Our cabinet company guarantees the appliances will fit as long as we furnish model numbers etc. of the appliances. No guarantees for a 36" cooktop but if we say Bosch X7891 then they get the specs and build to that. Did you have a contract? What exactly did it say about appliances? I think they should fix it unless you in some way gave them any misinfo on the appliances.

Thank you. Our contract specifies custom cabinets. We are to provide appliances, and we gave appliance make/model numbers to the cabinet maker. The cabinet looks recessed, which might be the problem? I attached a photo.

Not sure why you say the MW doesn't fit. It looks like it fits fine in the cabinet. If the problem is that the door won't open past 90 degrees, then the problem is the location of the MW, not the "fit" of the cabinet. Who decided to put it there with the tall cabinet immediately to the left? That's who created most of the problem, but it's not helped by the fact that if you want it to open past 90 degrees, then you'd need at least a 3" filler there to allow that to happen. That's a Kitchen Designer mistake. Who did the kitchen design?

Does that wall have enough room to be able to make the cabinet run 3" longer? He could do 3" filler to the left side against the tall cabinet and that would work. Remaking the cabinets would be cost prohibitive most likely.

The easiest solution is to just buy the smaller MW. But, since you provided the specs to the cabinet maker, it's up to the GC to do HIS job and find a solution. If you were the one that wanted the MW there, then it would be fair if all three of you absorbed 1/3 of the cost of the solution. But, that only works if there is room to make that happen.

The recess is part of the problem. If it was flush with the fridge and oven cabinetry, then the door might open. Looks like they took the specs for the microwave and built the middle cabinet unit to fit those dimensions. You notice there are stiles/fillers on either side of the cabinet doors above...they should have been figured in for the microwave portion & extended down. If you specced the exact model of microwave at the design phase and the one installed is the one signed off on by you & the cabinet designer on the final spec list, then this is the cabinet maker's mistake and it should fall to him to correct at his expense. Appliance doors being able to open, drawers being able to open (especially in corners), etc are all part of why you use a design pro. With that being said, if they presented a rendering with the setup that would allow the door to open and you nixed it and had them tighten it up to make the microwave look built in as it appears in real life, then the mistake is on you.

Unfortunately, redoing the entire run of cabinets to fix the microwave section to reflect what you describe is a big deal that will involve the entire cabinet run on that wall--those extra inches needed to get the door open will need to come from somewhere & from what I can see of this layout, what you do to the cabinet uppers will have to be done to the lowers too to keep the look. That's a total redo barring the oven & fridge portions--very expensive & time consuming. Definitely not ideal. I personally would look for an alternative to the total redo and maybe ask for a discount for the trouble (if indeed the mistake is on the cabinet designer/maker).

The microwave looks like an OTR built in model. If so, could you maybe see if there are any standalone microwaves that are of similar cu ft but just a little narrower? Then they could just install a shelf underneath the microwave for it to sit on. You could install a vented filler strip to go across the space between the top of the microwave and the bottom of the upper cabinet to disguise the fact that its not a true built-in and will allow the necessary venting. That would be the easiest and likely lowest cost & quickest fix.

Just my $0.02...hope it helps!

Thank you all! The cabinet maker also did the design. There is room to make the run longer, but at this point GC and cabinet maker don't want to take responsibility for the mistake. They both blame it on the other and say "its just one of those things." I wouldn't be so upset about it if we hadn't purchased our appliances months before the cabinets were made. I have asked for a meeting tomorrow with both of them so we will see what happens! Thanks again!

Wow, that is a unique situation for sure. The picture really helps explain what the problem is. I almost say that the blame is on the appliance manufacturer's directions. If it doesn't state a side clearance for opening the door it really looks like "one of those things" that is unavoidable in that recessed design. I wonder what the manual says for side clearance? Some MWs must work in that set up if the door is short with an inset hinge perhaps. Maybe you can see if another brand MW will work in the space and sell that one on CL. Bummer, it looks like a nice design but function has to fit in the picture somehow.

Seems the problem largely traces back to the nonstandard application of an OTR microwave. I would simply buy a Panasonic microwave and built in trim kit and dump the OTR. it will probably be slightly narrower (I think they make 24" and 27" trim kits - i'm guessing that's a 30" microwave), allowing the cabinet maker to simply add a couple vertical stiles long the sides (which would look better anyway). The microwave plus the trim kit is probably no more than $400, looks great, and works great. I have one in my recently completed kitchen with wolf/subzero, and it blends right in...

I was thinking something was off. Still, if its an OTR microwave, shouldn't someone have noticed and said it wouldn't work there? Maybe not. I agree, if you can get a new microwave for not too much then that's the way to go.