Our kitchen is light and bright with cream painted cabinets. We considered the wood hood but ended up with the stainless for a 36" range. I like the look and I think it might give your dark cabinets a little contrast. Although I like the idea of the wood hood and fireplace surround pulling the rooms together also. Sorry not much help because I like so many different options. That's the trouble I had making decisions for my own kitchen. Good luck.

I'm sorry to stick my nose in and answer a question you didn't ask...I just wanted to say carefully consider the dark counters with all the other dark surfaces, if you have no natural light. We don't either, and have cherry cabs with uba tuba granite. The wood is lovely and warm, but the granite is just plain dark. I think natural wood has much more effect on the warmth factor of a kitchen than the counters--for counters I think warmth comes more from texture than color. Anyway, just putting in my two cents, and hope you don't mind! (FWIW, if we ever do begin our remodel, we are keeping the dark granite perimeter but putting a honed white marble top on the new island.)

As far as hoods I like both wood and SS myself, so I am no help. We currently have a SS hood (and big ol' fridge) and I guess it does help lighten things but I don't really notice. I might notice more if they were dark, though.

We have a 66" stainless steel hood:

If your look is modern (as shown in gizmonike's picture...fabulous!) than a big SS hood is a great accent to the room. If your look is more traditional, or pretty much anything but modern, than it's an eyesore in my opinion. 60" (and I'm guessing your hood will be 62+ given the range size) is HUGE. I know because my hood is 58" and it's BIG BIG BIG!

In my kitchen it would (in SS) be a focal point in all the wrong ways. In giz's kitchen, it's a focal point in all the right ways :)

If you have a fab streamlined kitchen, go for it...the SS will break up the dark feeling. But if you've got anything else, I'd seriously consider either a gorgeous wood, stone or plaster surround. For mine, I'm going with plaster and stone, because when you pop a hood of that size on a wall...it's a focal point baby :oP But a gorgeous wood hood also sings in the right kitchens :) And tucked between cabinets, it really does kind of break up the "HUGE HOOD" issue a bit as well.

Don't you kind of have a gut feeling about how you feel about a massive expanse of stainless steel like that? Have you looked at many photos of the two options - doesn't one or the other appeal to you more? With a sixty inch range and a hood that I presume might be even larger that is a whole lot of steel. I tend to agree with igloochic that this look would probably be better in a more contemporary kitchen. But I have to admit I'm biased since I'm not a huge fan of stainless - prefer the warmer look of wood - I have dark cabinets and a substantial mantle hood with an insert. But I also understand your concern about a massive wood hood. Maybe the plaster hood idea is a good one to consider too.

I was/am in th esame position. I have Cherry cabs with a black glaze, and my island is cherry stained expreso. I have a SZ 48" built in SS, and a miele SS dishwasher. There are 2 fairly large SS sinks. I went with a lighter granite though to break it up a bit. Now I only have a 48" range going in but though tI might be overdoin the SS. I decided on a 56" wood hood. I went with the expresso stain to tie it into the island. I love stainless but think in kitchens like these where there are mammoth comercial apliances the wood can tone things down. 5-6 feet of ss that high up is a statement so make sure its the one you want. like the previose poster said in a modern kitchen it works, and I dont think its horrible in other kitchens but make sure.

I vote for the wood...but I'm biased as I prefer a more traditional look than contemporary.

That said, we had to go w/SS since the wood hood, for us, was a budget buster. We cut it early on since there were other things that meant more to me. But, ours is only 42" wide, so not as big a statement as yours will be!

So, if your kitchen is a more traditional kitchen, I recommend the wood...

Thanks everyone for your input. The kitchen is not going to be modern per se, but not traditional either. One kitchen I really liked was labeled "transitional". I want things simple and clean but warm--nothing fussy, but not too sleek either. My DH calls me difficult-perhaps he's right. It's a good thing he doesn't read this forum.

hollylh-thanks for the advice about the dark granite. It's certainly something I keep debating We will be having a large island and I'm considering putting a lighter granite on that surface. The problem is that I'm not finding a lighter granite that "speaks to me" that isn't a gazillion bucks. While everytime I'm at the granite place I steer towards the ubatuba, verde butterfly, verde peacock--love those dark greens. I did see a golden oak granite in some magazines that I liked-- I may have to investigate further. I also am thinking about using solartubes (kinda like skylights, only not) to bring natural light in--will have to talk with the builder about that. If anyone has any experience with these please chime in

gibby3000--you probably gave me the best advice in your "gut feeling" comment. In my head I'd always pictured a stainless hood, but really liked the idea of tying the kitchen/great room together so I started thinking--and that always leads me to trouble. I went back to five of the 15+ kitchen design books/magazines I've saved and every kitchen I really liked had a stainless hood. In particular there was an arts and crafts style kitchen with medium toned cherry cabinets and floors and dark perimeter granite and "my stove" with a gigantic stainless hood. I actually went "Oooh I really like that" in my head before I realized what I was looking at--a kitchen with the feel and overall color palate I want for my kitchen.
The great/terrible thing about cultivating ideas with others is you end up with something much greater than you could have on your own, but you have to remember to listen to yourself too, even if you have to back up a bit and figure that out--thanks for the reminder.

One more decision decided!!!

Laura

I have a much smaller kitchen than yours (30 inch range) and it is "transitional." I am going with stainless and my granite up to the ceiling with my hood "y-shaped." It gives it a more modern look with my traditional shaker style cabs. I have yellow river granite that is rather light but lots of movement.

I did just install a solatube (10 inch) in my master bath/windowless water closet. It has a fan and light kit in it. I like it but the light coming from it is very bright white light. Not exactly a warm white color. You might want to consider this if you choose to use a solatube and where it would be placed. If it is directly over your granite, it might look a bit different than the granite with a warmer light over it. I am just mentioning it as I am in the process of choosing lighting for my kitchen. I tend to like the warmer white look of the halogen lights as opposed to the bluer white light of a florescent (or however you spell it). So I am going with the cheaper florescent light but with warm light bulbs.

have you considered a copper hood? based on what you're describing your kitchen looking like, it might be a nice option. certainly a focal point.

I am thinking through this same set of choices. There are some metal hoods that are curved rather than straight, and some with with bands, that make them look a bit more old-country or a bit less restaurant-industrial. One of the related decisions is the backsplash for the stove. In the current kitchen there is green-blue ceramic tile -- same as the counters. It is pretty, but it is dark back there. A stainless steel backsplash would be brighter. Just thinking out loud, but the hood and backsplash decisions need to be thought through together.. . . .

Our goal was warmth so for us the decision was easy. We covered everything we could in wood and love it. We opted for the lighter granite (New Venetian Gold) to give it contrast.