I am not an expert but since no one has responded .... I put in a Fantech inline fan FG6XL and am very happy with it. You cannot hear the fan, however at top speed I do hear the air movement. We think that much of that is caused from the HVAC guy screwing up our grill housing when he put it in and this has not been fixed yet. Install is very easy for any orientation. I did not put in a silencer because the online store where I bought it said that if your vent pipe is insulated it is the same as a silencer, but then my fan is only 483 cfm. There is no hood, only the grill, because the cooktop is in front of the window(it's a very small kitchen with very limited layout options. Have you checked on the need for make up air? You are pulling out a lot of CFM's and in some places code requires fresh air intake to maintain air quality.

Ideally, I'd have the heater on a programmable timer. It'd run from about 15-20 min before we got up during the week for about 30 min (you can also turn it off manually when you're done in the room). I had one of the Intermatic programmable switches, but it was kind of poorly made. And my wife's an ultra light sleeper, so she'd fuss if the heat came on in the bathroom and woke her up. Now it's just a manual switch. The point is that with our high ceilings, it takes a while for the WW to make a difference in the temp in the room. The heater is on one side, and it has a diffuser to give you a little flexibility in which direction it blows (pretty much either down or down/along the long dimension on that side). Remember that air blowing on you while you're wet in winter (dry air) is going to have to be pretty warm to feel warmer than the heat you lose by water evaporating off your skin. For us, the heater mostly makes the bathroom more comfortable for after you get out of the shower. But, if your ceilings are lower, you'll notice it quicker. As for running the exhaust, when I'm totally done in the bathroom, I switch off the heat and push the 10 min button on the Leviton timer switch for the exhaust fan, open the shower door (so the shower will dry out during the day), turn off the light, and I'm gone out the door. I'd start it earlier, but the munchkin likes to close the shower door, and I'm afraid she'll manage to break something by slamming it against the fixed panel.

I thought that I would like to come back with my assessment once I’ve had it installed. Unfortunately it seems that many people are on here searching for info in the selection phase, but don’t return once they have received/installed the item which would provide more useful information. I really like the piece. I had mine installed @ 34” above the counter, about 33” above at the front edge which hangs down slightly. The top flat section is only 11" from the back, so it sits about an inch inset from the standard depth uppers on either side. Here is a picture from a lower vantage point, looking up, into the hood - very exaggerated so that you can see the underside, but much lower than one would ever see in their own kitchen (please ignore the missing panel visible at the top of the photo, and my apologies for the photo quality). I really like the combination of infinitely adjustable light and fan speeds, as well as the option of the on/off toggles. We use the sturdy toggle switches most often, and fine tune the fan or lights with the dial controls less often depending on specific use. I like the even coverage of having 4 lights and angled towards the cooking area, providing even coverage. Not common in any of the hoods (36") I was looking at. I like that they will not shine in one's eyes, even if they are shorter. Now seeing/understanding what the “hybrid” baffles are helps. They are normal on the underside (separated solid strips of steel), with mesh screen across the entire backside. As they are hidden from view on the Centro – I don’t care what they look like, I just thought it was interesting and wanted others to see as I hadn’t found pictures or descriptions elsewhere. They would likely look a bit different than typical on a hood where they would be in view, though with a dark background of the interior area of the hood. Pic of the "front" side here. Apologies for the picture size I also like the style with the hidden baffles – the interior is clean stainless, and I have no concerns about cleaning now that I understand how the hood is put together. The interior is easy to wipe, and if, for some reason some day, the interior area “behind” the interior section (which would be behind the baffles in a more conventional setup) becomes dirty, I know how the hood is assembled/comes apart. Though I can’t imagine needing to ever clean this area as greasy air would mostly be evacuated, and only if the hood was completely full of grease and it came oozing out from inside would I imagine cleaning above the containment area (I’ve never heard of this being a problem for others, and can only imagine it becoming an issue in a commercial environment. Overall, very happy with this hood. It is very high quality, nice looking and I like the features, fan light controls and the orientation of the lights angled towards the cooking area, and I highly recommend it. I have a 36" unit, that is 24" deep, it would be nice if it had 27" depth as well, but no complaints here. The angled front section with the controls/lights may slightly help "corral" some effluent towards the capture area, and it appears that some of the fumes are pulled up into the hood through the openings around the lights. Not a significant difference, but it is there - I assume that this same effect is seen on all hoods. I only comment, because I believe that I had seen comments elsewhere

