The brown color is the natural tarnishing of copper. In time it will turn green. It can be removed simply by using a good copper polish. The copper polish may also remove the white and black discoloration around the hot spot. Due to the brown color, it sounds like this hood was not given a protective finish at manufacture. However if it does have a plastic type protective finish, or if the protective finish has worn off in areas, you'll have to remove all of it in order for the polish to work. A paint remover will probably do it, but the fumes can be awful and you'll need to protect adjacent and lower surfaces from the drips/splatters. After you bring the surface back to an acceptable state, you can re-apply a protective finish, although I prefer leaving such surfaces unprotected and using regular polishing to keep them looking nice.

On the kitchen forum, allison0704 fabricated a hood out of copper sheeting. See the link below for a picture. Here is a link that might be useful: allison's copper hood

Here are the facts: Our crates are solid 7/16" plywood wrapped with structural 2x4's all round, internally. We get nothing but compliments on our crating and I have a list of many clients who can attest to that. We bolt our projects to the crate, wrap them in plastic and put numerous stickers and markings on the crate to ensure the forklift driver cares for what he is transporting/moving. We have had somewhere in the range of 6 damaged crates over the past 6 years, with some crates going as far as Alaska. On 350+ shipments that is a margin of 1-2% damage, which is quite good. 2006-2008 0 damaged shipments, I had 3 in 2008, this one in 2010 and I have had 2 in the past 2 years. Almost all of the damages were the result of a fork being driven through the crate. Now, let's put this in perspective, Imagine a forklift, that can weigh well over 1000 lbs, with two forks on the end that taper off to about 1/4" in thickness at the edge of the fork, which are made of hardened steel. If a guy drove that forklift into a concrete wall at 3 mph, what do you think would happen to the concrete wall? Do you think the concrete would absorb the shock? No it wouldn't I have done it. The point I am trying to make is that there are some things regarding transportation of goods that you just can't control and accidents and damage will happen. Moving on... we have a terms of sale that clearly states to check over contents and the crate prior to signing for them; unfortunately the freight industry is full of workers who don't put "taking care of their crates" at the top of their core values. I have learned my lesson in the past by not operating with a terms of sale and notifying, prior to shipment and throughout the course of doing business with us, that you MUST look over everything before signing. This is exactly what our terms of sale currently says in regards to shipping: "Customer is responsible for acceptance of shipment regarding initial inspection of product at time of delivery. Once product is signed for from the shipper, the customer accepts all responsibility for any damages to product. However, if damage to the item is noticed after the shipment has been signed for, the customer needs to let all items remain in their place and call VCW immediately. We will do our best to resolve the issue, but once the item has been signed we make no guarantee to how the matter will be resolved. Please inspect carefully before signing for delivery." In this particular case, several weeks had passed before the client realized that the bottom of the crate had been compromised, resulting in a slight dent in the back top portion of the hood. I never saw pics of the actual crate where it was damaged, but I did see pics of the damage itself and here is what I suggested: First, considering this was signed for as received in good condition and a considerable amount of time had passed, filing a claim was out the window and beyond the point of possible. I tolld the client to ship the hood back to me and I would repair for free assuming I didn't have to rebuild the entire hood, which judging from the pictures, it looked like it would be an easy fix. In my opinion, that seems like a rather fair gesture in itself. I worked with client to make several suggestions to resolve the issue after they decided they didn't want to send the unit back to me, the words "that's how we pack them, your on your own," never came out of my mouth or any other of my employees. All of this could've been avoided if 1 the crate and its contents were thoroughly check, like we ask in our terms of sale that the client had signed. I don't think that it was my responsibility to absorb over $600+ in shipping costs over something that should've been handled the way that we asked and clearly stated in our terms of sale, prior to shipment. Lastly, CKS hoods are not handcrafted in America.

Thank you! I don't know the cost on the hood alone. I purchased the appliances, including the VAH. Our HVAC company installed the duct work. The craftsmen (I hate to call them installers because they were so much more!) installed the cabinets after making adjustments on some, built the antique pine island and made the hood trim from scratch (old pine also), so it was included in the cabinet price. More pictures are available at link below. You can click on them to enlarge: Here is a link that might be useful: More kitchen pictures