Sahmmy, no offense, that is why we have boards, so people can exchange their ideas. Actually, the 22 inch height is fine for seeing into pots, I have no trouble using tall stock pots, though mostly I use a turbo pot for boiling water for pasta, and it works fine, though some of the steam does go straight up and does not get captured by the vent. I don't have any problem flipping french toast, though I am not all that great about pancakes - sometimes the outer edge of the one being flipped falls on the top of one of the pancakes on the griddle, but I am pretty sure that is because it is so cramped on the aftermarket griddle, and I make big pancakes. I am certain the height of the vent hood plays no role. I am usually pretty good on safety. It is a Viking hood, and I installed it when I got a Viking dual fuel with open burners - I have not gone back and looked at those installation instructions, but in Googling a Viking installation manual it says " Wall cabinets above the range must be a minimum of 36â (91.4 cm) for open top burners and a minimum of 42â (106.7 cm) for sealed burner models above the range cooking surface for the full width of the range. This minimum height requirement does not apply if a rangehood is installed over the cooking surface." In the manual, the word not is underlined, so it seems pretty clear to me, they didn't see a safety problem. The vent hood is 10 inches high, so the bottom of the cabinet is 32 inches above the grate. I haven't noticed the top of the vent hood ever getting warm to the touch, so I don't think there is any real fire hazard. While I don't like bending over to switch on and off the lights, if I had to do it over again, I would at most raise it an inch or two, I still love that cabinet over the vent hood, just used it tonight.

Moving air through a pipe doesn't really car if if it (the Pipe) is going up, down or sideways. Sure up is always better because you gain the natural rising of heated air, but plenty of setups flow down. Where do you think the air in ALL downdraft hoods and JennAir's flows??? Re: remote vs. internal- either type will work AS LONG AS the selected unit pushes/pulls enough air (cfm's) to overcome the static pressure of your pipe and all the bends. Remote or inline ones are generally quieter than hood mounted ones.

"If I don't use a junction box to make the new connection, is it permissible to make some sort of butt splice behind the wall and tape it up? Or is this an even worse idea than hiding the box behind the hood? " All connections must be in accvesable junction boxes. If the cable is in the attic you could cut it back to there (the insulation is liable to be in better shape) and then use a section of NM from the attic junction box down to the hood. ALL boxes must remain accessible, and while it is possible to remove a vent hoed for access , it is going to be a real PITA (unlike pulling out a DW or range).

I'd call the help line at Bosch and ask that question. We have a Bosch hood and love how it works but their installation directions were incredibly difficult to follow for such a simple application. Good luck.