This project (part of Sonya's Kitchen remodel), was the final step in recovering all of the precious upper cabinet space that the original kitchen had sacrificed to silly ducting. The new kitchen layout strategically placed the range against an exterior wall, allowing the range hood to vent immediately outside; no duct runs necessary.
This gallery shows the step-by-step process of precisely opening up the exterior wall, and reframing it (since it's load bearing), then mounting a new mounting block and wall cap.
For the mounting block I avoided using a cheap, toxic, plastic by making my own out of the most intrinsically rot & insect resistant tree species in North America: black locust (aka honey locust), which luckily grows natively here in New Jersey. Black locust is an amazing hardwood and one of my favorites. In outdoor applications it matches or exceeds imported tropical hardwoods like ipe and teak, and lasts four times as long as cedar! This particular black locust was harvested from a wind-fallen tree by a local arborist. Groovy. +1 for ecotopia.
+1 for the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia and South America
-1 for the PVC industry.