i'd investigate a down draft ventilation system instead of a hood. ours works very well for our island gas cooktop. 10 feet is a lot of hood. 9 feet is a lot of hood. 8 feet is a lot of hood....

What kind do you have? I've looked in to it but the reviews have been mixed to poor wrt downdraft vent systems. Thank you

i have the thermador 36" and same for cooktop.

here is the thing...island hoods dont work as well as wall hoods do. (we have an island hood in our summer home, downdraft in our residence. ) so if you want your cooktop on the island its just different than if its on the wall.

That Said, if you turn on your hood or downdraft as soon as you begin to cook and before your kitchen is a steamy smoky mess, it gets the airflow going the right way.

you need to decide if you want to look at a LOT of stainless steel piping (the hood still needs to be low over your cooktop to work) or a wall of stainless steel downdraft that rises up only when you are cooking.

i wish we had gone with downdraft in our vacation home instead of the hood cutting the sightlines.

Thank you. Our current home has the range in the island but it has an elevated breakfast bar that hides the dishes and mess but it's 46" high -- too high for a short person like me and not kid friendly. We felt a sink in the island would be messier than a range?

Great advice and I like that you have a comparison to draw on. Is the downdraft then vented through the floor joists and out of the house? Would it work as effectively with a slide in electric range?

i think i would have put the sink in the island but the island wasnt big enough for the sink, trash, and dishwasher, and i hate dripping dirty water between the sink and dishwasher.

our kitchen just wasnt big enough to have the island be for show only.

yes, it goes to the basement and out an old window opening in the foundation. the motor is in the basement so its really pretty quiet in the kitchen.

in fact we have a slide in electric range in our summer house, the one with the hood. the downdraft would have worked equally well there.

If we chose to keep the range against the wall is there a more attractive range hood option than the microwave? We will tile the backsplash

just do a houzz search for range hood. yes, put the microwave some place else.

i dont want to have frightened you away from the stove in the island, both work well. and you can choose to do downdraft in a wall range location too.

No frightening here :-) we love our island range we currently have so we're just trying to retain the layout. I love to cook and see the room at the same time

have a look in your basement. if the joists run the right way and towards a wall that can have a vent.....

My best friend has her range in the island and loves it that way. Hers is a downdraft, so no hood, and yes, she does a lot of range-top cooking.

If you have seating around your island, it is not a pretty thing to have guests looking at. I would not want someone watching over my shoulder while I was cooking. Maybe you are a more confident chef. I like to use my island for serving appies from. We did a raised section for seating. To minimize the appearance of cooking mess.