I've got a 36" Wolf AG range and a 36" w x 24" d Vent a Hood. I think the depth is fine, but some prefer a 27" depth. If I were doing it again I'd get a 42" wide because the lights are on the sides and this cuts in to some of the capture area.
The CFM is 600 and VAH says that's equivalent to 900. I don't know if that's true or just marketing hooey, but I'm happy with the CFM.

A Vent-A-Hood 600 CFM should be entirely adequate over a 36" all gas range. If you have the space, spend more for a hood with a larger capture area, rather than increasing the CFM. I have a 48" 600 CFM Vent-A-Hood over a 36" cooktop. Virtually nothing escapes, and I almost always operate the range hood on the lowest SensaSource setting. I never use a higher setting unless I'm wok frying, or pan searing steaks at a very high temperature.

I have a 36" AG range with a 36" VAH, 27" deep, 600 CFM. My setup works fine; I would've preferred the hood to be 42" wide but space did not allow.

We have:
1) 600 cfm 42'' VAH over a Dacor 36'' cooktop. Total BTU's are about 55 or 60K I believe.

Hate it. Loud as he**, even on lowest setting, and only mediocre ventilation performance. Silly "squirrel cage" design a huge pain to clean. Fan and light switches awkwardly mounted under front edge of hood, have to crane neck under to see/use. Overpriced.

2) A custom Modern Aire 64'' x 24'' hood liner, bumped out from the wall about 2-3'', housed in an alcove.

Fantech FKD 10XL inline remote blower 1200 cfm. Coupled with the LD10 silencer, it's virtually inaudible even at 1200 cfm. Phenomenal ventilation performance in our setup. Construction is jewel-like. Gorgeous, pro-style baffles which can be thrown in the dishwasher in just a few seconds. Remote infinitely variable fan control and light switch on dimmer mounted remotely on wall next to range. Price comparable to off the shelf units despite totally custom specs.

It sits over a Lacanche Cluny 1400, 55'' wide, 5 burners plus French top, total BTU's about 80K.

I totally love the MA.

36" Wolf range with a 36"x24" 600cfm VAH. Sometimes gets overpowered but for the most part quite happy with it. Very quiet on the lowest setting. Running water in the sink is louder than this VAH on low.

Over our 36" Bluestar rangetop we have a 42" x 24" 600CFM VAH. If we had to do it over again, we would have chosen a 27" deep model because we do get some leakage out the front when we stirfry on the front burner.

I completely disagree with clinresga's opinion about the noise; ours is quieter than our microwave even on high. I think how much noise you get with any hood is very dependent on your own individual installation (ie how long your duct is, how many turns etc). We actually chose the VAH because of how easy it is to clean. When we were looking at different brands, we went to stores and took out the parts that needed to be cleaned, so we could compare ease of cleaning. We just put the VAH parts in our dishwasher. They fit fine in our FP dishdrawers and come out clean.

This difference in opinion really emphasizes that there's no one best hood for everyone- you need to pick the one that has the features and cleaning procedures that are best for YOU.

One thing to consider before choosing a hood is to find out if make-up air is required. Ask a HVAC expert, NOT an appliance salesman. I didn't. My 36" 600cfm VAH cost me about $9K to install, over and above its purchase price. I'm so glad I didn't consider anything larger, as installation requirements, and costs, increase non-linearly with cfm.

Otherwise, I'm very happy with this vent, although I wish I had purchased a deeper one. Once again, the salesman let me down - said they only came in one size. I find it quiet and easy to clean.

Thanks to all who responded. It seems 600 cfm should suffice and will have to check with the KD for sizing.

Modern Aire 1200 CFM, 42" x 24" will be mounted at 30" above 36" induction cooktop. It's still in my basement waiting to be installed.

alku: the argument over how loud VAH's are has raged a long time. I tried to settle it for once and all in a prior post (see link below) and I still think it's definitive evidence that VAH's are very loud compared to others.

VAH defenders always attribute my noise levels, as you do, to the installation ("ie how long your duct is, how many turns etc"). Well, our installation is about 9 feet of 10 inch duct running straight up to the roof. No turns, no elbows, no transitions, nothing but big diameter duct.

If you think yours is really much quieter than mine, buy or borrow a decibel meter from Radio Shack and measure it. If it is, then that speaks to a large hood to hood variation in sound levels, which I doubt but could be possible.

