There is no good solution once everything has been planned and ordered. The best solution is to have the cabinets cut down to be smaller so to increase the side wall's distance from the burner. Or, laminate the stainless to the sides and use a stainless hood so that it looks more seamless. That's probably the easiest best retrofit solution. If it's done with contact cement, there won't be any space between the stainless and the cabinet side. You may have some damage to the cabinet bottom adjacent to the burners over time, but by the time that becomes a factor, you'll probably no longer be in the home.

I have a 36 inch range with 36 inch hood, and 42 inch cabinets on both sides. We have had installed about 10 years and I cook like you do, and we have not had any issues with the adjacent cabinetry.

If you run your range hood and turn on whenever you use the burners, you should have enough draft created that most everything will be pulled into the hood. I do use the center front burner when wok cooking, but other than that use the most convenient burner for the task.

Will your hood have a large capture area and properly sized fan and ductwork?

I do think that I heard once that someone when doing something particularly greasy or with high splatter potential would simply tape up some aluminum foil to the backsplash and cabinet sides during the cooking, and then remove when finished.

If you have the right hood, I don't think you will have problems.

Many thanks to you both for your thoughtful suggestions. Julie, thank you for your reassurance, I feel better now. The taped aluminum foil sounds like a good option for messy cooking sessions. I wonder if the lady with the cab problem had mdf rather than plywood boxes. Since my kitchen is open to the familyroom, and almost to the front door, I have minimized the kitchen look as much as possible. Therefore, I'm hoping the installers can mount the 24" x 24" doors from the cabinet above the cooktop and angle them outward, add 5" below for the hood insert so that I have a hood about 22" deep. I would prefer a furniture look to help the visual flow of my small kitchen. I would do the stainless hood with the stainless on the cab. sides if I need to in the future. Even though 24" depth would be better, it seems out of proportion to me for wall cabinets only 12" deep. The cooktop faces an inner wall and the center of it is only 5 ft. from an outer wall to the left. There is an open, vaulted ceiling above with lighting. My plans are to run a 6" duct to a master bedroom closet on the opposite side of the wall behind the cooktop, immediately have a silencer attached as the duct turns upward, then add the vent fan before the roof cap is reached. There is barely enough height for this configuration. An 8" diameter duct would be better but there is not the room for the larger silencer inside my closet. I eliminated a roof mounted fan option due to the outside noise. My patio home is right by my next door neighbor's patio so noise is an issue.

I have a roof mounted blower right at the edge of my house and above our driveway. The dryer vent makes as much noise, so I wouldn't let that be a reason not to use the roof mounted blower.

Lastacx, can you provide the name of the manufacturer, even the model number, if possible. I'm definately interested. That would be infinately better than adding part of a silencer and a new attic access door in a master bedroom closet.

Any recommendations for a fairly quiet roof mounted blower?

I'll echo what juliekcmo said. I've lived in 4 different homes over 25 years, including 19 years in one with a 30" range and a standard builder-grade 30" hood, and this has never been an issue. And I've seared (and burned) more than my fair share of stuff on the stove.

Nineteen years later the cabinets in my first home were just fine, as are the cabs in my current home where I use a rangetop grill regularly. I don't think you need to worry over every-day use; you should be fine.