You'll get lots of advice here against an OTR microwave. They are useless for ventilation. They are also IMHO unreliable: can you think of a worse place to put a piece of electronics than over a range? While they do have various types of overheating protection, they still run way hot when you're cooking which I think dooms them to an early demise.

Have you considered other options? Search this forum for several long threads on ways to build a MW into cabinetry, or you could just put it on the countertop.

You will regret switching out your hood for an OTR MW. Most people do it the other way around (like me)! Are you space constrained, is that why you want the MW over the range? Perhaps you can squeeze in the MW someplace else. Really, I would advise you not to make the switch you are contemplating. I hated my OTR MW so much that I did switch it out for a hood at great expense and trouble.

A MW over the range can never exhaust properly, it just doesn't have the capture area. OTR MW's have 2 little mesh squares for exhaust which is inadequate. Furthermore, OTR MW's don't extend much over the back burners, so anything on the front burners won't exhaust well. Also, you will be pulling hot sloshing items out of the MW from overhead; who wants to do that when there are other alternatives?

Have I talked you out of it?

Sure, in a perfect world, you would have a separate hood and built in microwave. I happen to live with a OTR MW, and have not disliked it enough to replace. It actually vents pretty well on high speed (mine vents to outside, some just filter and send the air back in the room). I have not had difficulty removeing items and I use it for all sorts of things. I like that I can keep an eye on things in the MW while working at the cooktop, especially things like melting butter or chocolate. So it's not the end of the world if this is the only set up that works in your kitchen. It's certainly better than having the darn thing sitting on a counter!

I wanted to put the MW over the stove to get it off the countertop. We are painting the kitchen and did have the MW on a seperate wall shelf. My husband doesn't want that set up any longer, and I have limited counterspace. The coffeemaker is permanantly on the counter due to continual use and my Cuisinart mixer due to size/weight. Husband said to take the mixer off the counter, but I know it will never get used if I have to lug it up from the basement to use it! No other place to store it in the kitchen. The OTR MW are so expensive, too. I will try to come up with a different solution than the OTR MW. If I can't, what is the minimum clearance between the stovetop and the bottom of the MW? Thanks everyone!

We have one, and it works fine. The only problem we have with it is the thin plastic trim on the door has cracked and is peeling off. It actually vents okay -- it is vented directly to the outside.

Ours is an Amana, bought 8 years ago so they probably don't make that model anymore. We've been contemplating getting a new one only because of the peeling plastic.

I've always had a countertop microwave, until moving to my current house 4 years ago it has an OTR. It's perfectly OK as a fully-featured microwave oven, but I don't like the OTR aspect at all, and the (non)venting sucks.

i guess I don't understand why the microwave cannot remain on the shelf. Can you explain further? Also, have you considered a drawer based microwave or an over the cabinet microwave. I have included a link to a Sharp over the cabinet microwave. Several manufacturers have different versions of this.
Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sharp Over the Counter microwave

In this Metro NY market they start in price $169.00 for over the range microwaves

Guadalupe - where have you found an OTR MW for $169? That's amazing. Please post a link. That price sounds way too low, so please tell us where these are found, and what brand.

Here's one for even less.

They are out there ... now, how good they are is another matter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hotpoint

Why does your DH want it off the shelf? It sounds like a good solution (depending, of course on the location/height of the shelf).

Does your DH do most of the cooking? If so, I would probably defer to his wishes, but if you do most of it....

[My DH does most of the cleanup, so he picked the cleanup sink, faucet, & DW...even though I wanted a different DW. I do most of the cooking, so I had the final say on cooking appliances...but we did discuss everything.]