Which downdraft vent? For a new kitchen? Who can recommend something?

Oops, how out of touch I am – what on earth is a Dekton countertop??? Never heard of it...

...what a miserable existence you must have led until your enlightenment today

Sounds kind of very bitter...

No, I don’t think so.
From abroad, I felt similarly; you simply don’t think much about it because this and that just doesn’t exist. Yet we like to stick around here, but I can somewhat understand that perspective.
And of course, we are all being guided here; advertising nowadays starts exactly where we no longer notice it, no one can exclude themselves from that. If you know the immense budgets, you know it must pay off to deliberately create awareness among the population.
If I plant potatoes in the front yard of a new housing development, paint my house green and red, and put some cows, chickens, and goats in the garden, I’ll get into trouble, even though I’m just feeding myself. Elsewhere people might just meet up for a barbecue then.
In South America, I would never have landscaped a garden at my house, here in the settlement I do it somewhat because otherwise it would somehow look weird or I might feel "forced" to do so.
Of course, we Germans are rather conscientious, always technically interested, and want things to be proper; that’s exactly why I sometimes almost lost it when a South American craftsman came into the house and I could already tell he really had zero clue but was always in a great mood. That annoys “us.” Five different specialists and the gas boiler still doesn’t work, meanwhile almost causing a gas explosion triggered by the craftsman, etc., you could fill books with this. Everything has its good and its less good side.
Here with us in the forum, the home is important and maybe sometimes a bit obsessively positive but I also think that’s good; that often distinguishes us from others but it’s no problem, I like to be different –