If you want a custom hood in something like galvanized steel, you might look in the Yellow Pages for a metal fabricator in your area. Chances are, they've worked on similar projects for restaurants or other commercial enterprises in your area. Your architect might also have contacts, or know of someone he or she could inquire with. Restaurant installations are almost always custom work produced locally. You might also look into Vent-A-Hood. They make stock hoods up to 66" wide in a variety of styles, including several that would be appropriate for vintage or country style kitchens. Otherwise, Vent-A-Hood will do custom range hoods of any dimension, in any number of styles, metals and finishes, including the extraction blowers and lighting in a package deal. They also manufacture liners for custom installations like built-in wood or stucco hoods. Here is a link that might be useful: Vent-A-Hood

We are guessing the old hood vents through one of the uprights going into the ceiling. Maybe not at all - we did find bare twisted electric wire connections hanging behind drawers in the island! :-/ We can't move the range without replacing all the granite, and other extensive work. this is the shortest route to make a big difference in there. I've posted in the kitchen forum area but not about relocating anything or building anything different... There IS HOPE - dealing with these guys is a little mercurial, but indications are leaning towards availability of extensions on the low end hoods. I have been sending a lot of emails out to the sellers of inexpensive island hoods on Ebay and Amazon, about getting extensions. Many say none are available, but I've also had at least a couple say you can get them but have to call them and order it direct. Some said - it's in their "store" but no way to tell what is compatible with what. Sample responses - From seller in Ohio - yes i have extension 36 inches each the cost for each are 99.00. you have 10 foot ceiling you need just one piece extension. thank you. for more info you can go to therangehoodstore.com Another wrote - Hi, the extension is only available through phone order. Please call us at 626-453-0550 to order it Thanks Regards, Ricky C. AKDY Trading, Golden Vantage Customer Support Team Another - Extension is. Not on eBay listing 10ft ceiling extension $180 12ft ceiling extension $230 We can send invoice after you won auction Thanks å¨ Aug 8, 2013ï¼Â8:54 PMï¼Â"eBay Member: xxxxxxx" > Ã¥ÂÂ��"ï¼ DISCLAIMER We are going towards lower end hoods because of the expense of the others - and the sheer fact that we actually only use the fan on a range hood about 4 times a year. Our outdoor grill however, gets a heavy workout. As long as it looks good and sorta works in some fashion - we're happy.

Have you considered doing a different hood (neither stainless nor matching the cabinets) to make it a focal point? In a small galley I'd go with the least obtrusive (match the cabinets, or stainless undercabinet). In a large open kitchen (i.e., in a great room or simliar) I'd go with the same thing. But in a large, squarer (vs. galley) kitchen, I'd use the hood to introduce a punch of color, even if it's a neutral like black (perhaps with stainless banding). Re cleaning the wood, it depends on how good your insert is and how ornate the wood is. Lots of appliques with high relief grapes and vines, for instance, combined with a lot of billowy, greasy cooking (tossing wet food into hot oil for instance), so that the vapors escape the hood catchment, could be a real nightmare. A simple design, wtih less aggressive cooking, should be fine. As with all other cleaning, it helps if you attend to it early and often, rather than waiting until you can see the crud.

Do you think I should go with the 48" wide x 27" deep hood over the 36" range? That run of cabinets has a 24" wall oven tower on the right and the range to the left of center so the prep island is not so much a barrier island. I can control the length of the run by changing the opening from the kitchen to the keeping room. The plans have it as 12' into a 13.5' room. When I played around with it, I reduced the opening to 11' and the range fit nicely with a 42" hood. The cabinet maker reduced it even more by the way he shifted the range down while maintaining a 48" hood. I don't know if he realized it, but he shut the opening down to 8'-8" which is unsatisfactory. That is the one place in the house that we want a really open feeling. I'll work on it over the weekend & post a layout and some renderings. I did a quick look online & really like this corbel style if I could get it in the right proportions: