advice on above range microwave oven

[fan-of-fans]

I always preferred a countertop model in use. Easier to access, and easier for more than one person to cook at once, not blocking the stove. I prefer how an OTR microwave looks compared to most of the cheaper vent hoods however.

My parents kitchen has so much counterspace that a countertop really makes better sense. In a small kitchen, I would prefer an OTR.

In some upscale homes, I have seen a cooktop or range in an island, with an OTR micro installed along a wall somewhere with empty counterspace below. I heard this can be useful when using crockpots or other small appliances. They can be placed below the OTR microwave for venting.

 

[combo52]

OTR Micro-Wave-Ovens

In a one word answer, DON'T do it, take it from someone that repairs HUNDREDS of these a year.

 

Installing a MWO over a range is a terrible place for a plastic electronic product, imagine installing you computer over a kitchen range.

 

OTR-MWOs are a major fire hazzard, they get bad grease buildups inside where you can't clean and when you have a range top fire the whole kitchen and house goes up in flames when the plastic starts burning.

 

A few other points and corrections, there is nothing wrong with venting an OTR_MWO through the space above cabinets, as long as it is done in steel ducting.

 

The most common repair we do on MWOs is replacing bad Magnetrons, the Mag tube still has a filament in it and it has a diffident life, and to make matter worst they are pushing 1100 watts out of the same size mag tube that used to deliver 600-800 watts, so the tubes don't last long.

 

You are far better off installing a MWO on a shelf or getting a GE space-saver and hanging it under a cabinet away from the range top.

 

And always get a good range hood and vent it outside especially if you have a gas range which produces a lot of carbon monoxide.

 

John L.

 

[mattl]

Wow, someone repairs microwaves?  I had no idea.  If it dies I'd toss it.

 

I've had an OTR microwave since about the time they came out, no issues.  GE lasted about 15 years, whirlpool that replaced is still going strong 10 years later and the KA that replaced the WP is doing well 2 year in.  I have no qualms using or recommending one.  Most people I know have one, again no issues.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I appreciate the counter space an Over-the-Range microwave saves, but I don't like the idea of it becoming a built-in appliance... Especially when the day will come that it breaks and we have to deal with replacement... The interior of ours has become a nightmare to clean without standing on a step stool to get way in back and I don't appreciate the battle of it being over the cooktop creating a space problem, above my cooking, or also likely to drop a heavy object putting something in or out of it that weighs a lot...

 

I always think (& hope) when I see a range in a store with a microwave oven displayed over it, that they are ONE UNIT, but,--No!--both appliances ARE Separate!

 

 

Last of all, my wife is even too short to handle stuff on the turntable that tevolves too far into the back of the cavity to reach and retrieve when it's done cooking... And the heat problem from my stove burners might have killed the lighting underneath, as I can't get my new bulbs to work, unless the awkward position under there just simply threw off my fitting the threads into their sockets...

 

 

-- Dave

[this post was last edited: 12/11/2016-07:22]

 

[panthera]

Two years ago, I

replaced the door handle on a top of the line Kitchen Aid OTR for a multi-millionaire just outside of town.

Who helped me do it.

Repairing things has become the luxury of the rich - that dratted handle was something like $75. And just as flimsy as the ones LG puts on their least expensive models (from whence this KA came).

I miss the days when Kitchen Aid actually stood for quality.

 

[lordkenmore]

I miss the days when Kitchen Aid actually stood for quality.

We all do. Not that diminished quality is limited to KA...

 

Although...when did they make quality MWs? I'm pretty sure--correct me if I'm wrong--that that would have been a WP era innovation. Certainly, the KA name was used on relatively few products in the Hobart era. Which raises an interesting point: they had unbeatable products. They had top dishwashers. They had top mixers. There might have been better products in some ways--but KA had excellent performance and excellent durability. One wonders if the fact they had a fairly narrow focus might not have helped, unlike other companies that made, say, decent dishwashers...but also made everything else.

 

 

[panthera]

Good point - limited focus

We all saw the rolling disaster of Maytag after they started carrying a 'full line'.

Whirlpool has some great ideas but they lower their quality to cheap, cheaper cheapest. It's ruined the KA name for me.

 

[vacerator]

Yeah, I thought

that "full line" scheme would have caught up with Frigidaire by now. They have the base, Gallery, Professional trim lines, and Electrolux and Icon.
Kitchen Aid has two lines also. One appeals to the loft genre' with it's red capped commercial style handles. It gives them competition to the GE Café line.
I like their items, and it hasn't hurt them. They keep the line distanced enough from Whirlpool.