Do you have any pictures? People here are quite creative. Might help if others could see the situation.

Venting is always welcome (by me at least).

Range Hood: Does your range hood vent outside? Or, is it a recirculating hood? If it vents outside, how many turns are there & how long is the run to get it to the outside? How big is your ducting (diameter if round, sides if rectangular)? The greater the # of turns & the longer the run the (1) louder the hood will be and (2) less effective the hood will be. If it's a recirculating hood, it won't be nearly as effective as an externally vented hood.

Our range hood, while it's quite a bit quieter than our old one, does makes some noise. It isn't almost silent as many people here and on the Appliances Forum say theirs are...but you can definitely hold a conversation w/someone in the kitchen w/o raising your voice. Our run has 3 turns and is approx 12' in length w/a 6" x 8.5" duct (converts from 8" round to rectangular in one of the turns. [Hmmm...now that I think about it, I think we may actually have 4 turns...*sigh* we had so many problems venting to the outside!]

Microwave: Do you have room for a "microwave cart"? I purchased this cart when I was living in an apartment that didn't have enough counterspace for a MW nor did I have a MW shelf. It went with me to my townhouse and then to our single family home. In our current home, it ended up being the location of: MW on top + Message Center below + Pot Holder Drawer + Liquor Cabinet. It actually was very useful and added some badly needed storage space. I have a pic from our "before kitchen". Note that it was really inexpensive b/c I bought it when I had very little $$$. If I had it to do over again, I might have bought a nicer one since I had it for over 18 years!

[We had so little storage space in our old kitchen that we used every available surface, including the top and sides of our appliances, etc. So, yes, the kitchen looked cluttered!]

Another option: How wide & deep are your upper cabinets? I'm guessing too shallow for your MW, but if not, would you be able to put your MW in the bottom of one of the upper cabinets? You'd have to leave the door(s) open when using it, but it might work.

Pictures please!

I do think there must be something less than optimal with your hood. I had a wimpy Zephyr hood going through all kinds of contortions to vent out and it was satisfactory. Something isn't right! You should be delighted, not disappointed. Hmmmm.

Now, microwave carts can take many forms--a nice baker's rack can hold all kinds of appliances. I'm sure if you had room for one of those you wouldn't be asking...

You can at least put non-slip feet on the thing so it stays put.

Thanks for responding to my vent!

Our new vent hood vents directly through the wall to the outside (no turns). It's a 3 1/2 x 10 opening, exactly as specified in the owner's manual. It's a nice piece of machinery, but I'm disappointed in the noise and how it doesn't seem to clear cooking odors.

There is no room under, over, or inside any of the existing cabinets for a microwave. If we mounted the small one we just bought under a cabinet, there would only be a few inches between the bottom of it and the counter, so it
doesn't seem worth it.

There is one possible spot for a cart, or shelf, or something, but there is no outlet there, and it might require some demolition/reconstruction. I do have a picture of that spot:

The doorway to the right of the shelf leads into the basement. Here's what's directly across from the wall with the little shelf and the phone:

If we somehow could do a shelf, or even a built-in arrangement (stealing space from the pantry behind it -- where the door is) on the phone wall, that might be handy, but I don't know if it's worth it. We have thought on and off about redoing the whole pantry area -- for example, taking down the whole wall across from the refrigerator and widening that whole area, making the pantry one big closet instead of two little ones, upgrading the shelving inside, etc. -- but so far it's seemed like a lot of expense and trouble.

Putting the microwave inside the pantry as it is now probably wouldn't work -- not convenient, no ventilation, and there's no existing outlet anyway.

Sigh. Seems like such a small problem, but I don't know how to solve it.

... since I posted pictures ...

(And btw, what should we do with that piece of trim on the right? The guy who was managing the vent installation was supposed to do something about it, but he forgot. It looks kind of silly, doesn't it?)