Based on our 600 cfm VAH hood at our lake house, I'd say it's not a bad unit, but no one would call it quiet. We do a fair amount of "smoky" cooking and run it on high quite frequently. On high, with both blowers going, you have to raise your voice to converse near the hood. On "medium" (one fan running on the high setting) it's still a somewhat annoying (to me) background sound, on "low" it's pretty reasonable. I think if quiet is really the issue, then there is no question that an external roof or wall mounted blower, coupled with a Fantech silencer mounted in the attic, is clearly the best. That's what we're doing for our ongoing kitchen redo in the main house. Next best would be an remote blower mounted in the attic, again ideally with the Fantech silencer. Worst is any in-hood blower. But...edlakin is right, most of the time you run a blower on low settings so this is not a big deal unless you're really obsessive.

Do you think I should go with the 48" wide x 27" deep hood over the 36" range? That run of cabinets has a 24" wall oven tower on the right and the range to the left of center so the prep island is not so much a barrier island. I can control the length of the run by changing the opening from the kitchen to the keeping room. The plans have it as 12' into a 13.5' room. When I played around with it, I reduced the opening to 11' and the range fit nicely with a 42" hood. The cabinet maker reduced it even more by the way he shifted the range down while maintaining a 48" hood. I don't know if he realized it, but he shut the opening down to 8'-8" which is unsatisfactory. That is the one place in the house that we want a really open feeling. I'll work on it over the weekend & post a layout and some renderings. I did a quick look online & really like this corbel style if I could get it in the right proportions:

I think that visually gray beats black for this application. However, before choosing the hood, or the fabricator of the hood in case of custom, the hood's parameters have to be defined. As I've noted before, one can have any two (at best) of performance (includes noise), aesthetics, and cost affordability. Usually, trades among these are necessary. May we assume that your hood is on an outside wall, and that cost containment will allow a short duct to outside? This will preclude any silencer in the path, but a larger outside blower run generally at part power may prove to be quiet. (I realize quiet wasn't on your list, but for most, and including cooking while having guests, it will be appreciated.) Some parameters you may wish to adopt. Hood width: 42 inches Hood depth: Not less than 24 inches (27 if possible counting any front light bar) Hood mounting height: Depends on cook but more than 30 inches but not over 36 inches without further expanding the hood size Hood intake velocity: up to 90 ft/min over the entry aperture Hood filter: baffles Hood reservoir (volume below baffles): More than one gets with a horizontal baffle configuration. Hood resulting volumetric flow rate: 630 CFM Hood exit port: out the back, otherwise there may not be room for an elbow Blower sizing: 900 or more CFM at zero static pressure Duct size: 10 inches preferred, but 8 might do for a near zero length through the wall. Make-up air: Always, but that is another topic and will add a little or a lot of cost depending on more than you can imagine at this stage ... Please read hood threads here for a general understanding of the concepts involved. If this weren't a zombie issue with different aspects each time we wouldn't have to beat it to death so often.

A local restaurant supply has contacts to a metalworker who can create something utilitarian and custom in stainless for a couple of thousand, not including the insert. If you are wanting something more aesthetic than utilitarian, that will not be a good option. The price goes up for that. A local metal sculptor artist type person is where to start that search. It may easily be that 15K or more though. Bluestar or Ventahood are both good options for many customizable options. If you are doing a 54” hood over a 48“ range, you are going to end up at a high price to a really high price, no matter what route you go, if you are choosing effective ventilation. That is because of all of the extra costs that are code required with large ranges. Backdrafting carbon monoxide is no joke, and it is why make up air is a code rquirement.