I am replacing my 13 yr. old OTR microwave and have found that the tile backsplash (which is 1 inch thick) runs up behind the microwave about 6 inches. The adjacent upper cabinets are mounted directly on the wall. As a result, the microwave extends an inch more in depth beyond the cabinet fronts than it otherwise would. This wasn't a problem before, but I am finding that the newer microwaves are all deeper than mine and I think they would come out too far over the cooktop to use comfortably. The only solution I can think of now is to cut the tile at the level of the new microwave so it can be mounted on the wall.

Is the microwave usually installed directly on the wall with the backsplash done later, only going up to the bottom of the microwave? If so, it seems like this would be a problem if the microwave needed to be replaced later with one which was not the exact same size.