PS: to the OP--for some reason, you've gotten replies from almost exclusively VAH owners with 600 cfm blowers. I personally think this is inadequate for a high powered range and would suggest you look seriously at other manufacturers with higher capacities.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vent hoods and noise: the real scoop on VAH

Thermador 42x27. 1000cfm internal. 10" duct, 6 ft. run. Three speeds. Top two are LOUD. Also has 4 halogen lights that are fantastic, and 2 @ 175w. heating lamps (landing lights!).
It's above a 36" Monogram range, with a grill. The venting is moderately effective when grilling.
Casey

I have a 1200cfm VAH which I don't find extremely loud. Noise is relative to everybody. I have a TV in my kitchen and I have no issue hearing it with the VAH running on full blast. I think you have to understand your expectation of noise that hoods make. If you expect something to be silent, then you may not want to get a hood at all. The fan is my Miele and Gaggenau ovens are as loud as my VAH at the medium speed which is where it runs most of the time. I have a 48" VAH over a 48" Dacor. I don't think for the 36" you need more than 900cfm of power.

Good luck!

We have a 48" Wolf DF with double griddle.
Our hood is a 56" Wolf Pro hood(Made after the split with Independent) with a 1200 CFM remote blower.
We love this hood with the variable speed control and the baffles and grease cups that clean up great with a quick run through the dishwasher.

grendal fly, what brand of blower did you use and is it quiet? Looking for a quiet hood system so the DW will turn it on when she cooks.

good question, good intention, to get someone to like the quiet noise so much that they use it all the time, on its low setting (or higher). Be careful about asking for quiet, because there is no way to establish what quiet is. Sound is not like temperature which has a linear scale and goes to zero. It's very very subjective once you start calling quiet quiet.

Now I understand. I tell my kids to be quiet and they are not sure what that is. ":^)

footwedge,
We went with the Wolf 1200 CFM remote blower. On low the system is quiet, but turn-up all the way it does get loud ( it will also pull my DW's hair up if she stands close to it :)). If you are going to go with a large CFM blower, you need to make sure that you don't need makeup air. I have a barometric control damper that opens and feeds makeup air into my basement furnace if necessary.

davidro: It's not true that sound can't be objectively measured. It is just as objective and measurable as temperature. There are different ways of measuring it, but basically all you are measuring is sound power compared to a reference level, e.g. 1 milliwatt. It's easily measured with a decibel meter, just as temperature is measured with a thermometer.

It's true that there is subjectivity in what someone perceives as "loud." But, there is just as much subjectivity in what someone perceives as "hot"--my wife thinks 72 deg in winter is frigid, my son sits in shorts and no shirt in the 66 degree kitchen and thinks it's warm.

I'm totally confident that it is possible to objectively measure how loud hoods are. There are huge issues of standardization of course but I remain firm that a hood that measures 67 dB at high (our VAH) is WAY louder than a hood that measures 60 dB at high (our MA/Fantech).

Again, I'll belabor this point. Most folks who find their VAH hoods to be quiet have no experience with any other hood to compare to. Even fewer have both a VAH and experience with a high performance external blower, ideally with a silencer (I wonder if the lack of a silencer accounts for grendal's noise levels at high). If you do, then you will see the tremendous difference between the two setups.

I have a 900 cfm vent a hood over my cluny 1400. We had it custom made...or remade anyhoo to fit our stove so it's right about 60" give or take an 8th of an inch. You can hear it, sure, but it's not obnoxious.

We did add an air return because we knew it was a high focus for our muni. We don't need one, but we have one. It provides a nice arctic blast of cold air when you walk by it :oP

I have a 48" 980 cfm Futuro Futuro hood with internal blower and a mere 6" duct. I'm happy with it.

We have a 48" bluestar with 4 burners, griddle and grill and a 48" prestige with 1200 CFM. We did put in make up air, which turns on automatically when the fan starts, although we open and close the vents above the range by hand. I'm happy with the end results. Hard to judge noise - it's much less than in our old house and one can carry on a conversation but you can definitely tell the fan is on. If I'm using the grill, I run the fan on high. Otherwise, low is OK for normal burner use. I've set the smoke detectors off once or twice when I've been stir frying on the front 22K burner. If I had to make one change, I would have the fan built out about an inch or two further. The stove comes out more from the wall than just its own depth - there's the depth of the tile behind the stove plus the trim piece behind the stove.

