I've had both, and much prefer a seperate hood. Here are my pros and cons. (Disclaimer: These are only cons and pros for me, hsw_sc. These are not your potential pros and cons or Aunt Mary's pros and cons. Certainly not Gordon Ramsey's pros and cons. The husband has more cons and no pros. My dogs have no opinions whatsoever as they eat only kibble and the occasional banana).

The cons:

A. I'm 5'6". The microwave sits up too high for me to feel comfortable putting liquids in, and then taking them out hot.

B. The fan function is not sufficient for my cooking needs. I loathe the fact that my house smells like onions for days (OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration. maybe just a day) after making soups, or just stinks in general after cooking any type of ethnic food or fried food(think anything with cumin, garlic, certain meats, you get the idea...).

C. The taller cooks at my house (my husband, my chef friends) say that all the Microhood does is recirculate the stinky air right into their faces while they are cooking.

The Pros:

A. It's a great kitchen timer.

B. It melts butter faster than on the stove.

Some people love their microhoods, my mother and sister love theirs.

PS-as for cleaning? I don't see cleaning as being an issue. You do, however, need to keep the filters clean. The upper cabinet cleaning has never been an issue for me.

What about the OTR microwaves that actually vent to the outside, not just filter and recirculate the air? That's what I'm interested in for my small 10' x 10' kitchen with 3 doorways!

Thank you, hsw_sc! I'm 5'4' but I see your point.

fivefootzero, I am actually planning to have it vented to the outside so I don't think I'm going to have the problem of having it vented into my face.

Any other opinions?

Thanks!

LOL...about it vented to your face.

I wonder how many of the posters who are against the OTR because of venting issues are actually venting to the outside. Our old one just used the filters, but in our reno we plan on venting outside (duct already there) if we don't move it.

And I'm 5'0" but without any other place to put the microwave, I have no choice. We use it mostly to reheat, and very rarely do straight up liquids in there.

lucik77, I wish that ours was vented to the outside. I'd be interested to hear from those with the outside vent, too. Ours is against an outside wall (which makes me wonder why the previous owners did not choose to have it vented when they remodeled).

If I were to be doing a full remodel of this current kitchen I'd do seperate appliances, but if a vented version is a better choice as a replacement for a cosmetic change then maybe I'll do that instead.

I just recently had my OTR micro converted from recirculating to outside venting. It absolutely makes a difference. Venting the micro hood to the outside removes the heat and the odor quickly - maybe not as efficiently as a dedicated hood, but it works for my style of cooking.

I was originally going with a stove hood in my kitchen remodel, but since my kitchen is small, the layout with a hood and a separate location for the micro just didn't make ergonomic sense.

Helene

My parents have a OTR microwave vented to the outside. Compaired to the hood they had before,

Cons:
5 fan settings:
1. loud
2. louder
3. Loud
4. LOUD
5. L O U D ! ! !

Its only half the depth of the counter so it does not capture anything from the front burners.

Due tp placement constraints and cabinet space I had to have a OCM. Mine is about 10 yrs old and it is a GE Profile- top of the line back then- before the Monogram series. etc. It is vented to the outside, has 3 speeds plus a power boost and is more than adequate for my needs. Yes, it is a little high- I'm 5'3", but works for me. Cleaning is no problem- DH does the inside for me; the filters go in the dishwasher and I don't notice any build up of grease on my cabinets.

I've struggled w/ this myself, also having a small kitchen and a tight budget but wanting the right look for an old, period kitchen. For me - at this time - an over-the-range microwave is the only realistic option. There's nowhere else to put a microwave and I need a microwave, for sure. I think small kitchens just don't have the luxury of the nice hoods! But I'll have mine somehow installed beneath an old original upper cabinet (there used to be a short fridge under there) and I think the upper cab w/ its crown molding will give it a bit of a hood look...or at least that's what i"m telling myself. ;) I also like that the microwave isn't the first thing seen when people come in my kitchen (my matching white stove is nothing special...someday I hope to get a vintage stove).

They're not so bad...

