I posted an an earlier question on this same topic, but didn’t know enough then to know what to ask. i think we have some more specific questions this time.

We are planning a full kitchen renovation, and are trying to decide on how to handle the exhaust hood for a 36” induction cooktop which will be located in an island. out goal is to have adequate ventilation for wok cooking, while minimizing noise, and and, of course, not spending more than is necessary to accomplish all that.

We’re planning on installing 42” island hood, placed no more than 36 inches above the cooktop, possibly with some sort of decorative enclosure (We’ve got a historic house, and think the industrial appearance of most hoods would be out of place.) Based on the direction of the joists, we expect to run the exhaust vent about 7 feet straight horIzontally to the exterior of the house. The kitchen volume is about 2100 cubic feet.

I’ve gotten mixed messages on just what CFMs I really need for this setup, maybe because induction usually requires lower CFM than gas, but wok cooking pushes the requirements back up. (Anything over 400 CFM will mean make up air, according to code.) The rule I’ve seen in some places says that for electric cooktops, I can calculate the CFM I need by multiplying the cooktop width by 10, which gives me 360 CFM. If that is really sufficient, it could certainly save us some money. But I am skeptical that it will really do the trick, considering the style of cooking we do.

Anyway, we went to a Wolf/Sub-Zero showroom to look at Best hoods in particular, because we’d heard that they had particularly quiet blowers. The specialist there explained that with any run under 10 feet, putting the blower outside wouldn’t help reduce noise enough to matter, even with a silencer, and that we were better off just getting a quieter internal blower. Is this true?

Taking all of this into consideration, we were looking at hoods from Best, specifically this one, which has an 800 CFM internal blower which is supposed to be unusually quiet, but the hood is labeled ”Limited quantities available”, making me think it might be discontinued. But I also understand that Best manufactured hoods for a lot of other brands (anyone know which ones?), so maybe I can find the same hood with some other ”label”?

Basically, my main question at this point is whether we seem to be on the right track. We want effective ventilation, we want it to be as quiet as is reasonably achievable. We are willing to pay what it takes to accomplish that, within reason. While we have a contractor for the overall project, we’re not yet in touch with his HVAC person, who might be able to answer these questions, and we really have to get on with ordering appliances (including the hood), or we risk delaying the whole project.