No hood?

No we really don't want a hood.

I need to see the space and you need a proper hood or in the last choice a OTR MW that really has to have a back venting system. The fact is we need pictures

Patricia Colwell, it's a very complicated small space. I am a kitchen designer so I know what I need. I'm just trying to find out if anyone has found a compact surface mount exhaust fan with a rear vent. I'm trying to give the homeowner an actual exhaust - not recirculating -fan. There is no room for an actual hood in the traditional sense. I basically just want to install the guts with minimal framing but my problem is that there is almost zero room above to fish the vent pipe through the framing. I am basically looking for the set up of a bathroom fan but in a kitchen fan.

Would something like this work?

https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/FLEX24SS300.html?

It also comes 30" wide.

The hood suggested above won't work because the guts of the hood is inside the cabinet to which the hood is attached. These three hoods are only 5" high, hang entirely below the surface (e.g., your soffit) to which they're attached, and support horizontal 3-1/4" x 10" ducts. There are probably others.

• Whirlpool UXT3030ADB
• Frigidaire FHWC3025MB
• Samsung NK30B3500US

Thank you, wdccruise. I looked those up and actually found a Zephyr only 5.5"h that vents out the back!! You pointed me in the right direction.

The Zephyr AK1200CS Breeze II looks decent.

I'd also consider the Elica EAI430SS Aria which is equipped with baffle filters -- which I understand to be better than mesh filters* -- and is only 4-3/4" high.

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*Range Hood Filter Screens vs Baffle Filters: A Practical Comparison

With that little room to work with, I’d figure out the minimum CFM you actually need first and then shop backward from that number. It may narrow the compact options quite a bit.

This calculator is handy for a quick check based on the kitchen/range setup:
https://homdera.com/en/calculators/range-hood-cfm-calculator

Then I’d focus on low-profile units that specifically allow horizontal rear ducting. That seems like a much better fit here than trying to adapt a bathroom fan for grease-laden kitchen air.

@Kathryn Peltier

Regarding your choosing a Zephyr hood for your design problem, I've had one for 14 years.

I got it when facing a similar old-house kitchen venting problem. I chose a 5.5" high, 36"-wide, twin-fan Zephyr Cyclone to go over a 30"-wide range. It was nominally rated at 600 CFM but nowhere close to that in real kitchens. The Breeze models seem to be nominally rated at about half that. I figured that the extra air draw would compensate somewhat for the compromises of having a shallow, flat bottomed hood. That's how it has worked out for me.

So, the Cylcone has been adequate rather than excellent. Getting "excellent" would have required major structural rebuild of the back end of my house. For me, adequate has been been good enough.

I've found the Zephyr Cyclone easy to clean and perfectly reliable. I cook a lot and get very little grease accumulation elsewhere in the kitchen. The underside of the Cyclone unit and the full height backsplash on the wall behind the stove do require frequent if not daily wipe downs.

The Cyclone models employ a kind of centrifugal grease collection rather than baffles. Grease collects in clear plastic "cups" which hang at the back of the unit, near the wall. Some find that unsightly.

The capture does seem to work pretty well. Most of the grease seems to get directed into those clear plastic grease collection cups. When I recently checked the ducting, I found very little grease accumulation had gotten past the hood. . I'm cleaning the cups frequently. More frequently during holiday cooking marathons. The cups slide in and out, so cleaning is easy.

The fan intakes have wire cage/covers that accumulate grease. The cages are are easily removed, washed in the dishwasher, and replaced. After 14 years of that, their paint is wearing.

Looking at the design and installation manuals for the current iteration of the 36" Cyclones. the current versions seem to have a bit more styling. My older Cyclone has a flat, 5.5 inch high chassis like that of the current Zephyr Breeze models. That is, they are 5.5" high in front all the way to the back. The current Zephyr Cyclone design seems to be 5.5" in front with side panels that curve down an inch or so at the back. That may or may not work with your design problem.

ETA: Just noticed that Houzz has again changed my screen name from jwvideo and reassigned me an "HU" number. No idea why this is happening.

HU-69602847: The Zephyr AK6500CS Cyclone is 6-3/8" high at the rear.

Kathryn Peltier: "What is the distance between the bottom of the soffit and the cooktop?