Hi Sam, I use whispair with external motor 2100 m^3/hr with flexible duct for a single story house. Performance is quite fine with wok cooking, however it is not that whisper quiet at maximum extraction. If you want high volume extraction, there will be a good amount of air noise. Quite a fir bit of audible noise in the room comes from flexible ducting right after the hood. As far as I understand, rigid ducting would be a bit more quiet, but it may also bring in noise from the fan. For two storeys, fan noise may not travel back that much. But definitely rigid ducting will improve extraction performance for long ducting. If the ducting is really long, you could also add another inline motor along the way. Qasair twin motor is similar, if not a touch more quiet. So perhaps, look at Qasair, or other brands with external motor (Schweigen, Whispair, Sirius) with rigid ducting.

How about giving Qasair/Condari a call. Head office is in VIC which should be close enough for Ballarat. http://www.condari.com.au/custom-made-special-rangehoods/

Thanks Margot. I think I've more or less got it sorted. The only challenge remaining, I think, is finding a way to give it a visual lift. It currently has floor to ceiling tiles in a standard size, square, and a very uninteresting colour with no texture - but in very good order. Very dull! I hate grout in showers so I'm thinking maybe some Mr Wetwall panelling or something similar over the tiles in the shower and on the new wall formed by moving the linen cpd, plus on a part wall along the long side of the shower to replace the glass screens that I insist must go (I'm a lazy cleaner and I hate cleaning glass!) Hopefully that would be enough to relieve the dullness of the existing tiles. Then some feature shelving over the new bath tub perhaps. Not yet decided whether to install a freestanding back-to-wall bath or a drop-in, but the latter might provide scope for some more feature tiling or panelling around it. I want to open the room directly to the outdoors but the current window opening is only 1200mm wide and the wall is 8 inches of solid concrete - not easy to cut to enlarge the opening - so I'm looking at either a hinged door with window inset into it or a standard size glass swing door with a narrow window beside for ventilation. My other challenge is doors for the relocated linen cpd, as the existing mirror doors have got to go! I loathe them. As the cpd will be visible from the living area, it needs stylish doors.

Hi Jo, Manufacturers Brands such as Sirius, Falmec and Swheigen all make Ceiling Cassette Rangehoods which are a style that installs Flush with your Raked Ceiling. They are also very powerful and very quiet as they have their Fan Motors mounted inside the flue which protrudes through the roof outside. Hope this helps, Malcolm.