Never seen a microwave with a ventilation hood before !

Definitely not as powerful as a normal hood would be, but it should suffice for this kitchen.

I have never ventilated my microwave out....in fact our new above the stove microwave had instructions for not venting it out or you can vent it out......Whatever you want.....that said, I would put the ventilation pipe directly above the microwave and box it in....unless your contractor can run the pipe up through the wall (between the studs) and go up inside the wall so that it does not show.

Thank you. As Beverly points out, the point is to provide ventilation for the range, not the microwave. :) Moving the duct behind the wall or directly above are not options, for different reasons (other unit behind, roof framing above). Suggestions for (minimally) hiding it with drywall or wood?

What I show in my mock up is to have the pipe installed like you had before and that install furring strips in front of your existing drywal to create a pipe chase. Then drywall over the chase.

Has the ceiling been opened up? How do you know what's up there?

What type of roof do you have? If shingles, it's simple to move the vent.

Your roof may be framed with a truss like this, giving you room to angle the pipe within the attic.

Thank you. My contractor is suggesting a Y or V shape duct cover so it looks somewhat symmetrical and intentional, finished with either drywall or wood. Thoughts on doing that vs. a left-leaning angle?

We had something similar, although you have a much larger expanse and I think going with drywall painted the same as your wall will be less visible. My husband made this out of some wood we had and I had planned to paint it the same as the wall, but I am kind of liking it the same as the cabinets. Behind this wood is a similar duct as yours. I really like not recirculating the cooking smells into the house.

@PPF, contractor says "the duct is larger than the framing, and we can't cut the framing because that's what holds up the roof. Sorry." Hence this post. :)

We had no room to run it in the wall either. electric and something else was in the way. Borrowed a borascope to figure that out. Can you cut some cardboard to get an idea of the y shape and see if it feels balanced to you?

I would frame out the entire wall above the cabinetry to run flush or close with the face of the cabinets (don't know if your are adding crown or not). It would function as a bulkhead and be relatively seamless as opposed to tacking on some plywood box or worse over the duct. It makes the most sense here visually as well as practically IMO.

How does he know -- superman vision?

Btw your kitchen is going to be lovely. I do think your contractor's idea may look better than an angled run.

Is there any way to reconfigure the exposed ductwork to look more intentional? In kitchens that have a somewhat more industrial design than yours, there is no attempt to conceal it. Just an idea. Don't know if that would work for you.

Thank you for all the feedback! PPF, my contractor has done a lot of work in our building and is thus familiar with the framing. Flopsycat, I generally like industrial-looking kitchens, but this one doesn't qualify; I do want to cover this up somehow. And Rusty, that's a consideration, but this is an L shaped kitchen, and I'd rather have useful space above the cabinets -- keep the look, feel, and functionality as airy as possible.

Any idea on hiding it