"Thank you, Kaseki! I’ve been reading your past posts-would you mind sharing again what cooking device/range hood/ makeup air system you chose and why?" You may find images of elements of my kitchen in various posts. I won't repeat them here. Also, some hood flow parameters may be found in FAQ I. Please note that my kitchen reno planning began in 2007, with most purchases of appliances made at the end of that year. Delivery was taken significantly later for most items, but well in time to confirm measurements and interface details. Explaining rationale would make this tediously long, take too much of my time, and jack this thread. I owe a kitchen photo to the FAQ II thread, and one or more should appear in the fullness of time. The cooktop: I have two induction cooktops, a 36-inch Frigidaire Gallery (replacing a 36-inch Electrolux clone Kenmore that failed after 5 years or so) and a Cooktek 3500W induction wok. These are set in soapstone over cabinets in which there is added stone support and wire racks for pans, providing maximum air volume for cooling. The hood system: Overspreading these is Wolf's largest Pro Island hood set at 34.5 inches above the counter. The hood connects to a damper, then a Fantech silencer, and then a Wolf (Broan) 1500 CFM roof blower (which has a damper). (As I have explained many times, once installed in a hood system blowers cannot flow their rated CFM due to pressure losses. I have measured, however, about 1000 CFM with presently passive MUA and no other household exhaust blowers operating.) Duct is 10-inch. The secondary hood system: There is a secondary system comprising a pair of ceiling registers (14 x 20 if I recall), 3M Filtrite filters in the register boxes, a damper, silencer, and roof mounted NuTone down-blast blower. I believe this blower is rated 600 CFM, but can't find my literature for it as it was originally bought to provide additional flow for a '70s cooking center with miniscule blower performance. The registers are ceiling mounted over a pair of Wolf wall ovens. The MUA: I have planned an active MUA system, but all parts have not yet been acquired. There seems to be no end to new "required" projects. The system as it presently exists is operated passive, and comprises a highly ventilated attic with an additional roof-mounted down-blast commercial blower housing for eventual ducted air intake, a one-inch pleat 24 x 24 furnace filter (to be replaced with a lower pressure loss 4-inch pleated canister version, a 30 x 30 heat exchanger connected to my oil-fired hydronic heating system, and a 36 x 36 diffuser at the end of a hall that connects to the kitchen. The control system for this is intended to keep the kitchen pressure equal to the outdoor pressure (which will be the attic pressure once the MUA is ducted). Some elements of this are place. A Fuji computer module in a DIN control array next to my furnace will attempt to adjust its natural frequencies (poles and zeros) such as to make a stable MUA system independent of the main hood flow rate, the wall oven vent flow rate, and bathroom blower flow rates. The differential pressure sensor upstream and motor downstream control loops are 20 mA current type. Separate sensors and controls are used to keep the heat exchanger from freezing when not in use and otherwise keeping the air passing it temperate. Blower will be the largest that can get into the attic that Fantech sells that incorporates the 10 Vdc control voltage motor. (I forget the part number.) This wasn't available back ca. 2010, nor did Fantech list a motor controller that could handle that size motor back then. If starting from scratch, I would investigate the present offerings of Electro and Fantech to minimize my work, but large flow rate in an assembled unit would likely not fit into the attic without removing the diffuser and heat exchanger for a one-time installation. While balanced air pressure is highly desirable for several reasons repeated often on this forum, I should note that my System 2000 oil furnace has its own MUA and a sealed exhaust stack installed within the original brick chimney that served the previous one- and two-generations-back Beckett boilers. The hot water storage is heated via a hydronic loop on the furnace, and the dryer is electric. Hence, back-drafting of combustion appliances is not an issue. To deal with the flow to the MUA heat exchanger (capable of 120k BTUh if necessary) as well as the longer reaches of my house hydronic plumbing, I use a larger (higher head vs. flow rate) Taco pump than is usual.