You didn't mention whether you are talking about undercabinet or wall-mount/chimney- style hood or something else. Anyway, Kobe hoods give a lot of bang for the buck, and are well-made, with Kobe providing great customer service to boot. So check out that brand. Another choice is Costco which sells name-brand hoods at amazing prices. Typically lower-priced hoods use mesh filters, but Costco sells hoods with baffle filters which are better than mesh filters. Plus, you are likely aware of Costco's wonderful return policy should anything go wrong with the hood. Costco used to carry the Kobe Brilla hoods which was a fantastic deal, cause that's a nice hood. But I just checked the website and the Brilla hoods aren't there any more. Costco changes its inventory frequently; may be worth a trip to a Costco store to see what they have in the store. The Costco website right now shows Ancona hoods, but I am not familiar with that brand. Again, there's the Costco return policy... P.S. the 33" height above the cooktop you mentioned should be the maximum; 30" is pretty much ideal, but 33" is OK. Just don't go higher than 33". Below, I tried to direct-link to the hoods at Costco, but Costco will only link directly to the large kitchen appliances page. So, from there, search for "hood". Hoods at Costco Kobe Hoods Website

We sunk ours up into the ceiling (pics of our kitchen are in the FKB and in the Gallery). We'd had it cut to a certain height, but DH realized after the fact that it needed to be even shorter. Luckily we already knew we were going up through the ceiling w/it because the cut he made--with wire snips no less, was far from pretty (or safe with that jagged edge)!!!

Thank you for all your opinions. @Patricia. As it turns out, we are doing a Bosch dishwasher and a samsung microwave, but the refrigerator, range and hood are GE Profile. After much scouring of the internet I actually found the exact application I was looking to do with the GE range I'm looking at with a hood from a different brand. What do those of you with the trained design eye think?

You can certainly tile your range hood, but I would consult with a designer to get the details right and hire the best tile guy/gal in your area. This tile design was planned carefully and done by a skilled tiler.