What are you nervous about? A gas range produces C02 and H20 during normal combustion. Just like you do when you are breathing. Are you going to be running it with all burners on high all the time? If so, you might have something to worry about, other wise, enjoy cooking on your Wolf!

A gas range produces much more than just products of combustion! Especially if you grill, stir fry, or sear.

It's not the safety issue in my mind, it's a yucky smell and grease issue. While the fumes may not kill you, failure to actively vent cooking fumes and grease means the fumes and grease will go somewhere--likely NOT where you want them to.

Depending on how you cook, you may find a gradual buildup of grease on surrounding surfaces. Not to mention the lovely experience of waking up "the morning after" and coming down for coffee into a kitchen reeking of garlic and smoke. Yuck.

If over range ventilation is out of the question, I'd at least look at good downdraft ventilation. Much better than nothing, although far from an over range hood in performance.

If you're not doing much cooking then why spend the $$$ on the Wolf? It's like owning a Ferrari and just using it to go to the grocery store. If you're going to go with the Wolf, it makes sense to go with a vent system that matches its performance.

I wouldn't even think of installing a product like a Wolf with out a proper hood vented to the exterior. Downdraft systems are counter productive (IMO) they rarely work and worse yet can adversly affect burner performance.
As others noted all the grease in the air will wind up through out your home permeating the cabinets, walls etc. Yuck.
Your kitchen designer is simply wrong. He/she may be able to help you make your kitchen look very nice but if you want it to function properly then you really must have a hood system.

Thank you for all your comments. I appreciate your insight and will not install the Wolf. I think any Pro-Style range has the same issues so I need to scale down the range. I have been researching other 30" Dual Fuel ranges but haven't found one that seems right. They all seem to have issues.

You know, I really think it's less an issue of what range you get than what and how you cook. It's true you'll generate more heat with a pro-style range but you can generate a lot of grease and smoke with a normal range. Personally, I think you really ought to consider getting a hood regardless of what kind of range you get. You might also consider putting the range on a wall rather than in the island which will give you better venting hood options.

I have a bosch-- my most powerful burner is 17,500 btus. I REALLY regret not having proper ventilation. In my case it would have required a major structural change to my kitchen which we could not afford at the time. Searing meat or cooking anything with an odor causes the whole house to smell.. in the case of the former it actually causes the smoke detectors to go off. I don't think power or professional vs non professional is the issue-- unless you are just using your range to boil water or scramble eggs, you will need ventilation.

I guess what I was getting at is ventilation a "need" or a "want". Does ventilation help with odors, grease, etc, yes it does. Is it a "need" to use that range, I still say no. Did your mother have a hood when she cooked? Probably not and when you came home from school the whole house smelled like what she was cooking. Any range, professional or standard will give off odors, grease, and a whole host of other cooking residue. I know that not every home has ventilation over the range. Is it nice to have, absolutely, but required, no.

danielle00 - Which Bosch range do you have? I'm researching the 30" Bosch Dual Fuel. I spoke to Bosch yesterday and they say I can use their downdraft vent with that range. I haven't seen it yet -

What do you think of your Bosch?