I placed mine lower than suggested,22 inches above the grate, to get in a small cabinet above the hood, and one issue I never thought of was that I have to bend down to turn on the light or fan, because otherwise I can't see the switches. While the capture is better for the rear burners, it is worse on the front burners because the vent does not stick out as far as the range.

Yes, I know the Kobe controls are underneath and thought that might be a problem. Not sure why most mfg'rs put the controls under rather than on the face.
Interesting that is doesn't capture the front burners as well.

30" is pretty standard. I think 22" is WAY too low. I am sorry Barryv, no offense, but not only are there the issues you mentioned, but what about if you have a tall pot. E.g., you are making chili or soup, how do you lean over the pot to look into it, and stir it, if the hood is that low. 22" is cramped. Really, 30" is a nice height, not only for usefulness, but also aesthetics. It'll look balanced at 30" above the rangetop.

22"? Wow, that's really low. I installed a Vent A Hood recently, they suggested 27" and I thought that was too low. I ended up placing it at 30" which was the suggested distance from American Range.

The other reason I went 30" instead of 27" was the gas company, they will come and inspect the final installation and the code up here in Quebec states 30" distance for a gas stove (although I still never got that in writing). I think I posted about this a month or so ago, the last thing I wanted was to be told that I have to move it up 3 inches. I still found 27" to be too low. I called a bunch of people up here, (municipal offices, gas company, construction bureau, fire dept, etc...) they all said 30" or what your gas range recommends. The code in the US may be different, I did find something about 27" min being accepted to non combustible material.

From Vent-A-Hood : Professional Series PRH9230SS-Mounts 24"-27" Above Cooking Surface".

I'm really interested in actual engineering functionality than " I like it 30" from cooking surface", if you know what I mean.

Sahmmy, no offense, that is why we have boards, so people can exchange their ideas. Actually, the 22 inch height is fine for seeing into pots, I have no trouble using tall stock pots, though mostly I use a turbo pot for boiling water for pasta, and it works fine, though some of the steam does go straight up and does not get captured by the vent. I don't have any problem flipping french toast, though I am not all that great about pancakes - sometimes the outer edge of the one being flipped falls on the top of one of the pancakes on the griddle, but I am pretty sure that is because it is so cramped on the aftermarket griddle, and I make big pancakes. I am certain the height of the vent hood plays no role.

I am usually pretty good on safety. It is a Viking hood, and I installed it when I got a Viking dual fuel with open burners - I have not gone back and looked at those installation instructions, but in Googling a Viking installation manual it says " Wall cabinets above the range must be a minimum of 36â (91.4 cm) for open top burners and a minimum of 42âÂÂ
(106.7 cm) for sealed burner models above the range cooking surface for the full width of the range. This minimum
height requirement does not apply if a rangehood is installed over the cooking surface."

In the manual, the word not is underlined, so it seems pretty clear to me, they didn't see a safety problem. The vent hood is 10 inches high, so the bottom of the cabinet is 32 inches above the grate. I haven't noticed the top of the vent hood ever getting warm to the touch, so I don't think there is any real fire hazard. While I don't like bending over to switch on and off the lights, if I had to do it over again, I would at most raise it an inch or two, I still love that cabinet over the vent hood, just used it tonight.

Thanks Barry.

willinak, I understand what you are saying and I had called Vent A Hood as well, they told me you'll lose 10% efficiency for every inch higher than 27". 10% sounds quite far fetched, again for myself it was really only a question of building code that I put it to 30". I spoke to a lot of people including the installer for the Vent A Hood retailer where I bought it from (I had it installed by my contractor) and he said "I've installed hundreds of these but I need to put them to 30" because of the gas inspectors". Again, it depends how strict your gas company is in your neck of the woods.

My Zephyr is only 24" above from induction top. It works VERY well this way and I am fine with it but.... more than one man has bumped their head on it because it also sticks out pretty far (tamburo).

Thanks guys!
I understand the 30" requirement, but I believe there is a loose interpretation of what 30" is measured to. The hood is not a combustible surface. Of course, you don't want to melt the insulation off the wires in the hood, but with air flow as it is, I doubt that would happen at almost any height.

I guess I'm looking for the minimum height that would optimize capture, and still be functional as a cooking tool.