Berbel extractor hood has the best recirculating technology but currently only available in Germany and UK. In conventional hoods grease is absorbed in filters. Grease particles clog the pores of the filter, and hood performance is reduced in increasing proportions. With the berbel principle grease is accelerated out of the air by centrifugal force, and is effectively separated at two points. The interior of the fan box remains virtually free of grease particles. There are no consequential costs, no unpleasant odors, no vermin, and there is no fire hazard. With berbel the unit can be cleaned with just one wipe, as easy as cleaning a Ceran hob. The stainless steel tray is made of the highest quality stainless steel and thus is dishwasher safe. http://www.berbel.de/int/index.php?id=300351 http://www.berbel.de/int/index.php?id=10

So I finally ordered the SV218D-30 from Euro-Kitchen and yep you get what you paid for. 2 Boxes. At first I was quite impressed with the Euro-Kitchen special logo tape they used. But when I opened the boxes it was obviously used. The styrofoams were dirty with foot and hand prints. The glass is new. The unit looks used. I can tell from the scratches in the back. The fan is metal but clean and it smells funny when I plug it in and turned it on (By the way it's a regular 3 prongs plug for typical outlet) The smell is hard to describe it's not disgusting but more like heating metal. The smell is similar to the new light fixture I installed but it went away within days so hopefully this will too. Handprints were all over the stainless steel. They could have at least made it more presentable. But once again, $460 versus $2000? Overall it looks nice! Just like the picture. Touch sensitive buttons, halogen lightbulbs, the corners are smooth and welded, I love the glass part. Quality looks good. Timer function is useful. I'm still not sure what I will do yet. All night I've been contemplating if I should have bought the Cavaliere at Overstock.com for $60 extra instead without warranty. At least with Euro-Kitchen I deal directly with the manufacturer instead of having Overstock being the middle man. I just hope it will last a few years until I move. I¡¯m going to try Futuro the next time.

In a somewhat similar boat. Decided to go with an 18" canopy style hood for two reasons: 1) Wife likes the looks,and this is (almost) all that counts. Planing on removing the cabinet above the range and putting the hood there, together with a duct cove running all the way up to the ceiling. Yes,I know that manufacturers say it is an either or proposition when it comes to recirc units, but that is a trivial fix with a drill and some self-tapping sheet metal screws. 2) Having the recirc box higher is actually better IMO. That way the hot air does not shoot straight out in your face but closer to the ceiling. Have you considered the Miele DA1180 and the Kobe CH3830SQBD-1? As for UTC hoods, the only one I have hound capable of recirc that is under 10" is the Betazzoni KU30PRO1XV at 8.5". However, the recirc unit adds another 2".

Expanding on what emho23 and jhmarie said, it is helpful to bear in mind that there's a difference between "the best possible," "optimum" and just "okay" (a/k/a what emho called "fine" or what I have called "acceptable compromises for the budget, design and circumstances.") Emho mentions wrestling with the issues. Many of us have wrestled with the resolving of choices of appliance compromises. At some point, we all wind up spinning and thinking "why is this so hard?" And if you think choosing a hood is hard, wait til you get to choosing a washing machine! LOL. So, let's try sorting through your preferences to see if we can make this a little easier for you to figure out. First, let's clarify what you meant when you said you "didn't realize all the $300-1000 ones in the big box stores were all recirculating or weren't a complete package." Are you thinking most are recirculating because the product tagline descriptions on the big box store websites rarely say a hood is "ducted?" The key here may be in knowing that almost all hoods at the big box stores will vent to the exterior by default but can be switched over to ductless. IME, the tagline descriptions in the product listings that say "ducted" or "ductless" are used only for the models that can't be switched from one mode to the other. If the tagline doesn't say one of the other, the hood is one you can vent to the exterior. Does this clarification maybe open up a wider range of choices for you? Second, you say you want a focal point hood on a wall between two windows. So, I'm thinking, maybe what you have in mind is a wall space without cabinets where you are looking for a pyramidal-shaped, wall mounted, canopy style of hood with a kind of chimney rising from the top of the hood. A hood with a canopy is a good thing because the canopy (as opposed to a flat base) is big assist in capturing the rising plumes of steam, heat and vaporized cooking effluents. A flat base can be acceptable if you have to do that route (as I did) but a canopy is better. With a good canopy, there is less concern with large numbers in the fan CFM ratings. As Kaseki has often explained here before (in excellent technical detail for those who want it), capture area is as important to hood efficiency as the fan power, and often more so. That likely gives you a much wider array of choices of hoods. Third, emho mentioned getting a 36" wide hood for the Jenn Air version of your Kitchenaid range. That reflects a standard recommendation here. The extra width enhances the hood's ability to capture cooking effluents (steam, aerosolized grease, etc.) which rise in an expanding cone. That brings us to the compromise in most less expensive hoods. Many are only 19" or 20" deep, front to back. Put a big pot of pasta water to boil on a big front burner on your stove and maybe some steam gets by the front of the hood. Neither the best nor the optimum design, but maybe okay for everyday living and cooking? Fourth, your builder's reluctance to install a vented hood in your kitchen might be understandable if the new house will be very tight, as many newly built homes may be. In that case, adding an unplanned-for hood may pose regulatory and practical problems. If your jurisdiction has adopted International Residential Code Section M1503.4 and/or International Mechanical Code Section 505.2, you might be able to avoid regulatory issues by simply choosing a hood with fans rated at 400 CFM or less But, there is still basic physics to deal with when the new house will be very tight. While you might avoid those kind of regulatory issues by choosing a hood rated at 400 CFM or less, and/or putting it in yourselves as DIY project, you've still got to look at the practical concerns. The biggest practical concern is one of safety. This concern arises when there are fireplaces or gas appliances from which CO can be backdrafted regardless of whether your range hood is rated below 400 CFM. You might avoid the CO backdrafting concerns if there are no fireplaces or wood-burning stoves and if the heating appliances have their own powered air intakes and exhausts sealed off from the rest of the house. However, a tight house still poses a practical physics problem akin to sucking air out of a closed box. (For that matter, I've seen a house so tight that the even bathroom fans didn't work well.) Where things can get really complicated (and therefore) expensive is when you have sought something like a LEED certification, or your builder is trying to meet the performance-based standards of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (e.g., ASHRAE ¶ 62.2), or the house is built in a state with it's own performance-based interior air quality standards such as those that Minnesota, Wisconsin and California have adopted. That means expenses for measurements and testing and maybe MUA expenses before adding an unplanned range hood to the design. OTOH, the builder may just be looking for a way to avoid dealing with the problem so as to move on to the next project. Or, maybe, all of the above.