Im a a huge fan of wok cooking and high heat searing. I'm cooking on a high output open burner gas range that reallly lets a guy's creativity flow. I shopped everywhere for a range hood that would handle the style and power of my cooking and range. I was plagued with oil and smoke problems when cooking. Many countless people shared advice on size and power and brand... most saying "you never need more than 400cfm" .. im sorry but those people are flatly wrong. 400cfm is a number determined by countless assumptions. (I wont get into it) .. i learned alot over this process and theres no substitute for capture area, make up air, and cfms. .. all of which are necessary to properly vent a working kitchen.
We first had an over the range microwave with "400cfm" - it was useless. Then we upgraded to a Victory Range hood Luna .. better but still it was physically undersized for our range. We needed more capture area. That hood was ok for conventional cooling. It could handle sauces and a little home cookin' Steam, but forget about high BTU open burners and 2 flaming woks .. so after 1 year of dealing with oil and smoke everywhere, i got fed up with smoking my house up, and went for the big stuff. Time for an Oversized width 42" over a 30" 4 burner range. 1200cfm through a short 10" pipe. Upper cabinets came down to make the space and.. VOILA.. PrOblem SoLved! Finally! I can now run 2 woks up to 700F on 25k BTu open burners, with all the oil and flair required, and almost every bit of smoke is evacuated. I can now turn thebheat up and "grab the bull by the horns", flip my Pans and, give it the kiss of the wok without a smoky house.
Victory was super helpful . They answered a million questions and shipped quick. What an excellently built piece of equipment.
My only regret is that im left wondering if 48" wouldve been overkill... . but this 42 is PERFECT for a 30" and i couldnt be happier.
Most of the time I can cook and bake with the hood speed set on low, but when it's wok time, those CFMs make a world of difference.
The joy of using a good set of tools is worth it.
Forget the other brands. Victory is legit.