Check on Overstock.com They have some decent rated ones for reasonable prices. Aim for 600CFM.

also check AJ Madison... they have excellent filters to aid in your search.

Thanks, Senator and Remodelfla.

Anyone on a brand or a price point??

Suzanne

Also check out ProLine Hoods. They make a solid product at a reasonable price.

I'm attaching a link th their website

Here is a link that might be useful: ProLine Hoods

Pro Line does look good. They prefer you to have a 10" duct. I think they can come with fluorescent or halogen bulbs, a good feature.

I got a 800 (really 720) cfm Kobe because you can have 6,7 or 10" duct, it's supposed to be quiet, and many people here like them. It's still in the box, so I can't vouch for it. It was $831 at ventingdirect.com, but it was also 36" and ss.

Zephyr is also highly regarded on this site.

There is a nice 600cfm ss hood from Broan which is only about $650 online for the 36", so 30" should be less, but I was concerned about the nearness of the switches to the light bulbs. I think the Broan wants a 10" duct, also.

One thing I noticed when I was choosing mine was the position of the switches. Some have the switches in weird places. Check it out and read the reviews before you decide.

BTW, I had a very good experience with ventingdirect.com. They said the unit was backordered, but they actually had it and it arrived within about 8 days of the order. The UPS guy helped me inspect the box on all sides and open the box to see how it looked. It took less than 10 minutes of his time, and I was then happy to sign for it. I only knew to do this because I had read warnings by some people on this site - so my thanks to them. Ventingdirect also had low prices.

Another, related question. The hood that I have now vents outside. It looks like the kind of hood that would be attached to a cabinet but instead of the cabinet, there is a soffit the size of the hood that goes to the ceiling. Am I right to assume that I will not know the size of the vent until the soffit is removed? And does the size of the vent need to be known before ordering the hood?

Suzanne

Yes, you want to match the hood to the size of the duct you have - the duct can be larger than the hood requires (you'll need a transition) but not the other way. The specs for your old hood should indicate the duct size.

Vent-a-Hood has been mentioned very favorably on this forum, despite its cheesy name, and is one of the more reasonably priced hoods.

You could figure out how wide your current duct is if you have access to the vent duct cap on the outside of the house -- lift the flap and voila! Just don't climb around on the roof to find it ... ;-)

We went and spoke to a rep at Pacific Sales and were quite helpful. We are going with a Wolf range top and needed a hood with at least 900 CFMs. We thought we'd have to go with a Wolf Hood, but the rep said Best by Broan was very comparable. One of the features we liked was it was easy to remove the grates to clean.

Searching and asking in the appliance forum may be helpful too. *Lots* of wisdom there about hoods. Not that there isn't here either, but it's a little more aesthetically vs technically oriented.

We're happy with our Zephyr Tempest II, which comes in a 30" version (although that's not what we have). WRT price, I've seen sale & clearance prices on 30" hoods much more consistently than on ranges -- you might well see a good deal on nearly anything locally, including matching models from range manufacturers, such as Wolf.

Some folks seem happy with Best, Kobe, and others.

As for the duct -- the hood & blower you purchase will have some particular spec. That might or might not permit a step-down. For example, our hood needs to start at 10" but I think (would need to double-check) that we could have used a transition to 8" -- we stayed at 10" for the length of it, straight up and out. For 30" hoods and about 600 cfm I think that 6 & 8" are common, but in the end you'll need to check the specs on whatever hood you buy (or consider).