I have had both and prefer a hood to a micro hood. A few more cons for the micro hood are 1. If you have kids it can be dangerous for them to be hanging over the stove to heat something up in the microwave 2. the units are closer to the stove so they get greasy all over the bottom - not just on the washable vents 3. If the microwave breaks you cant just get a new one.

Used on OTR MW/Hood this summer in a rental...hated it! My sister also has one b/c she has a very small kitchen and while she doesn't particularly like it, she figures she has no choice...
It's in your face MWing (if you're someone who worries about MW energy and standing in front of the MW while it's operating, then realize that your head/brain is at the right height to be affected)
If someone needs to use the MW while you're working at the range/cooktop...you have to get out of their way...at least twice (once for putting food in the MW, then for taking it out; if it needs to be "checked", that's another time)
If you're cooking something on the front burners, then accessing the MW means reaching over that hot food...if it's water, you're reaching through the steam while the steam is also billowing up into your face; if something is browning, frying/stir-frying, you're reaching through splattering grease) Someone here actually set their sweater on fire while reaching up trying to get into their OTR MW.
It really is too high to safely remove food w/out the risk of spilling the food on you (including your head)...unless you and everyone who will use it is at least 6' tall...
They generally do not cover the front burners...OK if you only cook on the back burners, I guess
Even when they're externally vented (like my sister's), it still doesn't do a very good job of venting...she has greasy build-up all around/above her range. Yes, she wipes down the wall, cabs, etc. occasionally, but it's really tough to keep up with it if you don't do it every time you cook. (It's b/c it's not just grease...it's grease + dust + pet dander/fur + etc.) I don't think the build-up is as bad as my parents' kitchen w/no hood at all, so it probably does do something.

If there's absolutely nowhere else to put a MW, and you're OK with the cons, then OK. After all, this is your kitchen.

My OTRM is same as pamies and it works fine for me, except it is too high for my short Mom when she visits me. I also have a counter top microwave. The fan is vented out and is not too LOUD.

I agree with buehl [If there's absolutely nowhere else to put a MW, and you're OK with the cons, then OK. After all, this is your kitchen.]

fivefootzero - I have a 8x14 kitchen with three doorways and an OTR MW/Hood (Frigidaire Gallery) that vents outside.

It works pretty well. Definitely better than the OTR MW/Hood in my previous home that didn't vent outside - that was pointless! My only complaint is the noise. I think it is a little loud. On the plus side, if I am in the kitchen with the fan on I can't hear the kids arguing. :)

I am 5'8'' and have no problem using it. I'd love to have a "real" hood but it definitely wasn't even a choice with my small kitchen and very limited counter space.

My old vent system was a hole in the wall with 1950's tiny metal fan stuffed in. The OTR is a major upgrade for us.

Thaks for all the replies. And with a 10x10 kitchen, I really would rather use a vented out OTR microwave than give up some drawer or cabinet space for a separate one.

And I'm wondering how greasy one can get (for us at least)? I mean, I have a firefighter husband who's out of the house every 72 hours for 24 hours, an 8 year old and a 6 year old, activities every night of the week (weekends it's hockey in the mornings). I do not fry a whole lot (my husband does dumplings every once in a while). I saute veggies maybe once a week. I have a separate deep fryer that we use for other things.

New OTR micro owner here, vented straight up.

1. It's loud -- and this is coming from a 1987 JennAir downdraft that sounded like an aircraft carrier. It may be quieter in decibels, but it's right next to my ears. I put some stuff in the cabinet above, and that helped a bit. But, I need to pack that cabinet full to avoid the drum effect of the cabinet magnifying every echo from the ducts.

2. It's hard to install. I had to have my contractor re-seal the ducts when I discovered an air leak. (This also helped with some of the vibrations and noise.) Always double-check the installation.

3. I love the location of the micro at eye level - much easier to clean in and around, and it does vent adequately -- definitely not the case that I don't see steam going into the vents. I'm also one that doesn't fry much, and it's new, so no experience with grease build up yet.

