We don't have an island hood so honestly I have no clue whether the stores we looked at had any, but the two that had the best selection of wall hoods on the floor were Airport Appliance (multiple locations, including one in Redwood City I think---we went to the Hayward one) and Pacific Sales (went to the Emeryville/Oakland location, but I think they have others in the area). Might be worth calling them if you haven't already been there to see what they have on display and if either is worth a trip.

We didn't buy anything from either in the end (both have lukewarm service reputations) but they were great for shopping. I think Gourmet Appliance Outlet in Oakland also had at least a couple of island hoods on the floor when we were there last, but their inventory is less predictable and they carry a more limited set of brands, mostly higher end (though they do have a website that lists some of what they have). HTH!

Pacific Sales
BLOSSOM HILL/
SAN JOSE
634 Blossom Hill Rd.
San Jose, CA 95123
(408) 224-2399

My local PS has lots of mid to upper-mid priced island hoods.

Independent Hoods
Sierra Select Distributors, Inc. San Francisco Show Room
Sobel Building at 680 8th Street, Suite 169C
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-431-8682

Modern-Aire Ventilation products are distributed by Luxury Products LLC. in Northern California (North of Santa Barbara, CA, Arizona and Nevada.
Luxury Products Corporate office is located at:
2300 Bethards Drive * Suite O * Santa Rosa, CA 95405
toll free: (800) 977-1595 local: (707) 578-4600 fax: (707) 578-0700
Website: www.luxuryproductsllc.com

This one is far but Hey,sometimes we need to do a little leg work. Or road work LOL.

Thank you, artemis78 and deeageaux! That is extremely useful information. Really appreciate it!
Best wishes,
r.a.

There's a place in SJ (I think) with the delightfully pretentious name "Standard of Excellence" which is a nice store. Atherton Appliance (RW City) is a good place for looking at things too. (There's a newish Pacific Sales really close to it). I found my (non-island) hood at Airport Appliance but ended up ordering it from good ol' Western Appliance (they don't have many hoods on display but will order GE Monogram, VAH, and a few other brands you wouldn't expect from the front door.)

No guarantee these places will have a bunch of island hoods, but you call always call them and ask.

we also live near San Jose. Atherton Appliance had the best working displays. University Appliance, Standards of excellence, Airport Appliance are the other places we looked. We ended up buying several items from Standards of Excellence and a refrigerator from Airport Appliance.

Best wishes

Thanks for starting this, reluctantartist! I'm also looking for all appliances, including a hood, in the SF bay area. SJ would be nice, and I'm willing to travel. My coworker bought her stuff from University Electric in SJ, I think (unsure if they sell hoods), and she felt they gave her a better deal on appliances, than Meyer, etc. I heard from a friend that Atherton Appliance was going out of business, but haven't had a chance to get up there to look yet.

Anyone looked at the places in Hayward, or South San Francisco? Given that they have so many discount tile/flooring/stone places, you'd think there would be some discount appliance places near there.

Floorcraft near SSF has a good showroom.
I got my stuff from BSC in SF south of market which has a really nice showroom. They are the same owner as Atherton Appliances. Pacific Sales is close by. Then of course you have Cherin's and House of Louie.

Oh, forgot one. The distributor for Gaggenau, Bosch, Thermador, etc. is in Burlingame (I think. And I can't remember their name but any shop that carries those lines should give you the info) and has a lot of things on display.

Keep in mind, even with the functioning displays, most of the hoods aren't vented properly so you still can't get a great idea on noise.

It's a shame Atherton App. is going out of business. A really nice shop. Their chefs would bake cookies when we came in with the kids. But I'm not all that surprised. They were great at answering questions until you wanted a quote and then it'd take forever to get a bad one. :)

Here's another thank-you, this time to fori, salmon_slayer, juniork, and marcydc. You all have given us a bunch of terrific shopping options to pursue!

Fori, thanks for making the point about noise levels for showroom-installed hood displays not necessarily being comparable to a home installation. That's a good point.

On a related note, I read somewhere (can't remember where now) that the *only* place in the U.S. where one can see Futuro Futuro hoods on display is at the FF showroom in Brooklyn, New York. Can anyone confirm or deny if that is true?

Thanks again,
r.a.

In case anybody else is also considering Futuro Futuro hoods, I'm going to answer my own question from my previous post (and apologize for asking a simple question that turned out to be easily answered with a phone call to Futuro Futuro in New York). Per the FF New York office, it is true that the only place to see FF hoods on display in the US is their showroom in Brooklyn, NY.

Regards,
r.a.

Here is a link that might be useful: Futuro Futuro hood showroom in Brooklyn, NY