Hi, I may be able to answer the wood hood question since we went through the same thing recently. It sounds like he's suggesting a wider hood than range width, which is recommended/common although from what I've learned on this site the same width as the range can also work depending on the blower and how the range is used. If you do decide to stick to a 30" wide hood, have you checked the specific dimensions of the hood insert you are wanting to use? They should be slightly smaller than the actual hood width to allow for them to go up inside of the wood hood. While we are going with a 6inch wider hood than our rangetop, we're going to be using a bluestar rangetop and plan on lots of wok cooking. We did have to go back to our cabinetmaker requesting the wider hood and did have to give up some upper cabinet space to achieve what we wanted. Depending on how your parents use their stove, a 30inch hood could work. I'm not sure about the space needed for a stainless hood- I've seen them both butted right up against cabinets and with space in between. Hopefully someone with more expertise will pipe in on that-

I just lost my response, so I'll try again. I looked through your new house idea book, and many of the pictures had neutral backgrounds, so I think those might appeal to you. Do you want the hood to be a focal point, or do you want it to blend in? Will you be putting anything decorative on the hood, and will that influence its color or texture? Remember that the backsplash you choose will also introduce more color and/or texture, as well. It could be that the space is feeling gray because none of your cozy personal things are there yet. If you look at some of the pics in your idea books and strip them of their artwork, rugs, etc., many of them could appear gray or neutral. Would it be helpful to paint a cardboard box or to use some scrap wood to get a feel for the hood? My gut response is that it would be helpful for the hood to match the wall cabinets in this instance to help unify the room and keep your eyes from jumping from element to element too much, (but I'm not in the space to really "feel" it. ; )) Our hood has been built for a month or so, and I knew it was our focal point, but I was undecided on the color. Yesterday I finally primed it with white, which gave me a feel for white, then put an undercoat of black from a sample pot on it. I was planning to do a dark blue-green over the black, but the black intrigued me, so, one coat of black led to 2 more coats, still out of the same 99 cent sample pot, lol. We might never get to the blue green since dh and I both like the black. I wasn't sure until I saw it in real space, though. (The doors still need to be hung back up on either side of the hood. They were in my way while painting.)

We're looking at under-cabinet 36" range hoods. Our cooktop is a 5-burner 59K BTU (Bosch 800 series). I will never use all five burners at once. Maybe three burners on occasion, but typically only two at a time. My range hood wish list: Works with existing 6" ducting Baffle filters CFM: 400 min to 700 max Buttons (rather than switches or knobs) Quiet on low speeds. I expect noise at high speed! Under $700 Finding such a hood is harder than I thought, mainly because I like to read reviews and I'm having trouble finding any (or many). Here are the ones I've been looking at: Windster RA 34L - 520cfm. Would be perfect, but I hesitate because I simply can't find any reviews. Kobe's CHX91 - 680cfm. looks like everything we want, but apparently it's horrible to install. Zephyr Hurricane - 695cfm. Great reviews and price, but it has residue cups instead of filters. Does anyone have experience with this model? Is it hard to clean? Zephyr Tempest I - 650cfm. On sale, it's still a little out of our price range. I can't find many reviews of this one either. I'd love feedback on these or comparable hoods. Thanks for being an awesome community!

will your kitchen look just like that photo? all white with just a bit of accent wood? If so, I don't think choosing the alder over the oak will make that much difference. However, oak takes staining more evenly than alder. I made a Media console from Alder and stained that and a solid Alder door. The Alder is smoother, without the graining that you see in the oak. So if all these woods will be visible at one spot, I would prob just do the white oak. I actually like the looks of i t better than the Alder. Why don't you have him ceruse the white oak that's going around the vent hood? That would give you a different look. I've done it with oak and it looks really cool. You basically use a liming wax or a white paint rubbed into the grain after you stain it. The white shows up as contrast against the dark stain. this is cerused oak. you can do any color. I've done it in black and one in turquoise. It would be a nice accent around the hood.