weird to add to this old thread, but i wanted to add som other data... @clinresga: i wish i had read your post when i was trying to sort this all out last year...but fortunately, i think i ended up in the right place. i'll be upfront before providing more info: i am happy with my Ventahood. if i had the option of a remote blower, there is no question, i would have considered it, but in replacing an under the cabinet, microwave combo unit, the Ventahood one because of it's quietness at realistic speeds. anyway, i wanted to add the numbers i had recorded from a previous email to a friend last year when i ran into the imfamous "sticking flap" problem. (i'd be happy to elaborate on that if people want to know more about it) what i found (when the flap problem was corrected), using my Radio Shack meter at cooking location in front of the hood: Fan1 low: 57db (150 cfm) Fan1 high: 65 db (300 cfm) Fan2 high: 64 db (300 cfm) Fan 1 and Fan 2 on high: 67 db (600 cfm) as you can see, my numbers aren't too far off what was previously reported except for the lowest fan speed which is much quieter. nevertheless, i have to say that i often run Fan2 not only because of it's slightly lower volume objectively, but my subjective preference for the "whiter noise" nature of that blower. in fact, without the sound level meter, i had first thought oddly that a full 600cfm on was quieter than the fan1 on full speed on its own. i looked into a few other units including a Kobe, a Broan, and a couple other powerful "chinese hoods" that was crazy quiet at low speeds, but much louder to my ears (in the showroom) than the Ventahood. in short, i think some of the disagreement in VAH comes down to: - subjectiveness - stuck flaps - inproper ducting. (ie, installing it on a 6" or smaller duct) btw, i don't buy the whole Magic Lung giving me 900 effective cfm necessarily, but this is true from experience: the 300 cfm (one fan on full) pulls out much odor than our supposed turboboosted microwave hood did at its 420 cfm rating...i would guess the Ventahood at 150cfm still bests it! not all cfm are created equal when specified by the manufacturer :)

Homepro, thanks for the ideas! I love ideas! But shudder I can't wait to get rid of my peninsula. It's worse than an island :) Ah!, but here I see our miscommunication :) The brown rectangles are supposed to represent furniture (wood) and the yellow circles are chairs or stools (upholsery), where as the cabinets are gray (crosshatching) and the uppers are transparent gray. :) Surface appliances are white, and undercounter ones are under the gray, and the transparent red is the hood. The brown rectangle is a table which is 100% moveable, and which will probably be smaller. I drew the largest rectangle I could fit :) In my very first layout (which is remarkably similar to the latest one except for the pantry solution) I tried a small island with a small table tucked under it. It fit, and I considered the of reviving it, but I do so like the idea of the whole floor space being open, rather than confined! It leaves room for 4 people to sit and eat fairly comfortably rather than squeezed in, oh, let's sit in the dining room already. I like the sounds of surfboard and round islands :) I like my table better, but I like the way you think! The style will likely be hybrid. I'm leaning toward Euro style frameless cabinets (not having talked to the cabinet maker in detail yet), with slab doors. With a farm table :) My house isn't old, but it has a kind of N.O. style. Originally I was thinking white to pick up on that, but I don't think I want painted cabinets. I haven't really shopped sinks yet. Thanks for the mention. The size can change when I can touch some :) I do like my current 48" sink a lot, but it's rather massive. I was thinking of a single bowl sink with an offset drain. In the above plan the work wall counter is 27" deep and I might push it to 30". If so, I think I'd like to put a drainer behind the sink. It's the kind that's like a strip of overgrown colander steel and connects to the drain pipe. Then I could set my produce colander there to drain, instead of balanced on the waste bowl in the current sink, and put cutting boards and baking sheets to drip there. I do that anyway, but that leads to puddles :) If I do that, I'll do an in counter knife holder too, behind the dishwasher. I haven't really shopped the hood yet. Just read threads and rooted around online Some of it will depend on the cooktop I end up with so there's no point in getting too far into it before then. It has to vent out the wall since there's no ducting up through the second storey. The Abbaka looks a lot like what I have now, though I don't remember the name -- I bought what could be made to fit in a bad location :) Re the Gaggs, it was an appliance salesman who'd been to Gaggenau training sessions and was spouting the party line who said the 15" controls could be deck mounted, and it's just logical. I assume the same for the Cooktek, which also has the front mount controls. It's just that you have to have enough clearance for safety. I don't know if 4" is enough. BTW, have you looked at the Wolf wok burner? It has surface mounted knobs. If I do the four part Gagg top it'll have to be with the front knobs for space. Likely the same if I get some Gagg or Cooktek and some other parts. Looks isn't top importance to me (others choose the range because they like the knobs), but lining up the danged knobs is one thing I'd like to do. I'm hoping to get more information at a distributor this week or next. I'll let you know.

Sorry if I was unclear, but the silencer removes noise that is beyond the silencer relative to the listener. So, not that it would matter, but hood baffle noise would be partially silenced when listening on the roof. Relative to the cook in the kitchen, the silencer removes noise beyond it. So, hood baffle noise and local duct noise and local hood interior transition noise won't be affected by the silencer when listening at the cooktop, but duct noise on the roof side of the silencer and most importantly blade tip turbulence noise from the roof blower or the in-line blower that is past the silencer (relative to the hood) will be attenuated when listening at the cooktop. The blower noise is typically the loudest, so the silencer is important to minimizing noise. (It is worth pointing out as I think I did sometime in the past that blade tip turbulence noise dominates baffle noise given well designed baffles. I only have personal experience with my Wolf/Independent hood, so it is possible that a particular baffle design could be noisier than a particular blower design.) So the silencer should be as near as feasible to the hood (past any dampers), and the motor closer to the roof or on the roof. A duct that passes heated rooms should be insulated from the rooms passed, and possibly partially coated with damping material (I use automotive sheet metal dampener sheets). A damper is needed at the hood (probably part of the hood) and another should be at the roof. The Wolf/Broan low profile blower I have has its own damper which opens upon flow. Abbaka and Broan blowers look similar and appear to use the same approach. An upblast or downblast quasi-commercial blower and housing design may need a conventional damper just below it. Dampers should be checked for function without hanging up on errant screws before workmen can escape the project. A straight run will have minimal duct bend turbulence noise (caused by flow separation, perhaps). It may or may not make adding a silencer inconvenient, architecturally. kas

Not sure where all these comments are coming from, but I thought I would just add my opinion to the mix. You will want to consult with the manufacture of your blower what their limits are regarding length of the duct for a given diameter (in your case 10"). The manufacture will give you a length, which should be representative of what kind of head losses that blower is capable of working against to meet it's rated flow capacity. Most quality blowers I've see on the market will be rated at least around 50 feet of 10" duct. Looks like your setup, with 3 90 degree bends, and 19 feet of straight ducting, sits right around 50 feet. My nonprofessional opinion is you are fine.