The vent hole is where the current vent recirculates the air back into the room? Then it's not an exterior vent. It's just an interior loop that does you no good. And yes, the condo board most surely DOES have say as to how you punch holes in your exterior. Start by asking your neighbors what they have done for ventilation. And then get an HVAC expert in to examine the situation before you get too far into the design phase. Once you get their recommendation, you can approach the condo board about alterations to the unit's exterior. Good luck! Most boards aren't that willing to work with you on something like this.

Whenever you're picking an island hood fan you want to make sure the fan you are picking is one size bigger than your stove as island hoods need to be able to capture any smoke and steam that would otherwise escape from the sides of the hood. As for how strong you should go, the way we like to determine what you need is what the maximum BTU's of all your burners is. Every 10,000 BTU's you want to have 100CFM, for example if your stove produces 50,000 BTU's you'd want 500CFM or more. If you require more than 600CFM then I would highly recommend using an 8" duct in your home and on your hood, as a 6" duct can typically only produce a maximum of 600CFM without creating unnecessary noise. You mentioned that you only cook about a dozen time a year so it does not sound like you need anything fancy or overly powerful, but when buying cheaper units you need to be careful as in most cases it is cheaper because the parts on the inside are cheaper. A unit that's $200 may produce the same CFM as let's say a $1000 unit but the $200 unit more than likely will be much louder, less efficient and have more plastic parts in it and if you have a gas stove you should be very weary about the amount of plastic in your hood as it may break down on you in the future because gas stoves tend to be hotter. Also, what people are saying about glass hoods is true, they do get dirtier faster and require more cleaning. They also have a much smaller surface area where the steam/smoke can enter compared to a pyramid still range hood so that is also another thing to consider.

Given determination of the performance requirements, and selection among hood candidates for cost and aesthetics, then it should be possible to find and download the installation guides for the selected hood and any chimney parts needed. Large hoods will require some help holding it up for fastening. My very large hood required a sheet rock lift to do the hard work holding the hood up while attaching bolts from inside. You will need access to your attic and roof, and if there is room, an in-line silencer will help minimize noise if you use a roof blower. For ideas on hoods and supporting parts, see the Wolf Design Guide (wolfdesignguide.pdf). For silencers, duct clamps and other related devices, see Fantech's web site. I support the jack-of-all-trades suggestion.

I have a Broan. It's a tad noisy but works well and has been reliable. If it has a circuit board I don't what it could possibly be doing. The lights are good. I think it's an Elite E64xxx. (600 cfm 36" hood over a 30" high btu gas range.) I don't like that it has a knob for the light but it's not that bad. Does it click all the boxes for coverage and CFM? Nah, but it's certainly good enough.