I am also in the process of a kitchen remodel. When I purchased my commercial appliances, I was told that I needed a strong hood/vent. I am getting a BlueStar range. I purchased a Viking hood with an external blower. I was told that the type of stove should determine the quality of the hood. What I mean is...great stove, then buy a great hood. Mine is also an external blower to minimize the noise. So...I guess you need to see what kind of stove do you have?

Hope that helps

I don't see why it's necessary. We installed a Zephyr Tempest II hood over our BlueStar RNB range -- 1100 cfm internal blowers -- and we've been very happy with it. This is not an under-the-cabinet model, but a 24" deep tented hood with baffles.

Keep in mind that all sorts of things will bear on the efficacy of any given hood and blower unit and the amount of noise it makes. There's the installation, length/volume/#turns for the duct-work, etc., etc. Where you put the blower can make a difference, but much of the noise -- when it's noisy -- is the movement of air through the system. If it's noisy because filters or baffles rattle or even the hood itself, or the duct work is convoluted, then moving the blower will not help.

I cannot comment on the unit you're considering. I will say that it's great having adequate (plus) ventilation after years without it.

We have the same hood, but have the HLB11, which is an inline 1,100 CFM blower. The flow is down into the basement, where the blower is, and then outside, so as djg1 says, it's probably not a true 1100 CFM. But it certainly works very well and way better than our old ventilation system. Works really well when we're cooking Chinese food. But it's not $1,000.

Thanks everyone --

I am looking at a GE Profile cooktop (electric). It's not a big kitchen at all, but my concern is that if the hood is too noisy I'll end up just not using it, which would obviously be a total waste.

So I'd rather take whatever precautions I can to make sure I'm minimizing the noise.

Thanks again,
Nina