black88mx6 recently installed a 30" kobe (a bit different than the design you are looking at). It is used with a 30" NXR range and you can see a photo in the thread at this link.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg1015220127829.html?35

Maybe you can contact black88mx6 or maybe he will chime in here with responses to your questions.

In 2009, friends of mine got a predecessor to the model you are looking.at. (I think it was rated for 700 cfm rather than the current 800 cfm) which they use over a 36" NXR. From what they told me last year, it ventilates well, they have not had quality issues, they think the LED lights are fine (but they do have a very well lit kitchen, anyway), and they find it easy to clean. At the lowest speed settings (which IIRC, is about 300 CFM) they say it is pretty quiet as range hoods go. They do a lot of entertaining and a lot of stir-frying.

Now that you have a response to your post, maybe you will get some more responses, hopefully from people who have the same model you are looking at.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Thu, Feb 13, 14 at 14:45

I have a different Kobe hood with baffles for 5 years. No problems, very quiet for a hood.

As stated above, different model but a bit shorter. We needed the shorter due to specifications of distance from top of range to hood. I am sure that many of the parts are the same.

Really like the LED lights, cool and energy efficient while supping a lot of light. The lower speeds (0-1) are very quiet but still move a lot of air. The higher speeds keep up with our NXR while running all four burners and oven. Kitchen remains good to eat in even after cooking a large meal (this never happened before).

The stainless is very heavy gauge; we purchased the matching SS back splash from KOBE also. I can say so far it is the one item in our kitchen refresh that we are 110% satisfied with.

Like you, I had never heard kobe before gardenweb. We have had it running for about 3 months now.

This post was edited by black88mx6 on Thu, Feb 13, 14 at 20:44

I too first heard of Kobe here on GW. Bought the purely mechanical RA02 in April of 2013. The hood is sturdy and moves a lot of air; on the L setting it's quite silent and the baffles work fine.

However, there are issues. At 3 weeks old, the speed knob "lost" the tactile feedback (this rotary switch has 4 positions and it should make "click-click-click" when you turn it), forcing us to actually look at it when we try to set a certain speed or turn it off.

Then, about a month ago, the knob of the light switch fell on its own. This is a heavy, all metal, machined knob and it chipped the range top when it did it. Bad engineering: the switch stems are made of ordinary plastic and the heavy knobs are just press-fitted on them, without a setscrew!

I contacted their CS to arrange for a switch replacement and they said that the parts are on backorder. I wonder why...

Given the above, I would think twice before buying it. It's heavy, sturdy and sucks air quite well, but it may hide design defects because of engineering brain farts.

A quick followup: Kobe shipped to the local service comp both two new rotary switches (same as the old ones, with a plastic stem) and two new knobs (with a new design, using of course a set screw).

The gentleman who installed them (he came on a Saturday, that's service!) did show me that the click-click-click thing is created by a small steel ball pushed by a spring and mine just slipped off, very easy to fix.

Anyway, I'm now 100% happy with the hood.

I'm considering the Kobe CH9136SQB...hoping to read more user experiences.

Kobe seems to be constantly tweeking their design features. I feel uneasy about the mechanical quality of their hoods over the long term but the price is hard to beat for the features. I'll be interested in this thread as would like more first hand feedback also. Thanks to everyone who has posted so far.

I strongly considered the RA02 kobe based on good reviews- but there were a few misses for my application that might not apply to you, like the fact that the hood did not come with enough extension to ceiling without my buying additional parts, the manual knobs (seem reliable but I wanted a delayed shut-off) and the price wasn't what I'd consider cheap. Instead took my chances and recently purchased a 1200CFM zline- 19ga steel was slightly thinner, but they provided LED lighting, baffles, 27" depth vs 24, I liked the looks, 3 yr warranty and a Better Business Bureau A+ rating. Hard to find reviews on Chinese hoods, but my assumption is that something really so simple should not need to cost twice as much (as the name brands charge). I think Kobe will be a great solution

Here is a link that might be useful: Zline

I recently remodeled my kitchen and have been using a 36" RA-094SQB-1 for a couple months. I don't care for it too much. BUt first to answer your questions.
http://www.koberangehoods.com/product/RA-094SQB-1.html

1) How well does it ventilate?
The super quiet low settings are good enough for frying eggs, light cooking, without much issue.

2) Any quality issues with the product (motors, buttons, etc.)?
2 of 2 hoods I have had have issues.
1st one - looks like was already installed, baffles were bent/broken, scratches in finish.
2nd one - Scratches on vent stack. Fan is out of balance and causes an annoying droning at lvl 3 thru 5. (unit is speeds 0-5)

3) Are the LED lights bright enough?
They are 3 levels of brightness. It's okay, but I think my old PacAir Hood was better. What's annoying is one push turns it on, at brightest setting. Then you to turn it off, you have to press the button 3 times. It cycles through each light level before it turns off.

