you'll need 'visual imagination' for this

16 years ago

Only because I don't have a picture. So try to picture this:

I have an open doorway immediately to the left of my stove, a 6" spacer to the right of the stove then adjacent to that (starting on the window wall) a blind corner cabinet. My KD first exclaimed "Oh no, you can't have your stove there" but it's been there, and been fine, for 25 years and my layout is such that I really can't change the footprint, just update the cabinets and such.

So of course now I want a MW over my stove so (sorry so boring) the KD is moving the stove over 3" to the right and to the left of the stove he proposes a 3"X30" base box that would need to be covered with the granite (4"?). Have you ever seen/heard of anything like this? I realize he's doing this because above the stove (on either side of the upper cab) he also has 3X30 wall boxes to anchor the MW. My DD thought it sounded really strange and might look really wacky but I'll be so disappointed if I can't have the OTR MW. We don't use the MW too often so I hate to take up counter space and it's not something you'd want to take out/put away. I guess I want to hear it'll be fine...LOL

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Comments (8)

steff_1
16 years ago
The 3" cabinet does sound like it would look silly, not be very functional, and cost a lot because you would pay a premium for those pieces.

A OTR MW isn't anchored on the sides anyway. The mounting plate goes on the back wall and is screwed into the cabinet above. Why not just put a piece of trim on the side of the MW mounting plate to hide the metal and leave everything else alone.
bmorepanic
16 years ago
Umm, why can't you get a 6" wide upper pullout over your 6" wide lower cabinet or pullout?
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jakabedy
16 years ago
I think sometimes it is a code thing about ranges next to doorways. We had this in a 1926 house we used to have. The range was next to the back door. When we redid the kitchen we slid the range to the right and placed a 9" tray cabinet on the right -- that was about a 10" piece of countertop that actually turned out to be useful. But it doesn't sound like you have that much space. Can your KD do you a mock-up of how it would look?
limom_2bts
Original Author
16 years ago
bmorepanic: KD was changing out the 6" to a 3" on each side, to surround MW (and I suppose the left lower one as a buffer with stove/doorway)
jakabedy: mock-up was done...it looks thin (shocking, huh?) but it's hard to tell from a mock-up if it only looks thin or if it looks ridiculous! I'm going to ask KD if it's been done before and maybe ask for pictures. I really, really want to get MW off counter. Maybe KD fed into my desperation? LOL
Also will ask granite people if they've ever done a 4" 'countertop'. Their reaction might just show me the way.
dianalo
16 years ago
Try this:
http://www.frigodesign.com/php/essentials/microwave.php
dianalo
16 years ago
I meant to add that you can then use this somewhere else other than over your mw.
juliekcmo
16 years ago
I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but you may find it helpful.

Our kitchen before our remodel had a slide in range, and had smallish, maybe 4x4 or 5x5 tile squares for the counter top.

The odd layout of the range led to a rim of tile around the back and one side of it that was about 3-4 inches. I hated this.

It was JUST too small to put on a glass or small plate, but guess what....thats just what people would do . This drove me crazy. If it had been 8 inches or more, it would probably been fine. But as it was it was nuts.

OTOH, I just did a google image search, and found 0 images of range and microwaves that had the range at the end of a run of counters.

If you like the range where it is, and the problem is the micro-hood, then could you do a range and downdraft ventilation, and do an upper horizontal box cabinet to hold a standard microwave?
limom_2bts
Original Author
16 years ago
After an exhaustive search on FKB, small kitchens, I found Devi's Kitchen which has the exact set-up my KD was talking about! One of her pictures shows the wall box surrounding the MW and on another I can just about see the very narrow base box by the side of her stove. So my KD wasn't just making this up...it's actually been done so maybe not such a bad idea.
Of course Devi's pictures are from 2005 so I doubt she's on this forum too often now but hopefully there's an e-mail address and I'll try to contact her!