We have a glass rangehood similar to Futuro Futuro's Acqualina Glass product and I love it. The top and bottom of the glass gets given a clean about once a week with citrus multi-purpose cleaning spray and then wiped down with a moistened glass cleaning cloth for a pristine finish. Takes around 5 minutes in total. Cleaning the brushed stainless part is more difficult. As mentioned previously, its hard to remove all the marks. Will definately try the WD40. Me, personally, I don't like the mirrored finish. Given the window is acting as the "splashback" I would have gone for something invisible like what Sheryl Horton showed.

Haven't thought about that. It might help though. Unless I am wokking, usually it would be on 2, or 3 which is quite a bit more quiet compared to it running at maximum. I feel the noise mainly comes from the shape of the ducting. Being a flexible bellow it would create more noise despite being stretched. My idea was that if I put a smooth solid ducting near the kitchen area in the cupboard aka what Sirius and Qasair advocate, the main noise I should hear is from the air going through the filter. Once it pass the ceiling, a bit of flexi ducting and some bends will help damping noise from the motor travelling back inside which is what Schweigen and Whispair advocate.

this is'nt a wooden rangehood....it's a simple framework with added trims built to resemble a fireplace with a very high opening and a built in exhaust system ...a more elaborate than usual wall cabinet that can be built by a carpenter or cabinet maker...talk to the plumber and electrician for advice about a suitable rangehood or exhaust system that will function at the higher level than the standard height above the cooktop...you may have some luck with a commercial product designed for commercial kitchen then, once you have a suitable rangehood the cabinet can be built around it

Herringbone pattern has lots of cuts or jagged edge. Better to run it between walls and finish at a defined edge. If shelves aren’t hitting range then you need to go to ceiling, it won’t be cheap. Alternatively put a stacked tile border around the herringbone and stay under the rangehood and continue the border as the rest of the splashback along benches Use silver colored grout not white or it will look grubby. Nat tiles cheap tiles are not particularly uniform. You will find slight size and thickness variation with all cheap tiles.