I am in the process of setting up a new kitchen and I am getting frustrated
about range hoods. I want a range hood that really works (ie extracts
smoke, smells and steam efficiently) but I cannot afford to pay the earth.

Appliance shops deluge you with sales bull and explain nothing. You can get
a hood from $200 to $2000. Some of the larger and fancier ones have more
stainless steel and bells and whistles but some look just the same and have
a price tag twice (or half) as much. When asked to explain the difference
you get "the more expensive one is better" if you ask better in what way
exactly you get told about features but not performance. I can make my own
jugements about ease of cleaning and if I need frisbees on the thingajig or
gold plated whatsernames.

I have looked at professional cooking gear web sites but so far it seems
that you have to have qualifications in air conditioning engineering to
follow their specs and most of the products assume a restaurant sized
operation.

One web site recommends that the hood be able to extract between 6 and 12
times the volume of the room per hour. That is you turn over the air every
5 to 10 minutes, this seems reasonable to me.

Does anybody have any views on that? Under what circumstances would the
upper or lower rate be appropriate?

How else might one assess the required rate?

David