I have the cheapest Frigidaire micro -- had to downgrade at the last minute when my first choice model was backordered. I probably could have just changed brands rather than getting something to match the range, if that would have been quieter, but the micro wasn't hugely important to me.

--Janet

Thank you for all of your comments!
My initial reason for doing the over the range microwave was to save $1000 in additional expenses. I have room for both. I'm a little concerned about kids using the microwave that is so high up, plus over a stove - that was not something I thought of so thank you for bringing it up.
It seems another choice is to put the microwave under wall cabinets - doesn't take up additional counter space.
This way I can build regular cabinets and put my existing microwave in the pantry for now (and use it there - as a make shift appliance garage). When it dies, I'll buy a stainless steel one and attach it to the bottom of the wall cabinet.
Is that a good idea?

I'll weigh in, but only about the OTR MWs, even though it sounds like you are going a different direction. My kitchen is small, so I replaced our old OTR MW with another when we remodelled. We put in a GE Advantium 120, vented to the outside. Our old one was recirculated. We never used the old one because of the recirculating air. We had a charcoal filter in there, but it did little or nothing to reduce odors. It was completely useless: it was loud, smelly, and ineffective. So with the new one vented outside, the smelly part is solved. It's still loud, although we have done like janet_425, we have made some little changes to reduce the noise as much as possible. It's not so loud that it stops us from using it. It doesn't vent over the two front burners wery well, but it gets some of it. It vents the back 2 burners ok.

It's definitely not ideal, but we use the vent now where we never did before it was vented outside. Venting outside was a priority in our remodel. It's made a big difference for us.

As far as the other comments about height, safety, cleaning, etc - I have no complaints about an OTR MW in those areas.

We started out planning for an over range microwave, but came to realize that it required too many "excuse me" statements, which we were trying to avoid. I have done a good job at creating a "no excuse-me" kitchen--our microwave is now about 15 feet away from the range and much closer to the beverage station and the route to the dining table.

Be sure to draw walkpaths on your room plan. How many times does an over-range-microwave user interfere with a cook when accessing the microwave? (warming coffee, thawing something, preparing a snack, warming leftovers, etc. etc. etc.) Each of these activities could happen elsewhere than the range zone very easily and perhaps more efficiently, esp. if there are two or more people in the kitchen.

When I was shopping for a medium price range hood, the salesperson was trying to steer me from a Broan to a VentAHood for mechanical and efficiency reasons. I wanted the Broan because it was quieter. I asked, "Compared to an over range one, isn't this Broan better at dealing with air plus it's quieter?" He said an unqualified YES and wrote up my order with no more argument.

Also, consider upper arm strength. I have tried to make a semi-universal-access kitchen. My elderly mother cannot raise her arms to use an over range microwave. That's me in 20 years. Or less.

And finally, how many microwaves have you buried? After the introduction of the commercially viable microwave, I waited about 5 years to buy. Since then, I've killed 3, plus had one repaired a week before warranty ended. Much easier to replace the new one that lives on the counter than one mounted above a range that contains part of the venting system. Plus, avoiding the over the range one means that replacement doesn't bother the cooking while the unit is in the shop or the dump. Our last range hood lasted about 35 years before it began to have hiccups. Do you think a microwave will live that long?

This posting is not to disparage the person whose kitchen is too small for a counter-sitting or built-in microwave; if over the range is your only option, then hey, read the reviews and then go for the best unit you can afford.

Thank you everyone for your feedback! I really appreciate it! I think we're going to go with an inexpensive hood and keep our old microwave on the counter or in the pantry for now.
Here are the two hoods I've selected:

1st choice:
http://www.capitolsupply.com/catalog/30-curved-glass-wall-canopy-400-cs10544091.html?cid=cse_ggl4

2nd choice:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xgf/R-100595669/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

3rd choice:
SPAGNA VETRO 30" Stainless Steel Glass Range Hood - SV218D-30

These are all around 400 cfm and under $450.

If anyone has ever used any of these, please let me know.

If I don't get any additional feedback, I was going to go with Whirlpool since at least I've heard of the company :)

Thank you!