I think a matching "box" above the hood would look nice but I doubt anyone else will notice anything missing. It looks nice.

I agree with MF. If you can have the box made great, if not, no one else would even give it a thought.

Take the top hat above the sink down and it will match the simplicity of the range just fine. It's the oddball, not the range hood. Since you will still need a light fixture there, pick a pretty single pendant.

holly is right..that box over the window looks so strange ! Take it off..turned over will make a great planter in the garden :) Then all will be well. I love your cabs and tile. c

Another vote for removing the over sink box.

OK - dumb question but does the hood vent outside and if so where - normally the chimney would go right up to the ceiling to vent outside. Does your hood vent out the back or not at all?

To me, the white space above the hood and over the cabinets looks unfinished. If it were me, I'd put crown molding over the cabinets. Continue the chimney up to the ceiling even if it doesn't vent out the ceiling, AND TILE ALL THE WAY UP TO THE CEILING - contractor be damned! His excuse about not tiling up to the ceiling sounds like BS.

Even if you don't want to put in crown molding, you should still extend the chimney to the ceiling and tile all the way up to the ceiling.

You know, New.Phase, your instincts are correct, and this doesn't look right to me either, but I also don't think copying the box above the sink is the fix. At all!

I am unable to follow your guy's reasoning on the vent design, which is supposed to look like the exposed ducting vents the gases outside. That one heads north like it's going out the roof, then just stops as if it were never finished. As for the fix of nailing a thing at the top, why would anyone expose the duct part way (an industrial kitchen look), then cover a little bit of it with dooded-up wood?

This kind of thing illustrates the difference between looking "odd" and just looking different from the usual for a sensible reason.

Actually my own ducting doesn't go to the ceiling either-- secretly, because it's covered with a decorative wood cover that does. Our GC forgot to arrange to run the duct out the roof as planned, so we just directed the exhaust directly out the (exterior) wall behind the stove. BUT I wanted more than a wood liner cover shaped like a cereal box turned sideways over the stove, so we framed the duct cover up to the ceiling as originally planned, as if the duct exhausted out the roof.

If you kept the thing over the sink, what you could do is cover the entire vent and area above with a wood cover to match it and the cabinets, running that, of course to the ceiling. I wouldn't have your guy design it, though, since he seems to need more experience. You could choose pictures you like and go over them with him on technical issues of how to copy them in your space.

I forgot to mention that I agree with the others, though, that the best look is to remove the sink box, replace with a pretty light as Hollysprings suggests, and then run the industrial ducting to the ceiling. That "top hat" is visually heavy and would always visually outweigh the light-color ducting, pulling moving the center of attention up over the sink to it instead of to the stove wall, where it's meant to be.

This post was edited by rosie on Fri, May 31, 13 at 7:00

I don't think the tile has to go to the ceiling if you extend the duct to the ceiling. I would extend it, and if it is not vented outside and it could be, vent it outside. And take away the thing over the sink. Nice kitchen!

I agree. the box over the sink looks wierd. I have never seen anything like that. I would get rid of that and just install a pendant light that hangs from the ceiling.

Your cabinets and backsplash are so pretty! I agree with the others that the box over the sink could come down. It would look wonderful tiled all the way up to ceiling; if that doesn't happen, how about painting the wall a deeper color than the ceiling? I think it would be nice to have a more visual separation between wall and ceiling, and a deeper color would help the wall above the cabinets disappear a bit.

Here's a rough mockup in case it helps you visualize. Would look even better with the hood all the way up IMO.

I agree about removing the box over the window, rather than trying to match it. I have seen photos of several kitchens where the tile ends in a straight line even with the tops of the cabinets, then the chimney continues to the ceiling, and I think that can look really good (it's what we plan to do). Where your tile stops feels awkward to me, since it is below the crown, rather than in an even line with the cabinet tops. Since there is no gap between your uppers and hood, I would have stopped the tile at the bottom of the hood, or, my second choice would be to take it all the way up.

Tile ending at tops of cabs:

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[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Fairfield Kitchen and Bath Poggenpohl

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[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Palo Alto Architects & Designers Tali Hardonag Architect

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[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Bridgeville Design-build Firms Eddy Homes

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[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Wheeling Interior Designers & Decorators Pavilack Design

This tile stops just below the crown, and it works here with the chimney extending up (I'm just used to seeing the line entend to the top of the crown):

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[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Orlando Design-build Firms Hobus Homes

Tile ending below hood:

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[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Portland Architects & Designers Giulietti Schouten Architects

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[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Greenville Interior Designers & Decorators Linda McDougald Design : Postcard from Paris Home

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[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by San Francisco Interior Designers & Decorators Regan Baker Design

Tile to ceiling:

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[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Carlsbad Tile, Stone & Countertops Oceanside Glasstile

Wow, great examples kaysd!
Did you find them all on Houzz or ?
Do you recall what you used for search terms?
If these are your inspiration pictures, I can't wait to see your kitchen!

Thank you so much everyone!!! and special thanks to chicagoans & kaysd for helping me visualize it!

Modern/contemporary is the look I was going for, the box look definitely confused me but I figured he's the expert so he knows what's "in" right now. I think the box looks nice but I couldn't put my finger on the thing that looks off in the kitchen until you all pointed out that I should've gone with a pendant for a more simple/clean line look, which would've matched the hood much better. Maybe I'll use the box as a planter like trailrunner suggested after all ;)

After seeing all the pictures kaysd provided, I now see that the fact our tiles stopping below the crown moulding is another thing that bothers me (another "off" I couldn't put my fingers on until now). I'll speak to the contractor to see if he can tile everything to the ceiling and extend the hood cover as well. I agree, putting a box above the hood fan will really crowd the kitchen. To answering questions about the vent. The vent is right below where the hood cover stops. The contractor tiled the kitchen before the crown moulding was done so he likely went with "tiles line up with top of the cabinets look" at first. Not sure why he didn't think about the crown moulding because that was on his list from the beginning. However, now with the crown moulding in place, is it still possible to put tiles up & around it? Looking at all the angles on the crown moulding, it seems like a tricky job.

New.phase, I'm glad the pictures were helpful.

Island, those pictures were all saved in one of my ideabooks on Houzz. I scroll through the Modern and Contemporary Kitchens pictures regularly and save any pictures with details I like (and some I don't like so I can show KD and GC what not to do, lol). The hood details have been tricky for me to work through (vaulted ceiling), so I have a lot of hood pictures saved.

Not sure if I'm chiming in too late, but just another vote for removing the box above the window and extending the tiles and the hood chimney all of the way up.

I agree. Take the box down!

Kill the box!!! :) It seems like it is actually blocking some light from the window. Your kitchen is so pretty...you have done a great job picking everything out!