Net net, I like the prestige and I like the ease of cleaning the baffle system - pops into the dishwasher. I then wipe inside the perimeter of the hood, but there's only a minor amount of grease and with the grill, doing steaks and such, we probably generate more grease than one would with just burners.

davidro 1, not sure if sound is linear however it can be measured as stated by clinresga. I will pose my question differently. If you have your fan speed on say low, medium and high would one be able to hear a tv if it was on in the kitchen? To furhter clarify, the tv could be heard prior to turning on the fan.

I do not agree with clinresga's many posts- I wasn't going to bother writing this but... I keep seeing the same posts from him/her. OK in my one home I had a 36" Viking, which btw was fabulous with a 36" 900cfm Viking SS hood- back then the hoods were vent-a-hoods with the Viking logo. I had this combo for 17 years and was very happy with both- I cook very often and very hard- Last year I remodeled my kitchen and decided to purchase a Dacor 46" cooktop and double wall ovens. Way different than the Viking, but I needed a change. I purchased a prestige 48" Hood with baffle filters. This rangetop and hood were installed in the same exact location as the previous ones and I can say that the VAH was no louder than the new hood- no fancy instruments measuring sound levels, etc, just our ears, and we're able to entertain, speak to one another and even listen to the tv. The filters go in the dishwasher and the VAH I always hand washed but was not a difficult task. This is comparing apples to apples, however when someone adds other blowers and extra fans, of course any system would be quieter and also would incur additional costs. I will say that the Dacor cooktop has been a dream to keep clean, it has a bead blasted spill basin and it is soooo easy to keep clean, I use bon ami and it looks brand new-
I do have a question-I have another home that I may be purchasing a BS- Wolf- or Lancanche 30" range with a custom wood hood and want to know which brand has the deepest 30" hood insert- I know VAH has a 30" insert that is 22 1/2" deep but I need it to be deeper because I do a lot of high heat woking. Thank for everyones input.

footwedge, based on your question about hearing a TV I think you'll be fine with almost any vent hood.

Everything clinresga wrote is accurate and good; it paraphrases what I wrote and I could have written it myself. None of it contradicts what I said March 24th so I don't see why I get singled out as the guy to oppose.

About "what quiet is" . There is something that dependson human response.

Temperature has
1. a linear scale
2. and the scale goes to a zero point.

But Sound is relative (on an exponential scale).
Furthermore it is measured relative to various and sundry arbitrary reference noises which have their own distinctive shapes, louder at some frequencies and less at others.
That makes it "possible" to measure w.r.t. a reference noise, which can lead to real data about quietness w.r.t. that reference noise.
Which maybe meaningless.

Then, Harmonic response. This is measurable too.
But human response to it is not as measurable.

Even the science of color and light is difficult, and depends on human response.

Sound is worse.

footwedge, based on your question about hearing a TV you'll be fine with almost any vent hood.

I have a 42" VAH over my 36" Bluestar. It vents straight up to the roof. The blower is internal (900 cfm, I believe) and it is LOUD on *any* setting. While it clearly removes grease (there is plenty of it there when I clean it), when I cook with the wok the entire room fills with smoke even when the VAH is on its highest setting. We've checked the installation - it's installed properly but between the noise and the smoke issue, I doubt I'd buy another one.

60" Viking hood with 12" Fantec inline blower & silencer, located in attic, with a straight shot from hood to roof. 2016 CFM, fabulous performance and quiet, since it is seldom cranked up more than 2/3 volume for ordinary use.

Stove is a 60" Viking that I'm considering replacing with a Bluestar.

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Hood brand is FuturoFuturo, model name White Streamline.
I relocated the blower and also used a silencer. I am very happy with it.

Cooksnews said: "One thing to consider before choosing a hood is to find out if make-up air is required. Ask a HVAC expert, NOT an appliance salesman."

Absolutely true, except you also should call your city planning department. They may have rules. Mine says you need make-up air for any hood over 400CFM! You can't pass inspection without it. I was going to get a 600CFM one, until I found that out and went back to look at my stove and see if I could get away with a 400CFM. I can, so that's that. No way am I installing a make-up air system if I don't have to.

I can emphasize with people's concerns over hood loudness. However, given that people may be making brand and cost decisions about hoods based on these postings, it's important readers understand the magnitude of the pseudo science and misinformation being used to justify different loudness claims. Going back to the original post, had the "real scoop" been accurate that a 1db increment resulted in a degree of magnitude change in sound level, we'd all be born deaf. Other than a very diplomatic audiologist's post to pointing out the misinterpretations, there hasn't been a lot of accepted technical information forthcoming in the hood loudness debate. I think Davidro1 may be touching on similar points to mine, but I'm not sure of and don't want to interpret someone else's post.

