Hello TKO gurus,

My kitchen has a cheapo recirculating vent hood that is way too far off the gas range. If it does anything except make a lot of noise, I can't tell. To top it off, the house has very little in the way of natural ventilation, especially in the kitchen, which is long and skinny but open to a much larger area. The BF has thing for making baked potatoes several times a week and the whole house smells like burnt olive oil when he's done. (And I cook, so I generate some grease and smell, too.) I've cleaned enough grease off the backsplash, thank you!

So... my Christmas present is a *real* ventilation system going to the outside, provided I can do it for a reasonable price. (Say $700-800 max.) I can vent through the attic and over to the side of the house, or through the garage on the opposite wall and out to the same side.

The area above that range has space for a microwave combo, and I would like to get my rarely used microwave off the counter. Unfortunately, I can't find any micro-hoods that look like they are decent. 400 CFM seems to be the most powerful available and at least one is able to pull out over the front burners. But 400 CFM isn't much.

Question 1: Are there micro-hoods that really ventilate?

Question 2: If not, how do I deal with this gap? These are custom cabinets in a custom paint color -- even if additional cabinetry was in the budget there's no way it would match properly.

Ideas appreciated!

{{!gwi}}