What do the specs for your stove say? I think my hood was 30 - 36" above counter, but I have a 48" Gas range. Ended up at 35" due to my kitchen design. Your finished counter height will probably be 36" including the granite.

I think 36" is high for cabinets. You might think about lowering them since you are shorter. Like 34".

The measurement to focus on is from the cooktop to the bottom of the hood. The ideal distance is 30-36". The 26" you mention would be too low and give a cramped feeling and appearance. I advise that you hang the hood so the distance is 30" from cooktop to bottom of hood.

"Counters will be the standard height which I believe to be 36" - perhaps the granite will add an inch or two."

Standard height for base cabinets including countertop is 36" from floor. It is not 36" plus your granite. Some people do opt to have higher base cabinets, but given your constraints, I'd stick with standard 36". Furthermore, the distance from the countertop to the bottom of the upper cabinets is 18" standard.

It is concerning when you make statements about what you "believe" to be a standard height, and counters adding "an inch or two". You cannot be approximate with kitchen measurements.

I think 30 inches is ideal for most cooks. My daughter has an induction cooktop with a vent-hood insert. I believe they recommended 27 inches and she went with that. She is 5 ft 2inches and the hood is only 19 deep and 36 wide on the 30 inch GE cooktop. She has no problem. I and my husband do not either and he is 5 ft 9 inches. Her husband who is 6 ft did not think it would work , but it is okay. Probably should have been 30 inches from stove minimum for him.

If your hood is 19 inches deep and you are doing induction cooktop, I’d do 30 inches. I do love her hood insert better than mine which is at the recommended height. I have gas cooktop and a noisy hood (24 deep) which was installed without the proper vent diameter.

If my hood is mounted 30” from cooktop, it would be difficult to find anything that would fit and not look ridiculous since the hood could only be 18”. I am already limited as I need a rear horizontal vent and will be using an insert liner.

Maybe I am missing something when I am calculating how much vertical space I have.

Umm, my 48" Modern-aire hood is 20" high and doesn't look ridiculous!

I have soffits and my hood is about 26" from range top. It is fine for me - I am short at 5' 1". You really only have to be concerned if your hood is wood, in which case some areas require it be 30" up because wood is a flammable material. Non-flammable material can be lower. (My hood is wood and recommended install was 24 to 30". I have asked the company twice about the 24" with wood and they keep saying its fine - made in the US too. It does have a steel liner that covers the inside.)

A lot of hoods are a lot shorter than 18". 26" may be a little on the short side but not too bad, I think you can mount it at 30" and the 18" remaining is plenty for hood and insert.

I am average height for a man in N. America and the hood in my old house was mounted at 24" above range top but the range did stick out over 4-5" from the counter edge.

This is an 18" high hood ...

Handpainted Kitchen Backsplash · More Info

This one is around 18" too

Scheinholtz Associates · More Info

"This is an 18" high hood ..."

Chispa - just to be clear, you mean the hood itself is 18" tall, correct? We have been talking in this thread about the distance from the cooktop to the bottom of the hood. In both of your photos, that distance must be at least 30" (though the second pic looks higher). In your pics, the distance from the counters to the bottom of the upper cabinets is 18" assuming standard distance, and the hood is mounted so that the bottom of the hood is quite a bit higher than the bottom of the upper cabinets. The distance from cooktop to hood is somewhere between 30-36".

My previous kitchen had 24 or 26 inches between cooktop and hood. It was okay for the most part (I'm not tall), but it was definitely not good when I had to lift something out of tall pots on the stove. Think about pasta or canning jars, for example.

Karenseb - I don't understand your comment. You prefer the lower height of your daughter's or you think her insert is more functional because of the quality of the actual insert.

Tall pots are a thought although my old pasta/shrimp all purpose pot wasn't particularly high. I did actually buy one of those spiffy pasta pots with inserts to lift out but just reverted to my original Revere Wear all purpose large pot because it was lighter :-)

As for clearance in terms of my head, it will be replacing this old Caloric stove which had this overhang which was not 30" and it never bothered me but when I'm at the stove I am always staring down and not in front of me.

Mine was white instead of this attractive avocado green :-)

frieda, yes I was showing Helen that a hood that is 18" tall does not look ridiculous. In one of her posts she said that if the did a 30" counter-to-hood height she would only be left with an 18" space for the hood and she thought it would not look good.

Mine is set up like that second photo, with the crown over the hood. My previous hood was 18" tall, but I was able to have the new one made to be 20" tall. I went with a custom finish so I wanted to see a bit more of the hood. I have 35" from counter-to-hood.

Every hood I've ever had has been 24- 27 above the cooking surface according to specs.

I think I just answered my own question insofar as it involves my personal functioning in the kitchen.

I am renting an apartment during the remodel and I realized this morning that it had a standard microwave installed over the stove. I measured and it is 20" above the standard 36" height counters (or more accurately top of the stove).

I stood in front of it and I had no feelings of claustrophobia at 20" and I can't imagine any pot or utensil not being able to fit under it especially since I would be installing it an additional 6" by going with the minimum required installation height of 26"

Thanks everyone.

Measure the depth of the OTR microwave/fan. It might stick out only 12-15" from the wall, which is very different from 24-27" or more of a hood.

I looked at your insert and it is similar in depth (19 inches deep) to my daughter's hood (Vent a hood). Her cab is about 20 inches deep above the cook top.

I like the height at 27 inches above the cooktop. She has 8 ft ceilings and frame-less cabs. She has nice storage above the hood too.

If you have a deep cabinet and hood above the cook top, I would go higher.

Or if your cook is taller, I would go higher.

Make sure they use the proper duct size between the hood and the roof exit. That is the problem I have with my hood exhaust. A straight shot is best to the exhaust exit.

Our range had a minimum distance that the hood could be . Our hood had a recommended distance as well. Both were 30 inches above top of range. Hood is 24 inches deep. Me and DH mocked it up and went with 32 inches. I'm only 5ft tall so it didn't matter much for me but DH is 6 ft tall and 32 inches felt right for him.

The hood insert I will be getting is 19.5" and the microwave above the range I am staying in is about 15" so there would be an additional four inches in depth.

I think an additional 7" in height from the 20" of the OTR microwave to the minimum required height for the hood would be more than adequate so the hood wouldn't be in my face.

Now on to figuring out exactly what height my wall oven should be :-)