Chris,

Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah, I was kind of thinking along the same lines. I would think some sort of inspection will be needed for an occupancy permit, but hiring my own inspector may be the way to go.

I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt if I could find some substance to this "new filtering technology" claim, but thus far I have seen no evidence for this (and the builder has not supplied any), and we will definitely be asking for the hood to be vented out the roof. But this whole issue has raised the question of where else corners may have been cut. What I can't figure out is: why try to cheap out on this particular feature? I can't imagine the cost of running the exhaust to the roof vent could be more than $300-400, a small fraction of the stove/hood/fancy kitchen cost. If this is true, it shows some pretty poor judgment on where to cut costs, don't you think? Makes me wonder if other things not accessible to inspection may be substandard as well.

MR

I'd have the same concerns. It really isn't rocket science, so it puts competence on all other issues in question.

Dana1, I suppose I am willing to assume this is an isoloated incident resulting from a misunderstanding between builder and kitchen supply vendor rep. However, this definitely increases my sensitivity to any additional issues that may come up! MR