I think i have the exact set-up you're contemplating. I have the 36" 6 burner RNB under a 36" bluestar pyramid hood with 1200 cfm. First, the range is spectacular. You will love it. The hood is great too. It does an excellent job of removing smoke and grease. Cleaning it isn't too hard either. I just throw the baffles in the dishwasher and wipe the interior of the good with some 409 and paper towels. Depending on usage, I'd say I'd do this about once a month. I love the looks of it and the fact that unlike other hoods, it has infinite variable controls for both the vent speed and lights. As for loudness, well that's subjective. But mine is in my kitchen in an open layout house and the living room is about 20 feet away. I can cook with the vent on full blast and people can still hear the tv just fine in the other room. If not cooking something that creates too much smoke, I just use the vent on a variable lower setting. I'd say anything less than about 3/4 full power results in very little noise at all. It's just at full power is loud, but still not loud enough to distract people in the adjacent room.

Thanks for pointing that out, Jamies. I don't want to overlook any potential problems so I appreciate that. I don't think that will be an issue in my kitchen. I always put groceries and things from the fridge on the island or the counter on the other side. The counter that would be below the microwave is not used for anything, other than to display pictures/decor. My main concerns are that this is a 30" cabinet so I hope the microwave doesn't look too big and out of place. The other thing is that in this builder grade kitchen, there isn't the vertical wood pieces next to the fridge so I'm afraid the appliance right next to appliance without a wooden divider might look a little weird. Thoughts? But the main focus is the stove area, so maybe it's not a big issue. Worse case senario is DH will have to put the cabinets all back in their original places and that's a lot of extra work for him. Hey guess what, I was in the grocery store today and on the cover of a kitchen magazine was a kitchen redo that had an OTR microwave!

Better hoods on the market that I can recommend are: Vent-A-Hood Kobe Zepher Broan (supplier of the Wolf hood) Elica All of these brands are quiet, reliable, powerful and more than able to handle your needs for a 36" Wolf. Your local dealer will provide the best info on what size blower(s) you will need based on any possible requirements in your area and the loss of cfm due to the turns.

I chose the Broan e661 30" model because it is affordable with 600cfm. We just moved in a week ago and so far I like it. It's very quiet on the lowest setting and moves enough air to make the gas burner flames dance even on that level. Even though the hood doesn't extend past the front of the range, it pulls steam when using the front burners. It has rounded edges which is nice because it won't hurt if your head bumps the corner...I'm too short to bump this one but my husband is 6'5".