Have you spoken with your contractor about the ductwork for your hood? Your exhaust duct should be 8" or 10" diameter. If it is smaller, you will get a lot of noise as too much air is pushed through too small a duct. If your duct is small, your new hood may still have a lot of noise.

I think all the choices you named are very good. What kind of cooking do you do? Do you sear steaks and fry fish a lot? Or not so much? Can you be more specific about what you feel contradicts what you've read here? Perhaps we can clarify. Also, do you have requirements in your area for make-up air? That might make your decision for you.

Thank you akchickago. As far as what contradicts, it mostly applies to the Venta a hood. The salesmen and contractor keep telling me how easy the VAH is to clean, and that they are very quiet. However, when i do a search of them on the GW forums, there is thread after thread that people are saying they are difficult to clean and noisy. When I mentioned that to the salesguy his response was "Just have your husband clean it." Sure! The other contradiction was on how many CFMS I need (600 VAH, 900 WOlf, or 1200 Modern Aire)

With the ductwork - my contractor has never mentioned at all what size I am working with, either this time or when we did the kitchen 6 years ago. For what it is worth, I didn't even realize this is a variable. I was just told to go pick out a hood! The same goes with make-up air. I only am familiar with the term because of Garden Web - the contractor this time (and the contractor last time too) has not said anything about it. I do know that I keep my kitchen window open most the time I am cooking though - so not sure if that will be enough.

My cooking has become fairly boring since having 3 little ones. I will occasionally sear steaks for a special occasion, but not only a few times a year. I don't cook fish inside at all (only on the BBQ outside). I would say that we cook a lot of basics (pastas, sauces, saute veggies, cook hamburger meat) with candy cooking thrown in around all the holidays.

While I'm happy with my VAH, I always tell folks NOT to believe any salesman-speak about "600 cfm = 900 cfm". 600 cfm will never be greater than 600, although under many conditions, it will be less. The same can be said for every other brand available.

Do confirm your existing duct size, as it must be compatible with your blower capacity for efficient operation. Ventilation is expensive enough without wasting $$$ on stuff that won't work as designed. Also, check your local codes regarding make-up air. It's a new enough concept in many jurisdictions that not all GC are clued in. Also if required understand that opening a window is not code-compliant.

I was getting the same info from two local stores that VAH is the way to go. Much quieter and due to the lack of a 'true' filtration system, it will produce more CFM based on other brand hoods with an equivalent motor.

So, I researched about VAH and most people say they are a bear to clean. AS well, they are no quieter than other hoods. I do agree with cooksnsews above that 600 CFM is 600 CFM and it will never be greater.

My builder was somewhat aloof to make up air as well as they have only had a request for one MUA system in the past. However, in NC where the new code for MUA being required at 400 CFM or greater just went in place, they will be seeing more of these installs.

In the end, we are most likely going with a Zephyr Tempest 2 with the dual blower of 1200 CFM as VAH has been eliminated from our list of potentials.