Hello forum,

In our kitchen remodel, we were planning on putting the microwave in a wall cabinet shelf and wanted to use a countertop model instead of customizing for a specific built-in and having no options when it fails. Hey, piece of cake, right? I guess not. I have spent a lot of time looking around, and have come up empty with the exception of a couple that are not just dorm MWs. Many countertop models are spec'd to have a ton of clearance to the sides or back.

Our specs:
- 26" wide
- no practical limitation on height
- standard 12" cabinet depth, could recess a couple of inches, willing to have a shelf stick out a little to fit it.

The two potential ones are the seemingly ubiquitous GE PEM31SFSS (http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=PEM31SFSS) but unless I missed it, there is no clearance specified in the manual.

There is this Frigidaire: (http://www.frigidaire.com/Kitchen-Appliances/Microwaves/Counter-Top-Microwave/FFCM0934LS/) which also does not seem to specify any clearance.

Also, the Panasonic NN-SD681S (http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/NN-SD681S) which has an optional trim kit (and so is not expressly verbotim from being in a cabinet) and requires 3" on the sides and 1" on top. It is about 16" deep though.

This has come up a few times in the past but most of the threads have just a couple of posts, though this thread has some interesting pictures: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0421251224905.html

Does anyone have any specific experience with either of these, or another recommendation?

TIA