Are you talking about the oven (and not the grill or griddle)? If so, the main over doesn't take any longer to preheat than our older non-pro oven (which was a stand-alone unit and not part of a range). However, one nice thing about the 48 inch ranges is that you get a much smaller side oven that will be sufficient for most oven uses (it will hold a full sized pyrex dish). That oven heats up much quicker than any oven I have ever worked with before. But as to exact times, I haven't the faintest clue. If I remember, I will measure the heating times this evening after I get home from work. Jay

This has come up before in a somewhat similar situation (see link below). First question is what you want above the hood. If I read you correctly, you have upper cabinets on either side of the range, but no cabinet actually above the range. This is where I presume you will build your custom stucco enclosure. The reason this is important is because it determines how you will "back vent." What I think you mean is that you need to vent horizontally. The term back venting is often used to describe a vent that vents straight back, so that there is no ductwork at all above the hood itself. This is generally true for true undercabinet hoods that mount to the underside of a cabinet immediately above the range. If however you have nothing above, then you can use any hood liner that can vent up and then horizontally out. Essentially any custom hood liner can do this, using either a blower mounted in the hood, or if you want a quieter vent, then using a remote blower located on the external wall where your ductwork will exit your house. There are many sources for such liners. Monogram is not typically thought of as a "top performer" for ventilation. With the uncertainty over GE Appliances now, I'd be even less inclined to use them. Do search this forum: there is lots of great information on hood vent companies. Some of the companies that get positive feedback here include Vent A Hood, Prestige, Independent, Modern Aire, Wolf and Broan. Other misc thoughts: Do you have exactly 36'' to work with in width? If so, then you will need a hood liner that is even narrower than 36'' to fit inside your custom enclosure, which would be limited to 36''. In that case your vent size is even smaller, and even 36'' is marginal for ventilation performance, as the usual recommendation is at least 3'' wider on each side than your range. You might compensate at least partially by choosing a hood that is deeper than usual, as long as it doesn't bump anyone's head. And, if you truly have to use a hood vent that back vents without any ducting above the hood, look at the VAH SLH-6. Here is a link that might be useful: hood vent thread

I purchased a wolf dual fuel 48" 9 months ago and after several service calls, Wolf did a buy back on the range. It was kind of strange, I would have been ok with another range but they did not want to switch it out. They were very nice, tried to service it but never really looks at the internals, instead would send a chef out here to cook in it and troubleshoot it. My issue was mainly the convection. Cook on one rack, no issues, cook on all of them like cookies and extremely uneven cooking from top to bottom and back to front. Not satisfied. Hated the lack of rolling racks, I find the racks hard to pull out. Had the double griddle. Fantastic to cook on but the grease catcher does not catch grease, instead it fills up, overflows underneath and makes quite the mess, even when the catcher is not full....they even mentioned that it is a design flaw. The actual service help after was good in most respects, would I buy another wolf? maybe some day, but not that range for sure. Also, took forever to heat up and boiling a pot of water took too long for such a beautiful unit. I am now purchasing a capital culinarian...hoping for much better results.....

While your GE hood could be defective or have something wrong with the motor, that is usually not the case. Most typically the greatest amount of noise is generated by the air flow through the ducts. The noise will increase significantly if your duct is narrower than what is specified for the hood, and/or if there are several bends in the duct. So, the required duct size for your hood #ZVC30 is 8". Is your duct smaller than that? If so, your exhaust noise would be increased significantly. Also, are there a lot of bends to your ductwork before it reaches the outside? Two identical Monogram ZVC30 hoods could be installed in two different homes, and have very different noise levels depending upon the ductwork at each home. Also, your hood has mesh filters. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but mesh filter hoods tend to be louder than baffle filter hoods due to the greater air turbulence flowing through mesh than through baffles. But I still think the ductwork is the bigger determinant of noise.