My downdraft is great with outside motor so not too noisy. Having said that I would also have been happy with a ceiling extractor if I had the space above for the venting.

I think the only way you can do that is to swop the positions of the oven/range and the storage drawers. I'm sure it's doable, but there might be practical problems.

Black and yellow are both very strong colour choices and I feel you'd be sick of them before it was time to change them. Black also shows marks more than you'd think. Clear is fine, but have you considered a piece of art behind clear?There are several companies that do this, imageglass.co.nz had one with tuis in it which has black and yellow. As for size are you having a range hood? If so this might affect your choice of size.

Which would look better tiles or glass and what colour? Would it be best to cover the whole wall, half wall under the range hood or just between the range hood and cooker?