Not to minimize, but I think the concerns over carbon monoxide relative to what the hood is doing should be pretty small. The main thing that affects CO production is how the fuel is burning. If there's enough air, as indicated by a solid blue flame, you shouldn't have to worry. And that's set by the air shutters at the various burners. For the hood to affect the amount of air for combustion, it would have to reduce the amount of air that can get into the shutters to mix with the fuel. That isn't going to happen since the air pressure at the burner is always going to be essentially the same as at the air shutter for that burner. For there not to be enough O2 for the fuel (i.e. enough air, but O2 concentration reduced), there's also not going to be enough O2 for you as the cook. That hints at larger problems not related to the range. I'm not saying there aren't houses where makeup air is needed. It's not just to prevent negatively pressurizing the house, it also lets you control where that air is coming from, as opposed to via infiltration (or an open door/window). I vote to get as big a hood as you can- we have a 42" wide by 27" deep VAH over our 36" BS RNB. We also don't necessarily turn it on when cooking unless we need to. Still here despite all that combusted natural gas (i.e. 2H2O + CO2) we've let into the house. Yes, we have a CO monitor, as should everyone.

Thanks for the compliments everyone. I can't take the credit for the design though. I had admired the glass mosaic work of a local artist at a fundraising Showhouse at the Shore. It turns out she had trained in Italy and also did marble mosaics. I told her that I wanted an all over floral mosaic in neutral colors. She did a spectacular job. Her website is www.custommosaicdesign.com Although she has been doing mosaics for many years, she is now just making it her profession instead of a hobby. Thanks for the ideas. It looks kind of bare to my eyes so I am glad to hear that it looks okay as is. I love the idea of a reverse color border-I hadn't thought of that. I also like the idea of leaving as is. Someone walked off with my tile saw and I don't feel like buying a new one. I kind of assumed that backsplashes always had tile. If you guys think it doesn't look unfinished-I may leave it. I have enough 4x4 to do 2 or 3 rows across the bottom but I can always use them in another place. I do have issues with splatters on the wall since that seems to be where I do all my prep work (not on the butcher block like I planned). And although this house is not a flip-I am always looking for a fixer upper with great bones AND basement so I always do things as if I may sell at any time. I think I'll tape the 4x4s to cardboard tomorrow so I can your opinion. They are really pretty; I just don't know if they will add anything. Someone asked about paint. It is Benjamine Moore Aura line in the color Tumeric. The Aura paints are fabulous-they are so worth the extra money. Low VOC, self-priming, scrubbable and have a recoat time of 1 hour. I know I sound like a paint ad but this line is unbelievable. I am in the process of painting my whole house (1 more room to go) and I LOVE this paint. Here is a link that might be useful: Mosaic Artist

Antartide quartzite slabs - do you know anything about this type of quartzite? I can't find information anywhere on line. The slabs show alot of mineral and have some sparkle; ranges in color from white/gray/tan to faint greens, blues and deep burgandy. Thanks.

I may have left out some words due to repetition. The number of square feet refers to the entry aperture of the hood. For example, a 36 x 24 hood aperture would be 6 square feet, and would require 6 x 90 = 360 CFM actual, likely needing a blower rated at 540 CFM. Pressure loss not only entails the ducting, but the baffles and the MUA path. Leaky walls are not exactly a free path for air. A leaky house may be sufficient for MUA in practice (given that the blower rating takes the pressure loss into account), but the OP may live where aggressive code enforcement will demand at least a damper in a duct to the outside. The rationale for 90 ft/min is based on ensuring entrainment into baffle gaps that typically are around 50% of the baffle area and have to deal with upward plume velocities of as much as 1.2 m/s. See also the table (Figure 4) on page 9 of the Greenheck Guide available here: https://www.tagengineering.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/KVSApplDesign_catalog.pdf The discussion leading to that table should prove useful for background information. In particular, the Greenheck method vs. the linear feet of hood edge (all the way around for an island hood) method is discussed. (Note commercial cooking rarely is true island type; even located in the middle of a kitchen the hood is connected to the cooktop via a back section. There may also be side skirts on the hood.) Last, let me point out that capture can fail under cross draft conditions, which are almost always worse for island/peninsula configurations than wall configurations.