Everything is relative to the CFM capacity of the hood you are trying to install and the height over the range it will be set at. The lower the CFM the less ability it will have to exhaust properly. The best scenario is to have it about 30" above the range. You can build the wall out behind the range to get the proper coverage.

The most important thing to remember when installing any kind of exhaust fan in a home is to create a negative pressure in the house. This could result in carbon monoxide poisoning or even death by sucking harmful exhaust from a furnace or water heater back in to your home.

Best to have a professional install it.

Thanks

Beascap,

You can install the hood bumped out 9.5 inches from the wall. You would build a false wall behind the range and mount the hood on the newly bumped out wall. If you still want your niche, you would hang the hood on a stud that was 9.5" deep using a 2x10 stud would be placed horizontally on the wall. There would be some finish details that would be needed but it is very doable. I would look for a hood that was back vented under 400cfm to prevent the need for makeup air (potentially). This would depend on how tight the house is and how many gas appliances you have.

Good luck!

Best would be to have combustion (gas or oil) appliances in their own vented room. That is, with replacement air independently supplied from outside. Otherwise, some attention to whether sufficient make-up air is available is needed. Although the code allows for no deliberate make-up air at 400 CFM or below, houses differ in their leakage and how open the kitchen is to the rest of the house, so better safe than sorry.

kas

Thanks