I have a z-line in 36". It looks & works great. It's very loud at 1000CFM. The control panel and buttons feel flimsy.

The LED lights are neat. I like the steel baffles.

Thanks, goldenguy. Do you have a similar design as the one I posted? I'm figuring any hood at high CFM is going to be loud unless you couple it with an external blower, right? How much difference can there be between this and a $3000 hood, after all?

I didn't shop more expensive range hoods due to budgetary constraints. The noise level of this one lower settings is acceptable, I only use the high for brief periods of wokking or burger/bacon cooking. I hear, however, that, ventahood and kobe for example are not as loud as other brands.

This is the one I got
http://zlinekitchen.com/products/zl696/

Having the 24" depth is really crucial to the performance; 27" would work even better if you can find one.

Yeah, I hear ya on the budget! Kobe looks nice, too, but a little less CFM and their chimney requires an extension to get me to 8'6" plus $300 more and 24" depth.

The zline I'm looking at is 27" depth- another plus for me since my stove is high output burners all the way around and I plan to wok occasionally..

i have a ZLINE hood, for two years, its a bit loud, but looks great, runs like new and is quiet on the low settings, when you need it, it blows hard and its loud, but I would rather have that than a smokey kitchen