Thanks for the detailed comments and specifically the tech comments on pressure loss and ducting issues. I will discuss with our tech.

We are replacing a downdraft vent that stopped working. Our comparison point is another downdraft vent vs something in the ceiling. I am opposed to the hanging vent that break the visual flow of the kitchen/nook area. Our experience with the old downdraft (Viking VIPR100 ~20yr old model) wasnt that good, and most of the feedback on the newer downdrafts also is that they are not as effective due to the horizontal pull...

For simmering bacon on a back burner right next to a modern pop-up downdraft system, the pop-up will probably be better than a ceiling system. For all other cooking, front burners or any burners with hot cooking plumes moving upwards at a meter/second, the ceiling system will be better. But in neither case do I believe either of those systems will be good enough.

As I've noted elsewhere, you can have only two (at best) of performance, aesthetics, affordability. If aesthetics dominates the trade space, then achieving performance (capture and containment) may prove much more expensive than a conventional hanging sight-line degrading hood.

What range/cooktop will you have? What kind of cooking do you do? How often? What do you want to be able to do in your new kitchen? Where do you live and how often do you have windows open? How important is your, families and friends health to you?

Did you get the flush ceiling vent? If so, was it easy installation whether you hired or DIY?

I am thinking of replacing our hanging island hood with a flush option. We do not fry much and we have 8' ceilings, so venting is not a big deal for us. We are tall, with my high school freshman son already at 6'5" and the traditional hoods are a bit of a headbanging nuisance for us :)

You could have a custom hood made that hung on the ceiling with one-foot tall (visible) sides such that the base was 7 feet above the floor and the base area was one foot larger than the cooktop all around. (For an island hood, this is 2 feet wider and 2 feet deeper front to back. The baffles would have to be above the base in this hood and the hood would have to protrude into the joist space such that there was room above the baffles to collect the captured effluent and insert it into a suitable sized duct. The blower would have to be outside. If the ceiling mates to an attic, then a conventional (more or less) commercial hood could be used, once the joists were structurally revised.

Useless bad joke.

@rureadyinla - we did install the Faber Stratus hood and it works well for us. Performance wise, it is better than the downdraft we replaced. I keep the window a crack open and it is very effective for the type light cooking we do (no / light frying typically). It was not a DYI for us as we needed new venting in the ceiling/ roof vent / move a can ilght etc. It was an expensive contractor job. I do like how it looks, like a work of art almost ;)

One caution, that we were delivered one that was shattered to pieces when opened, so has to reorder and wait a few weeks. Keep in mind in case they are back ordered.

I have a Faber Stratus Isola flush mount vent hood, and while the vent itself works great, the recessed LED light panels seem to attract and trap dead bugs over time. There’s no official documentation on how to clean inside the light fixtures, and I haven’t found any posts about this specific model.

Has anyone figured out how to safely clean out the bugs and grease? Any tips, diagrams, or firsthand experience would be hugely appreciated—especially if you’ve dealt with this exact model. Thanks in advance!

Functionally incompatible with actual science.

Impossible to clean witnout vlimbing on the island below, so they never do get cleaned. Then you get that dark halo of grease and nastiness around them, just like having no vent at all. Plus the bonus of the the rancid grease smells aging in your curtains and upholstery. You need a genuine overhead island vent.