1.There are no objective measures of subjective phenomena. Period. If something has an agreed upon objective measure, it's an objective phenomena. Measures of actual sound pressure (decibels) are fundamentally different than measures of perceived loudness (sones). The two cannot be equated. Sound pressure is an "objective" physical measure and loudness is a "subjective" psycho-acoustic measure. They are from different sciences with different methodologies and goals.

2.Here is a helpful metaphor for understanding the difference between sound level and loudness: if you're asked what something weighs, you can weigh it. If you're a little compulsive, you can weigh it on several scales and take the average. Unless a scale is broken, the different weights will be very close to the average and most will agree that the differences between individual measurements from the average are trivial. This is pretty much basic physical science and analogous to measuring sound pressure. However, if you're asked how heavy an object is to you, weighing it tells you nothing. You have to pick it up and render a judgment. Note that the judgment will be based on several factors: how strong you are, how you hold it, what other objects you might be comparing it to and so on. Individual differences will therefore impact significantly on overall judgments. While we can take an "average" of sorts of perceptions, individual differences from the average are important: some people will perceive the same weight as heavier or lighter than other people perceive it, and if reliable those differences are significant. In other words, what's heavier or louder to you will not be what is heavier or louder to everyone else and statements about how loud a hood is are only meaningful for you. Human perceptual systems (hearing, taste, light, temperature, pain thresholds, etc.) are remarkably complex and variable between individuals. But, if something weighs 3 pounds, it weighs 3 pounds for everybody.

3. Comparisons of the relative loudness of different brands of hoods are pretty much meaningless. Sound from a hood is a complex function of at least two different factors: the actual radiating surfaces (the hood and any surrounding surfaces that vibrate due to the hood's operation, whether or not it's a liner with a wood surround or straight metal hood, etc.) and all reflecting surfaces that redirect sound waves. This later topic has been excluded from most of the debate. For example, the placement of the hood over an island versus on a wall, the reflectivity of the surfaces immediately around the hood and the general shape and construction of the room can alter the sound amplitude and frequency reaching your ears. Where you are in the room can influence your perception of the sound. To deny this is the same as claiming that a band or orchestra will always sound the same in any venue or concert hall and in any seat. If you've ever been in a sound level testing room you can appreciate the magnitude of reflected sound: the walls, floors and ceiling are all covered with deeply shaped foam such that the only measured sound is radiated from whatever is being tested. If you appreciate live music performances, you know about differences in how the music sounds depending on where the music is played.

The only accurate comparison of different hoods that could be made is literally installing the hoods in the same kitchen designs and performing repeated loudness comparisons. Note that even different hoods within the same brand line will have different shapes and can produce different loudness levels.

4. Perhaps the most egregious example of misinformation is the contention that external (either roof or inline) blowers are quieter than internal blowers. The "experts" seem to have missed the sone data on both Fantec and VH sites. While it would be foolish to make any comparisons between reported sone levels given the above issues, that external blowers are quieter is not supported by the reported sone levels and in fact is refuted. For all reported hoods in all different sizes and CFMs, VH are quieter on 17 out of 18 reported sone levels. This doesn't at all mean that VH are quieter, it just means that available information does not support the claim that external blowers without ducting noise silencers will be perceived as quieter.

Sorry for the length of the post.

Since my hood setup isn't mentioned here I'll add my 2 cents: I have a 36" Kitchen Aid gas cooktop (5 burner, 55,000 BTU) and a 42" Zephyr (900 cfm) island hood. We are very pleased with ventilation & performance. I mostly run on #2 or 3 (out of 6) while cooking, but pump up if I burn something (this has cleared any lingering smells fairly quickly [20-ish minutes]). I do hear air pulling, but no motor running. There are 2 turns going outside about 9 feet high on our deck -- it is also quiet there & we can barely hear the air pulling (definitely no motor). We would have loved an in-line motor or venting onto the roof, but it was not possible with our configuration.

We installed an in-line Fantech in Master Bath & it is very quiet, but motor is in attic space & fan is not "in my face".

Teachmkt's ditty about sound and noise above is excellent. As is the effort to poll people's actual experience with hoods and perceived/actual noise/sound levels, given that there are so many variables.

