In my building every 4 individual apartment ducts are combined into a common duct. Oversized external blowers take the "mass" from these big common ducts. I just need to get air over to that common duct; but i have to go through a 6" duct. The 6" duct cannot be increased in size. Mine runs about 4 feet until it dumps its air in the bigger duct. Three years ago we put in our bathroom a remote inline ILF fan in an ILFK kit. Nutone Broan. Love it. It's such a nice little air noise pulling a lot of air. Like taking a deep breath very slowly. Love the little button shaped hole in the ceiling that we can close when we want to. http://www.nutone.com/product-detail.asp?ProductID=10476 I called them and asked for a Variable Speed Control for it. Then I asked about the HLB3 in the kitchen and a Variable Speed Control for it too. Got that too: VS64 rated for up to 5 Amps; more is better; I could also get a 3 Amp one. The outstanding question is whether silent/quiet operation is still going to be in the cards given that the output vent diameter would be reduced from 8" to 6" over a few feet length. I'm not sure how to determine the increase in noise and the reduction in strength that will come from installing an 8" inline blower on a 6" duct. Later I'll get part numbers for filters and cover grills to suit SO's preference, if we go with this blower. David

I'm with azzalea re: Advantium, but first a few observations about over-the-cooktop microwave ovens from someone who's installed several: They are restricted in depth compared to microwave ovens that are designed to be built into a 24" deep cabinet or countertop units. Since wall cabinets are only 12" deep, microwave/rangehood combos can't be much deeper than that. The exhaust fans are usually wimpy - most are 300cfm, a few manage 400cfm. Another problem is that they don't stick out as far as separate range hoods, so they don't catch steam and smoke from items cooking on the front burners of your stove very well. A small number of these (made by LG I think) have a retractable extension that pulls out at the bottom that helps solve this problem. OTOH, they are a space saver. Building code requires the bottom of the cabinet over the cooktop to be at least 30" higher, but the exhaust hood can be any size, and for code purposes an over-the-cooktop microwave is just a big exhaust hood, since it does incorporate a fan and is non-combustible. Now back to the oven itself: If you can afford it, get an Advantium. More specifically, get the 240 volt version, not the 120. The Advantium 240 also runs on a 30 amp line rather than the 120's 15 amps. Result is that is has access to 4x as much power - 7200 watts rather than 1800, and this makes all the difference not just in cooking speed but also in taste and texture. I know of whence I speak; I've used both. The A240 is an incredibly versatile appliance. It's a microwave, it's a convection oven, it's a broiler, it's a warming drawer, it's a proofer, it's a monster-sized toaster. And most importantly, it's a restaurant-style high-speed oven that uses something like 5000 watts of halogen lights, ceramic heaters, microwaves, and conventional heating elements that combine to cook food with near-microwave speed, but without that soggy microwave taste. Most foods come out crispy as if they were broiled or even grilled. According to manufacturer General Electric, the 120V version takes twice as long to cook as the 240V version. It does, but what they don't make clear is that it relies much more heavily on microwaves to achieve that result, so food doesn't quite have that regular-oven taste. In speed-cook mode, there isn't enough power in the A120 to even use the conventional heating element, and the halogen lamps are about 1/5 the power. That said, I still would rather have an A120 than just a microwave or a convection/microwave. But the A240 is worth the extra cost of the appliance and whatever it costs to have a 240V/30A circuit installed (same type used by an electric clothes dryer). My preferred setup is an oven cabinet with a good wall oven and an Advantium 240V above it. The built-in Advantiums are big enough inside to use as second ovens when necessary, and they will be lower and more accessible than the over-the-cooktop versions of the Advantium.

Fori, I talked to a lady a long time ago that bought the 47" shelf and shortened it. The rods have a plug in the end that is threaded in the center. To assemble the shelf, you put a screw into the end from the outside of the bracked into that hole in the end of the rod. She cut the rods to the correct length and then knocked the threaded center plug out of the cut-off end from the inside. Then she put some epoxy into the end of the shortened rod and inserted the threaded center plug. She said it worked like a charm! My hood is 36" and I used the 32" shelf. So there is only 2" between the ends of the shelf and the cabinets.

Hi Annie, Remodelfl and Rhome! Annie, Sorry to confuse you by not having the appliances drawn correctly yet. I just had the architect flip the island just to get a visual without spending time on planning where functional things should be. But I'm with you, I love the idea of facing the view when I prep but because it's open to the living room, I was concerned about seeing the side of the island too. Funny you gave me that suggestion (and thanks for taking the time to post the pic) because when she heard I love booths, she suggested the island facing south with a big booth connected to it facing the view. The ideas seem similar. It partially solved the problem of looking at the side of the island because you were just seeing one big mass, but there were a couple of things that concerned me. I was mainly worried that it would be too much of a reach for me to try to clean the far side of the island on a daily basis without walking around. To create a separation from the living area, you'll see she also drew a big buffet that would also help to create a visual barrier like an island facing the living room, I supposed. But it would still be low so I'm not sure if that works in practice? I think the buffet would be fantastic to serve on when having a dinner party. My concern was that with the south side of the island taken up by the booth and the buffet on the side, then everyone would be squeezed between the buffet and island if they wanted to talk to me. That isn't a bad thing, but I was thinking, and please tell me if my thinking is wrong, if I'm going to have the very open plan, creating little aisles and things to have to walk around and not having big open places for guests to stand seemed to defeat the purpose. Am I wrong on this? I Here is the pic of that idea. Hi Remodelfla, Great question. This house will be in northern CA so we will be able to be outside a lot of the time. I'll tell you what outdoor areas we have to see what you think. That porch you see at the end of the living room is a screened in porch that can be accessed next to the fireplace. I was thinking that location was good because it's blocked by the fireplace and it's central to the living area and bedroom. I can see hanging out there quite a bit. But, your point about how far to take things is excellent. The other spots, so far... we have a big entry courtyard and I picture having some furniture there because it's very windy where we are and sometimes it might be nice to be outside but protected. I like how we will be able to peak througn the front door and out the back entrance to see some view too. All the doors aren't drawn in yet. And then we currently have a screened in porch left of the entry door on the south side. I'm thinking we don't need two screened porches and we can just make that an outdoor area with the grill. There is a door to get there from the kitchen at the bottom of the page. Does it seem better knowing we'll have multiple spots now? Rhome, thanks! When you say keeping tasks separate, I'm interpreting that to mean you think it's okay to have the short side of the island facing the living room so it's not as a part of the main room. That is a relief. To the right of the kitchen is the dining and living room. To the left of the kitchen is an outdoor space. I'm also soooo glad you commented on which side to have the cooktop in relation to the cleanup sink. I've been spending weeks and weeks trying to go through this in my head to decide which is most beneficial (currently my cleanup sink is not near either ... don't get me started!). I was never quite sure but I was starting to think exactly what you advised. A friend told me you have a great kitchen and fantastic organizational sense so to know that you wish yours was oriented differently carries a lot of weight. I had actually looked up your kitchen and saw your cooktop wasn't on the long side of your island so I thought, oh, I guess it doesn't matter! :) So thanks for mentioning that.