4. Easy to clean?
   Threw the baffles into the dishwasher (Thermador Sapphire) mounted sideways, it cleaned the outsides well, but had trouble cleaning the insides of the baffles well.

5) Is it reasonably quiet?
Very quiet at 0-2. Noisy at 3, but average. 4-5 are very loud.

6. How long have you owned your KOBE?
   3 mo.

Additionally, I purchased this hood based upon great reviews at how well their customer service was as well. Not so. I've been waiting over a month for them to service my motor drone. It took them two weeks to get back to me to only email the part is on back order. From what it sounds like on a previous poster, this is their play to avoid service.

I'm going to talk to the place I bought the hood and see if I can just return it, as I'm not happy with the drone and the service isn't what I expected.

Also, I don't like the way the light cycles. I think I'd be much happier with a 2 level rocker switch. Much easier to set what you want and turn on and off.

The unit doesn't seem to pull enough air. We do alot of wok cooking and although this is rated at 760 cfm it doesn't pull nearly enough. Maybe I needed the RA-02 that most people get. Mechanical switches, larger hood, higher CFM, but nosier. I think I chose too small for my range. (36" Thermador Pro Harmony.) I need at least 1100 cfm.

My 2 cents for you.

I attached a picture of the range. It's cluttered and unfinished because our contractor is stupid and we're in week 14 ... still missing doors, etc. *ugh* that's a whole other story.

Spiffywerks, your kitchen is looking beautiful! I really like how rich and warm your cabinets look, yet your kitchen isn't dark at all.

Thanks for the comments on your Kobe hood. I still haven't purchased one yet. It would be at the upper end of my budget so disappointed that you haven't had a great experience.

Your hood set-up isn't ideal because it's generally recommended to have 3" overhang of the hood on either side of the range. That improves the capture area of the hood - more is captured passively - it's not all about the "suck" factor. Sorry, I know that's no help now, but you may have performance issues with any hood that size.

bblakeney, did you end up getting that Kobe hood? If yes, are you happy with it?

Yes. I've had the Kobe since May 2014, so nearly 1 year. During that time I've definitely put it to the test with much use. I'm happy to say that I'm very pleased with the hood. It works great and is beautiful. I would definitely recommend this product. If I had to make the decision again, but now with the benefit of my experience, I would absolutely choose the Kobe again.

Thanks for writing back bblakeney :) . How are you finding the noise levels for normal cooking?

Bblackeney, thanks for posting. The hood you got is 760 cfm? how big is your range?thanks

I cannot say the Kobe hood is whisper quiet, but I did not test any hood that was. I have found the lower 2 speeds adequate for ventilation of most cooking. Noise tolerance is subjective; I would say I'm not super tolerant and Kobe passes my test. My hood is 36" wide; my GE café range is 30". This provides more ventilation and a more open cooking area. Pic attached. Ignore my floors which are being installed today.

Looks great. Thanks again.

I'm pretty sure the NXR range hood sold at Costco is made by Kobe. I just ordered it (haven't installed it yet), but the spec manual is nearly identical to those on the Kobe website. It has the NXR badge on it, but there's a GW post about removing it with a hair dryer and dental floss. I can't vouch for its function since we haven't used it yet, but it's beefy and appears well-made. Might be something to consider since it's such a great deal from Costco!

Here's a link that might be helpful

Bblakeney, your kitchen is beautiful! Thanks for the comments - they help me a LOT.

Dmeah, fascinating!

Thank you Adbej! So hard to get hood reviews. You folks are reassuring me that Kobe might be the right option.

I was seeing too many reviews of Kobe owners having mechanical problems, especially at about the 5 year mark with their switches. As another reviewer noted, I also don't like that they seem to be frequently tweaking their range hood features and designs. My decision was to go with Imperial as I wanted reliability. Imperial is made in the US and warranty their better range hoods for 7 yrs. Their folks were always available to answer questions and seemed to be honest when discussing the negatives of some of their models. My installer had a question regarding the schematics and was promptly put through to their chief engineer. Imperial also had more options available. The light and fan switch are continuously variable rather than having a specific number of settings. I also selected the option of having the switches wired remotely, separate from the range hood. So far, I'm happy with my decision.

I have a KOBE Brillia INX2930SQBF-500-1 insert, The dimensions are 11.5" deep by 27.75" wide. I'm being told the deepest hood I can have with this model is 15" which is far too shallow to meet my front burners. Is 15" really the limitation?

First, for adequate containment, the air flow rate (CFM) has to grow with the hood entry area.

Second, for a narrow insert to act as a, say, 22 inch hood, it has to not only meet the CFM requirement, but be high up in the cover where control reach may be minimal. The inner walls of the "hood" have to taper to the filter section.

Third, all of the interior construction has to be surfaced with stainless steel; this can't be a metal insert deep into a wood surfaced assembly. Grease collection alone will be difficult to clean.

Great thank you