And so, I bump this thread to accumulate more btdt experience.

Anyone happen to have a Wolf hood? I'd be curious as to your experience with that - in particular, undercounter type of Wolf hood and its vibrations, etc. I'll be using an inline fan (btw: what's "VH" mean when referring to a fan? "VAH" seems to mean "VentAHood", is that also "VH"? Are their fans inline, thus explaining the apparent reference to inline while using the term "VH"?)

Wolfe, with the blower on the roof

A couple other factors not yet mentioned:
1/. some sounds are "pure" and some are "composite".
This is fairly easy so I won't try to explain it and risk messing up the explanation.

2/. some sounds imitate well white noise or what I call generic wind blowing in generic forest or savanna.

A composite sound, in some combinations, can be reportedly annoying or grating. Subjectively, this may be why clinresga finds a VAH noise to be less acceptable than otherwise. It's the components of the buzz or hum.

--

Personally, I like the sound my duct opening generates when the fan blower is on the highest speed. It's air rushing, like wind.

Also, I really like the sound made when the 3-speed control is on level 1 or 2.

These sounds are deemed to be pleasing to the ear. Deemed by me. My ear. To me, it's just a wind sound. Like wind in the tree tops.

--

Previously, I had a supposedly matched rated variable speed control, but on medium or low it made a hum or buzz in the motor, which came down the duct and grated on my ears. The sound came down the duct from the inline blower about 5' away. I removed the variable speed control and installed it in a bathroom where I have another inline fan, made by Nutone/Broan. There, the duct is longer and twistier, and when I hear the hum or buzz made by that blower dan,it's far less grating. My kitchen fan is Fantech but the variable speed control was not Fantech.

I asked Fantech a lot of questions to try to get a variable speed control that would match the (inductive) load of my blower, but Fantech people weren't up to it and gave me dodgy answers or took evasive maneuvers. So I have almost everything as I wanted it. An invisible fan, that makes nice sound.

Moving air necessarily generates some sound.

Hth

p..s Thank you to the man with the lengthy post last Fall.

Ahh.... that's right, Davidrol, I think. I think we haven't really talked (or I haven't seen talk about) that other quality, the various components that make up "sound". Such that it's possible to have two fans of identical x dB and y sond where one is annoying and the other isn't. So it isn't, perhaps, so much volume or even noise that we should wonder about as, I don't know, "annoyingness". Some have tried to use as a metric 'can listen to TV over' (for me I would substitute radio), but I think that probably doesn't capture this elusive quality either. 'Annoyingness' is actually what we probably all mean when we ask about fan noise.

And I can absolutely see why switch and blower might not be comfortably compatible from a 'annoying' point of view.

Thanks.

Building on ideagirl's make-up air comment: In my area, there are no special code reuqirements for makeup-air connected with a kitchen vent hood; the inspector said we have to follow the manufacturer's recommendations only. Absent any specific guidance, the building inspector (and an architect) each recommended considering opening a window in the kitchen when we run the blower if it is not being effective. It turns out that there is a window available - directly across the kitchen -- and it could be opened as widely as we want. But that seems like a pretty bad idea during a NY winter.

For context: I'm considering something in the 600-1200 CFM area to go above my 36" 6-burner BlueStar or Capital range.

There is very little info available on residential makeup air. I can't even imagine what I should consider spec'ing to get bids on, never mind how I'd figure out if we really need it. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

This is the reason why most people I know don't cook certain foods indoors when there's wintertime weather outdoors.

In the long long term, some future generation will have this problem solved.

A few hours ago I posted on another thread about a solution.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pst: Hood: puzzled by CFM/cost, perimeter suction &

The thing that makes MUA difficult in a residential environment is not tempering the incoming air, that is just expensive, it is controlling the flow to keep the air pressure where it belongs for proper furnace and fireplace operation when the outgoing flow rate is variable. Restaurants can avoid this problem by having their kitchen ventilation run at a constant flow rate.

One answer is to engineer a motor control system that incorporates some of the features that large buildings have to incorporate to keep their pressure in a particular range. Another approach, that might be called the heated open window method, is to make the MUA passive, and just heat the incoming air pulled from the roof or somewhere. However, between filter, damper, and heat exchanger this method will let the house pressure get a bit low, and furnaces should then be separately supplied with air.

kas

I have the Luxor Futuro vent. The whole thing is made out of glass & lights up really nice. I'm happy with it.

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