Broan APE130SS Energy Star Qualified Under-Cabinet Range Hood, 30-Inch, Stainless Steel

The Good:1) Pretty sturdy and good looking, if you like the clean "commercial" look. The sheet metal is thick enough and not flimsy at all--I can't imagine why anyone would one it thicker. The installation is pretty straight-forward--four screws to hold it up, and make the electrical connections. Any heavier, this would be unnecessarily much harder work.2) Dual venting options. With the optional ductless vent accessory, you can install and use it without a duct to outside of the house. You can then later opt to put in a duct without having to go buy another hood.The Bad:1) I do agree with the other reviewers that the fan can be very loud at maximum, to the extent that you and people nearby will need to speak loudly to be heard, whether you are at the stove or in the same room.2) The controls are poorly designed, in my opinion, as the toggle switch between the two knobs would make one think it's the light switch, but it's the fan switch, and the right knob controls the lights and the left knob controls fan speed. The controls are also recessed behind the front edge, so depending on the installation height, you may not be able to easily see them and would have to feel around a little bit, even have to bend your head and look under the first time. Some might like that clean look, but personally, I find it a clumsy design when paired with the non-intuitive toggle switch, which I still hit trying to turn the lights on. Better design for the fan switch and speed controls would have been simply combine the two functions into a single knob, rather than two separate controls.3) Lastly, the light bulbs are too dim. The CFL bulb for the high setting is somewhat serviceable, but the low setting bulbs are so dim, they are almost useless except for use as a night lite. As others have done, definitely worth looking into brighter replacements for both.All in all, not disappointed with the purchase and many people have commented on how nice it looks.

It works amazingly well. We cook Asian foods, and since using it, our house, especially the second floor doesn't smell like our cooking! The knobs are a little hard to see. But you kind of just get used to turning them without having to look at them. I like that you can control the fan strength well because it's a dial, not just a switch with just one or two adjustable levels. For deep frying with A LOT of oil, like pork cutlet, you will still smell the oil even after cooking. But it's still way better than the microwave range hood we had before. Noise level is low considering the power of this thing.

I replaced my crappy GE over the range microwave vent combo with this unit. I reused the microwave plug as well and it's very easy to wire. The unit comes the baffling adapter. It pulls a lot of air and is quiet. My gripes are the two vents don't fit snugly against the frame, so I took some foil tape on the top inside track filter holder. I folder the foil tape over with a curve so it will press up against the filter a little bit all is well now. The plastic light cover protrudes a wee bit from the surface, odd they couldn't make the cover flush with the surface. And the included CFL bulb is the annoying 4 prong thing, and the night light is actually a separate mini old school incandescent bulb (that's a bad Broan). I would still go with this unit and think twice with thoughts non brand who knows how long it will last other ones, know what I mean?

We needed to replace our vintage 1978 harvest gold range hood and shopped quite a bit. All of the models we liked in stores were very expensive ($1000+). We stumbled into this one while shopping online and started considering it. Mocked up the measurements and liked what we expected in the size of the hood. Ordered it up thinking if it were bad, we could return it and try again.No return needed. The hood is really pretty nice and exceeded our expectations at this price point. The stainless is nicely finished and looks really nice. The fan does a great job extracting fumes and smoke. The CFL light is REALLY bright and is a nice added bonus. We swapped in an LED night light bulb and it works good. The filters are easy to get to and remove for cleaning. We were happy to find that it was also magnetic (nice place to hold a recipe while working).One review I read criticized how loud the fan is... yes... it can be loud. If you are using the fan at full pull strength she will be loud, but at this CFM level, I would expect it to be loud. True commercial units are deafening loud, so why would I expect a silent sucker in my house? At the lower fan levels, she is nearly silent and works well for preventing heat build up in the kitchen. The higher levels are louder but can also do some serious pulling!Overall, we are very happy and I don't think i could improve anything without pushing it out of the price range.

I just had the Broan Under Cabinet Range Hood installed in my kitchen. We have it vented outside and since it's been installed, I can not smell anything in any part of my house when food is cooking. This has been an ongoing problem for us since we cook VERY aromatic ethnic foods and I can usually smell them all the way up to the third floor! Given that I'm a quilter, I always worry about food smells getting into my quilt orders. Love, love, love this vent hood and I would recommend it to everyone with no hesitation.

Nice fit and finish on this hood makes it a VERY good purchase from Amazon at this price. And yes the fan it a bit noisy at full throttle but you have to expect that coming from ANY hood with internal exhaust fan. The good thing is that it gets the job done effectively so you don't have to keep it at full throttle for long. Installation can be done by a capable person alone but the unit is a bit heavy. It is an easy two person install! As for wiring it up...either hard wired if you have some slack on the current Romex in the wall or just wire it up and plug it in using a "dishwasher hookup" plug or similar.