I'm planning a complete kitchen remodel and I'm considering an island cooktop. My primary hesitation is the hood. We're planning a pass through between our dining room and kitchen and we'd like to be able to see through the kitchen to french doors to the garden. We're concerned a big, honking hood in the middle of the kitchen will be unattractive and block the view and the open feeling.

However I've heard downdrafts don't work well.

We're looking for small hoods units, effective down drafts or other ventilation options that would make this work. With our current design we don't really have a wall where we could install a cooktop and hood.