I don't claim to be a hood expert either but in general, if you are doing a decent amount of stirfry, pan fry, or saute, then make sure you get a hood between 600-1200cfm. Just as important to the power of the blower is the capture area and volume of the hood. One can make up for the other but it's not ideal. If the install is not on an island or peninsula, then 600cfm with a 36-42" wide hood would work fine even if you saute frequently. On an island, there is no back wall or surrounding cabinets to contain the smoke so you should definitely consider getting a 42" hood with 900 or 1200 cfm. If you really don't saute or stirfry much, then 600cfm would do. I'd still get a 42" however. I had a cooktop on an peninsula and with a 42" 600cfm vent-a-hood, it was not sufficient for wok cooking. For light pan fry or steam venting, it was fine. In the new kitchen, we are getting a Prestige with a remote blower. Good Luck.

I love our 48" Viking. There is plenty of room when dh and I are cooking at the same time and the extra space also comes in handy when I'm cooking alone. I love having unused burners to slide hot pots onto for cooling off or as landing space for hot items from the oven. It contains all the hot items to one space instead having them scattered across the counter on trivets. And there are times when all of our burners are used at once (we have 6 + a griddle.) I use the small oven most of the time for our family of 4. The large oven is handy when I cook mulitiple items at the same temp or when I use large cookie sheets. Having 2 ovens comes in handy for different oven temps and for when one oven is tied up by something baking for an hour that shouldn't be disturbed. Take your favorite baking dishes to the showroom to make sure they fit into the small oven. The dishes I brought were a 9" Pyrex pie pan and a 9x13 pan. They fit fine in our Viking but didn't in some other brands. The brand I was leaning toward got eliminated because the oven rack brackets decreased the usable space so much that I couldn't fit either of the 2 dishes I brought. Just reading the oven specs wouldn't have been good enough since it seemed the oven was plenty big. Dh was happy we ended up with his top choice by default. I would definitely buy another 48" range if I had to do over again. Getting a range with 2 ovens and plenty of burner/elbow space was a splurge that made a lot of sense to us.

The optimal setup would be a 42" wide hood over your 36" range, and front-to-back measurement of no less than 22", but preferably 24". If you don't want to use up what would otherwise be needed upper cabinetry, then do the 36" width. If you have the wall space, then a 42" not only captures smoke and grease better--since smoke and grease waft outwards during cooking--but it would also look more balanced. Do not compromise on the front-to-back depth. Many less expensive hoods are only 20" deep which won't cover fully the cooking surface. Also, the height of the hood should be 30-36" distance between the cooktop and the bottom of the hood. Many people on this forum post because they've hung the hood too high or too low, so be aware of that measurement as well.

First, I want to present Figure 4 from the Greenheck Guide showing what char broilers require is air velocity with a commercial hood. At least that much will be needed from a residential hood, and even then there needs to be some reservoir volume below the baffles to allow the uprising plume to partially average out across the baffle space. As one can see in the last column (for gas), the upwards velocity from the ventilation system needs to be 185 ft/min. This means that a 4 x 2 ft hood aperture (8 sq. ft.) will require about 1500 CFM. To get 1500 CFM through the baffles and out the ducts, assuming reasonable MUA matching, will likely require a blower rated (at zero static pressure drop) in the ballpark of 2250 CFM. This should be carried by a duct large enough for the duct velocity to be in the 1000 to 2000 ft/min range, perhaps 12 inches diameter or larger. The MUA has to supply 1500 CFM, with an equally impressive blower capable of providing that at the pressure drop of the MUA system, including any filters or heating elements used/needed. MUA requirements can be discovered reading MUA threads here, and greatly depend on divers factors, including the type and location of combustion appliances, if any. For these reasons, and the overkill of such a vent system and MUA system for normal cooking, some recommend moving char broiling outdoors (sotto voce: where it belongs). Commercial hoods have the demand for more ceiling height, but may, depending on the size of the char broiler, allow somewhat lower airflow requirements. We suggest reading: https://bamasotan.us/range-exhaust-hood-faq/ Other manufacturers than Wolf may be able to provide suitable hoods. As far as I know, an insert for such a project will likely require a custom build.