Just about to start our kitchen renovation and have to make a final decision on appliances. We've picked the Kitchen Aid Architect II line, but here are my questions:

I fell in love with the slide-in cooktop in this series. It has (4) 15,000 BTU burners and (2) 6,000 BTU burners. Now that I have the spec sheet in hand I see it recommends an overhead vent hood be used (not possible). I was planning on installing Kitchen Aid's 600 CFM downdraft behind this cooktop but salesguy called Kitchen Aid while DH was in the store and Kitchen Aid says we should use their larger downdraft (not sure what the CFM is on that one). That's also not possible because larger downdraft must be vented directly out of house and the island where it will be placed is right in center of kitchen and drafting out is just not an option. Sales guy told DH the combo I want is not a code violation and we would have no issue having it installed that way, it's just that Kitchen Aid would not do anything to help us if anything "happened" (like set my kitchen on fire :0). So, from somone who has not had a cooktop this powerful in the past my question is...how important is it to have the correct ventilation (I wouldn't be cooking at those highest temps)? Should I listen to Kitchen Aid's specs and just give up the idea of this cooktop or is this something that is somewhat flexible?

Also, I'm planning to replace the countertops with granite and a friend suggested that because I would only have a couple of inches of granite to the left of the cooktop that could be an issue too (with the granite cracking or something)...has anyone heard of that?

Any input/advice is greatly appreciated.

Signed,

Deflated in ATL...