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.

I should add, you'd have to check if those companies will take receipt of parcels from outside the USA, or not. I've only used them to get shipments originating from within the USA.

how2girl is right, ducted is better. Ducted extracts better and with less maintenance. But it might be difficult or impossible to do, for example in a two storey house with the kitchen in the middle so that there is nowhere for the ducting to go. suzineedsahouse is right, different people have different requirements and what is important for one person might not be important for another person. I have seen a house where a window beside the cooktop was enough for the owner (I did wonder how that works on windy or rainy days). Some people are happy enough with a non-ducted rangehood. Some people insist on a ducted rangehood and are willing to rearrange their houseplan if necessary to ensure they have space to install one. I have heard of people who have chosen commercial rangehoods for their home. I know of people who have a second kitchen outside in their alfresco area which they prefer to use for some of their cooking and sometimes even those have a ducted rangehood. (Btw as far as I know a gas cooktop only affects your choice in regards to how high above the cooktop the rangehood must be.)

I second the idea for a row of cupboards- but make them glossy white (or a bold colour) to differentiate from the rather bland brown matt cupboards at the base. They are your base, make the wall-mounted ones sing. The problem is that the window is too low to really look out of - it's purpose is to illumiante the benches I guess. So accept this and the wall cupboards should work. Leave the pyramid hood, it's a great central feature