Hi Brian, I've been researching hood choices casually for months on the Gardenweb kitchen and appliance forums. Only lately has our remodel taken off and forced me to get serious about a final decision. From the threads I've studied Prestige, Independent and Modern Aire seemed to have the most satisfied customers. (Abbaka may be excellent as well.) Vent-A-Hood had some happy owners but also had a large number of negative reviews--so negative that I ended up crossing them off the list of possibilities. If the reviews were to be believe VAH's magic lung system is fluff/hype and not up to the task of serious ventilation. It's also apparently noisy. This is exactly the opposite of what the salesman at my local appliance store said, but I've learned to trust these forums more than the advice of the stores in my area. I suspect I'll end up appealing to Trevor for help on the hood dilemma when I purchase the BlueStar 36" in the next few weeks. If the larger capture area on the Prestige can compensate for the lack of 27" depth, then I'll likely go that direction. Having said that, the Modern Aire hoods are gorgeous, seem universally loved by their owners, and have custom options other hoods lack. Darnit. This really is a tough decision. MA would be much more expensive, but I don't want stir-fry fumes wafting through my home. If the 24" Prestige can't capture adequately for the BlueStar's grill and 22K burners, it will have to be MA. Whoever would have thought that the hardest appliance decision in our whole kitchen remodel would be the hood? :)

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.

I don't claim to be a hood expert either but in general, if you are doing a decent amount of stirfry, pan fry, or saute, then make sure you get a hood between 600-1200cfm. Just as important to the power of the blower is the capture area and volume of the hood. One can make up for the other but it's not ideal. If the install is not on an island or peninsula, then 600cfm with a 36-42" wide hood would work fine even if you saute frequently. On an island, there is no back wall or surrounding cabinets to contain the smoke so you should definitely consider getting a 42" hood with 900 or 1200 cfm. If you really don't saute or stirfry much, then 600cfm would do. I'd still get a 42" however. I had a cooktop on an peninsula and with a 42" 600cfm vent-a-hood, it was not sufficient for wok cooking. For light pan fry or steam venting, it was fine. In the new kitchen, we are getting a Prestige with a remote blower. Good Luck.

My experience has NOT been good, to say the least I am very frustrated. Placed order for PLEW832.36 1600CFM with 10' chimney extension Jun 20, 2011. ProLine informed me the design was changed, instead of one motor at 1600CFM, the redesign was 2 motors with 1000CFM. I asked about the venting, my response was we have a gasket that covers both outlets to converge into one, ok so I have 1 hole in my wall for the vent, is that right? yes was the answer. Vent did not arrive until Aug20 2011. Vent did not come with the gasket they said it would, I called to inquire about this and they now said it needed its separate vents to beyond the wall and then could be joined into 1 pipe. Installed about 2 days later. As our kitchen did not have a vent, we had to have one installed, quite a process, as we have a room above the kitchen. Turned on the vent and such a racket... quietest on the market, don't think so! So I called Tech support and spoke with Spencer, he said it was not supposed to sound like that and they would send another one to replace the one installed. Also, the chimney extension did not arrive at the same time, called and they said it was on its way, it was delivered Aug 26 @ 6pm! The new vent was delivered Oct 27 2011. Called the installer to come back and take out the old and replace with the new. Guess what! Still the noise, not as bad, but still very noisy. I placed a call to ProLine for tech support and was told he was out of the office and a message would be given to Spencer for a callback, I am still waiting for that call. I was looking for a different type of "Y" connecter and a distribution center for HVAC advised me to call a company which specializes in vent work. I did, they took a look and said it needs 2 separate vent runs. However as they were preparing to do the work yesterday late afternoon, they removed the vent pipe and still the noise on one of the motors, sounds like the left. The installer said it sounded like the bearings were bad. I called and spoke with Heather, she said she could do nothing about it and will talk with Spencer on Monday. As a footnote, this company is a venting company, that is all they do, they install Viking, GE, Dacor, etc... high end vents, they have been in business for 40 years, so they should know what they are doing. All of this has been a great expense, each time they have to come back it is more money. Now, the vent company, will add additional vent at a cost of about $350. So this install process has cost us as much as the vent ... Vent with chimney $1000, first install $630, additional install $350. Also, manual that comes with the vent is for a single motor. I feel that if they changed the design, venting is a big process to making the vent work properly, they should have advised on that process and have new manuals made. I must say that Proline has been very accommodating, but they don't tell the truth about when the product will be here (too many conflicting excuses). I think 2 months wait each time is a little long for arrival. Perhaps they should put more vents on that slow boat from China! Sometimes what seems to be less expensive turns out to be more expensive, than if you had chosen a more expensive one in the first place. Please CHOOSE carefully.