Several points: 1) Higher cfm will not make up entirely for decreased capture area. I think of blower performance as what determines how quickly smoke etc. that has been captured by the hood can be evacuated. Inadequate cfm means the hood will not clear fast enough to "make room" for incoming smoke, thus leading to spillover. However, an overly small capture area means that some smoke will never enter the hood at all. Remember that smoke diffuses laterally as it rises, and that is compounded if there is any cross-current of room air. As a first approximation, smoke that drifts laterally beyond the edge of your hood is lost no matter how high the cfm rating is. Kind of like trying to go faster on an icy road by installing a bigger engine, when the limiting factor is the spinning tires. Re haus proud's comments: all of the major hood manufacturers other than VAH allow remote blower installation. In the case of the OP, though, it sounds like he/she is venting through a side wall. That eliminates possibility of using a blower mounted inside. Only remote option would be to mount an external fan on the side of the house, which on the first floor of a house would look pretty weird. "Air intake surface covering entire underside of hood"? Isn't that all of them, except for some of the "Euro-style" hoods that have a flat piece of glass extending beyond the edges of the hood? Otherwise, the entire underside of any hood is "capture area." However, that is not related to airflow noise. That is almost all generated at the actual point where the ducting connects to the hood. "Forcing" the air through the much narrower diameter duct causes acceleration and turbulence, thus the noise. And remember that the largest duct in any standard hood is 10'', so that's pretty much fixed independent of brand. weissman: my experience differs somewhat. I have a 42'' 600 cfm VAH over a 36'' Dacor cooktop. I clearly get spillover. May reflect how I cook: I love to sear (favorite salmon recipe involves preheating dry pan on max heat for 4 minutes then dumping in fish). I'm hoping the new hood with 1200 cfm remote blower will do better over the Lacanche, and if I could, I would choose a different hood with higher cfm over the Dacor as well. Agree totally that increasing the depth from standard 24'' to 27'', or at least mounting the hood out an extra 3'' or so will partially compensate for the narrow width. amysrq: re choice of hoods--all the companies you name are good choices. As always I'll throw in a plug for Modern-Aire (Modern-Aire) with whom I've had an excellent experience. I know others have liked Metallo Arts for really wild, over the top designs. Any of these companies would make a good hood for you. I think it's more of a design decision: find one you like the looks of and you should do fine.

Additional info from Icon Microwave installation guide: ÂCan only be installed over ranges or cooktops with 33" maximum width. It does not specify "professional" vs. "consumer" but the salesman said that because it is a professional range you cannot install the microwave over.

Thank you all for posting the pictures -- it helps me visualize. The look definitely works for transitional or traditional cabinetry. I'm still trying to figure out if a modern look requires wider. Fouramblues, I asked my architect and GC a few times about whether our city has a MUA requirement. They both said they had never heard of one (and they both appear to be allergic to research). I tried researching myself online without any luck. We live in SoCal (no AC) and leave the kitchen window open most of the year for fresh air, so that is our MUA plan, lol. We also have a 50-year-old house that is not even close to air tight. Secondhalf, is that the Kobe RA-02-1? Are you satisfied with the finish? I was considering the 42" 1000 CFM version of that hood. I could only find 1 Kobe hood in a local store. It was a different model (pyramid with straight corner instead of beveled) and there was a visible seam all the way up the "corner" where the front panel overlapped the sides panel (i.e., the pyramid part was made with 3 pieces of metal instead of 1). Is that how your hood is constructed, or is the lower part seamless? Also, how much space do you have between your uppers and the hood? GreenDesigns, I thought I could offset size with higher CFMs. Would I be better off with a 42" 715 CFM hood? One hood in my budget that I find aesthetically pleasing (other than the mesh filters) is the Zephyr Venezia. I'm not sure I will ever use the grill on the range, as we grill outdoors year round. I only bought that model because it was a floor model at 35% off. If I had realized what venting my "bargain" range would cost, I would have skipped it. Now I wish I had bought induction, as it would have been cheaper to replace all my pots and pans if I could use a simple 600 CFM hood.

I don't think you will notice after a while. Mine is off by about 1" on the left, because the *&^&%$ range hood is a full inch less wide than the rangetop (I swear I bought a 48" range hood, not 47"!). But then again, we are DIY so I wasn't about to make my poor DH uninstall then reinstall all of the lower cabinets after it took him a full day in the first place; if we were paying someone for it, it might be a different story. If you choose to keep it, just make sure you don't do a stacked tile BS - you would probably definitely notice it then. Example of what not to do: http://www.peeltile.com/img/media/backsplash/layout.jpg