Are you able to vent the hood outside? Many people in NYC apartments can't vent outside. If not, I'd skip the grill - you'll generate too much smoke for a recirculating hood. If you can vent outside, you probably can get by with a 36" hood with 1200 CFM although makeup may be an issue.

Just saw this quote on applianceadvisor.com Submitted by Appliance Stallion on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 6:16pm. As I stated ,I took a survey of 103 dealer/distributor types who spoke on the record as long as they would remain confidential as to who they are. Typical for surveys I guess. Here are the results.Best is first...1. Thermador. Most comments on the PRD364EDG 2. Kitchen Aid. A surprise.3. GE Monogram. Another surprise.4. Wolf.5. Dacor.6. Viking.For the top rated ones people liked the look but more importantly ease of use and service response.For the others it was a matter of service response and product difficulty in some of the uses. Apparently they all assume each company will have some problems and it is the response and corrective action that is most important. Funny , but the look was not as important as in earlier years, a surprise to me . Nothing terrible to say. Just their opinions' Here is a link that might be useful: Appliance Advisor forum on Dual Fuel Ranges

I don't really want to jump into the whole viking vs. others debate either, but I thought I'd affirm you in your decision, tiger. I recently bought my viking after finding a really good deal on it. Like I said before, we haven't started on our kitchen yet...so it's sitting in a little corner off my living room in the mean time. A few days ago a friend of ours dropped by who is works for a high-end appliance repair company. He warned us numerous times before we bought our stove not to get a Wolf and had suggested Viking (he's told us whatever we get he'll do free repairs...a very close friend...so he's not in it for more business). He says he sees more of those with major repairs than any other brand of range. He saw our Viking and was thrilled. He said they are one of the easiest brands to repair (i.e. and at over $100/hr. for a repair person that means less time spent) and most of the ones he sees are for very minor repairs like the knobs sticking and needing oil. Now, I know this is anecdotal, but I was pretty happy to hear it. Our Viking is an older model, so I don't know what the current ones are like, but it was so easy to take apart and clean I can't wait to use it. If you're going to have stainless handles on the other appliances and stainless or nickel in other parts of the kitchen I'd go with the stainless hood. It sounds great!

I do not see why you would need something deeper then that for a nice kitchen that is not over the top. Yosemite sells several 36" wide units that are 300 cfm rated. They sell to retailers only I do not have my books with me but my memory says the dealer cost is 75-150 they charge us shipping if we order one at a time. I would think you should be able to find many things available for 300 or less. You should state what you feel is reasonable to help sift the answers to match the questions! I would expect total cost as a dealer of about 225 on the more expensive units including shipping. I am waiting on the catalog for broan. I finaly found a local wholesaler who I can work with that stocks broan products. I would tell you about them if I had better numbers at hand.