Gives a bit of personality to the hood, but not too much. Lots of my hem hawing has to to with what 'style' but the spec thing adds to the confusion. I look at them and try to imagine them over my stove and in conjunction with the other elements in the kitchen and after a while I am so addled that I shrink away from them all! I think that when you are in a remodel, all the decisions that you have to make begin to wiegh on you after a while and even little things can make you 'tilt'. I love my E-lux gas range - it was a find - a small scratch made it very affordable. Love my micro - an LG that looks like it was made to go with the range. Fridge is 'panel ready" - a challenge in my design where stainless would have made it easy. We will probably do something over the top like making leather or cowhide panels for it. We train horses for a living and as the saying goes, if you dont know what to do with it, cover it with cowhide. :) That is a challenge for another post and another day. Using rough slate on the floors - a natural and easy choice for us since we have a slate porch and lots of leftover tiles. Very interesting stuff and very tough. For now, however, the decision is about the range hood. It is gonna be focal, so has to be pretty. Cirone - you mentioned here that a 36 inch hood was put over a 30 inch range. How does that look? I have heard that it is recommended that the hood extend three inches out to give better capture area, but am not sure I would need to worry about that since I am not a major cook. I have ordered from Overstock and they were easy to deal with - made it right when my sink came dented. Ironically, Dianalo, I just talked to a sales rep at a Sears outlet yesterday and they have one chimney style Kenmore there with a scratch that makes it affordable. Long drive for me to check it out since I am in the middle of the woods but may have to go look. Would like to order online to make it quick and easy. Sparklekitty - Havent heard of Eurostoves so will have to look at them. Sounds as if they were good to work with. Artemis - which Kobe did you get? When it comes in, you will have to post about how you like it! Happy that you got your decision on that behind you as I know how hard the choosing can be! I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has gone round and round over this - thanks for all the feedback. Makes it 'feel all better'! :)

I think there is some level of I don't know..common sense? For example that custom made tile that ends up not being used doesn't go in the garbage bag? Or that you don't throw out 20 perfectly good dimmers or bulbs, just because you used your subcontractor's account to purchase them, and had too many? Or if you take out the old door, and there are two surfaces in front of you that you can lean that door against, one of them being a wall, other- a living bush with flowers-wouldn't it make sense to lean the door against the wall? I can't assume, that's right..obviously operational systems sometimes are very different. Sometimes I can't even imagine things that I can't or can assume.

Thank you all for the suggestions. While I have included some of the zone 4 hardy deer resistant shrubs suggested it seems if the deer don't eat them the rabbits do. Most all are young plants though the Philadelphus and dogwood are over twenty years old and ravaged. As I walk our one mile circle I see few shrubs other than lilacs, burning bush, spirea, and yews. Winter burn is a concern for evergreens and yews. I can't see how a burlap wrapped plant creates winter interest and is its own labor intensive project. i visit the arboretum monthly and am amazed that they don't have more damage. Paid staff and volunteers as well as good fencing I expect. Deer have become more numerous and bolder as development has reduced their habitat in the neighborhood. This was my spring surprise two years ago.

Let me emphasize a comment above: For greasy plume capture the hood has to overlap the cooking area because the cooking plumes expand as they rise. This requirement leads to rectangular hood openings, not circular openings. For examples of island hood sizes, you can review the Wolf Design Guide, available at Subzero Wolf's web site. Also, a tour of AJ Madison will reveal probably hundreds of options, perhaps less expensive. Keep in mind one almost never gets more than he pays for. Flow rates (CFM) to assure containment are based on the same parameters as published here in numerous hood related threads. A properly sized hood with adequate CFM should minimize the need to clean windows and walls behind the hood. Climbing on stone counters, if used, should be avoided in any case.