I hadn't seen this thread when it appeared in Oct. I actually find it kinda odd. The OP has never posted again. Maybe it was indeed spam? Either way, I have really found the original Range Hood FAQ very helpful, and have emailed the link to friends cause it's such a good summary. I don't think the OP has added anything helpful to the hood FAQ, and his additions might confuse someone new to the Appliances Forum, or someone struggling with hood choices (the hardest choice for me in my kitchen!). As others have pointed out, it's odd he chose a 36" hood for a 48" range. Odd that he doesn't mention Wolf hoods in his discussion of high-end hoods, even though that's the range brand he chose. Why does he say baffles are not standard in high-end hoods - that's incorrect. And indeed, despite his contention, the greater component of noise in a hood is the airflow. You can have two identical hoods in two homes - the home with the problematic ductwork (i.e. more bends, longer, or narrower) will be noisier despite the identical motors. I think the Futuro hoods are a good brand, judging by what others have enthusiastically written on the Gardenweb about them. But I hope that people looking for helpful info on hoods in general will look at the original Hood FAQ rather than the OP's additions.

If your upper cabinets haven't been ordered, you could order 15" deep cabinets for the run above the range, rather than standard 12" deep cabinets. That way, pulling a 24" hood out 3" from the back wall would line up perfectly with the 15" deep cabinet fronts. You'd still need to put a 3" filler strip between the back wall and the back of the hood, but that's easily accomplished. I did this in my kitchen because all of my counters are 30" deep and uppers are 15" deep. I love the extra counter space and having deeper uppers means that extra large plates or other large items fit without any problem. I installed a Vent-A-Hood 9" tall X 24" deep X 48" wide range hood. The hood extends out 27" from the back wall with a 3" stainless steel filler strip installed behind the hood. Sorry, I can't remember how to post a photo on GardenWeb (I tried), or I'd be able to post an image.

After much research, I just ordered the Best by Broan liner for inside of my custom hood. Will order a Broan blower (either inline or exterior. Appliance salesman and contractor will work together to let me try inline first, and if it doesn't perform well enough, get the exterior.) Link to the liner is below. Best by Broan is Boran's upgraded line. This was a really important decision, so I would've paid anything. I looked at every high-end brand, and found that the Best by Broan was the only one that met my specific needs. I chose it because: 1) The option to attach to an inline (this goes in the attic) blower, or an exterior wall or roof mounted blower. These 2 blower options allow for quieter operation, and, especially in the case of the exterior blower, more CFMs for greater smoke capture and removal. 2) The size. 58"+ is 18" wider than our 36" Wolf with griddle. It might be overkill, but ours will be mounted higher than the ideal 30-36", and I wanted the extra width for capture. 3) The baffles. Easier to clean than mesh, like the look, and GWers explained that baffles are probably quieter than mesh. They also explained that the wider the baffled liner, the quieter, b/c the air can rush into more baffles at one time. This was another reason I chose the 58" width. 4) 4 fan speeds, 4-level lighting, lights and controls are well laid out, like the four 50w halogens. 5) The wall switch option. It's important to note, if you want a wall switch to operate your blower, that some brands either don't offer one, or the wall switch actually disables some functions (like multi-level lighting) once it's installed. This was the case with a basic Broan, which is why we chose instead the Best by Broan. 6) During decision time, the Broan/Best by Broan tech department was really helpful, knowledgable, and available. Good luck, and try posting in appliances, too. Those guys are incredibly knowledgable and helpful. Here is a link that might be useful: Best by Broan Liner

Wolf recommends the 27" if you are doing grilling or other smoky operations. With a 60" grange I would assume you will be getting both a griddle and a grill, so I think I would go with a 27" hood. The design of the Wolf hoods is such that the front does not have any sharp edges, it's just a nice rounded look. We are installing the Wolf Pro Island hood, which is 34" deep. It will be centered over 26" deep cabinets with a 36" Wolf rangetop mounted with a 2" space at the rear. This means the front of the hood will be 4" out from the front face of the cabinets and pretty much in line with the actual front of the rangetop knobs, which stick out past the cabinet fronts quite a bit. It's going to be 32" above the counter, which is way over my wife's head... but not mine :-) I think this will work fine as the bottom of the hood will be in my line of sight. Our local dealer had a rangetop mounted with a 27" wall hood and it seemed fine... I could stand in front and not think I was going to bump my head. That hood was only about 31" above the counter. With a 66" wall hood I hope you are going with a large blower, ideally the 1500 cfm remote would work best. That's what we are using with our island hood. Regarding Wolf hoods being manufactured by Independent... that is true for some hoods. I asked Independent about this and they confirmed. My local salesman did say that Wolf now manufactures their Pro line of hoods though. Don't know if that's true, but they look quite good and the attention to detail is very high, with all welded seams and a very uniform finish. I like the infinite speed adjustment also compared to just 3-speed for Independent. For the island hood the Indpendent and the Wolf were within $100 of each other in price. I went with the Wolf for its ease of mounting in an island configuration and also the much better warranty, local vendor, and much quicker delivery.