I moved into a house that had an OTR micro/hood combo. The micro is convenient there (unless one person is cooking at the stove and a second person is trying to heat a cup of coffee); the real problem I have with it is the ventilation. It is pretty much a joke. So if you have a need for decent ventilation over your cooktop, I don't recommend it.

I had one when I moved into my last house and really don't miss it. It was a little lower than a regular hood which bothered me because it was gross and got close to stock pots.

As a microwave, it was very difficult for me to use because I'm a tad shorter than average and I really need to see inside bowls I'm cooking--I'm also a tad clumsier than average.

When your range is an unpleasant place to cook because you have the bottom of a scummy microwave in your face, you don't cook so often, so we didn't have traffic issues. Ours wasn't vented to the outside.

I guess you could say I hated my OTR microwave. Some people really like them, but having had one years ago, I still have this claustrophobia and need my hood vents mounted as high as possible.

For me, a kitchen will never be that small. I'd rather keep mixing bowls in the toy chest and wash as needed than have an OTR micro.

Check out the GE Profile Spacemaker II® Microwave Oven. It comes with a hanging kit so you can hang it under a cabinet. You don't need to build a special shelf for it. I plan on getting this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: ge spacesaver II microwave

yeah, I hated it when I had that option long ago.

my biggest reason for hating it was because it kept me from installing a powerful hood fan. the ones that you can use with a microwave on top are not the best.

One came in my current home. The venting is bad on mine, too.

I have a gas cooktop. I'm short, so there have been times when my loose pajama top has almost caught a flame when I've reached over the burner to pull something out of the microwave. It can also be dangerous if you have youngsters old enough to use one, but still short, who pull hot items from that height.

I can't say I hate mine. But for reasons above, plus the pain of jockeying for position when I'm cooking on the stovetop and someone else is using the the MW, I found a place for the microwave in the island in our new build.

My MIL hates hers, which came with the kitchen in her senior apartment. Whoever thought that would be a good idea for seniors is obviously too young or too tall. It's clearly a hazard. Just about every resident in her building has a countertop microwave (that takes up most of the very little counterspace) and uses the OTR as a cupboard.

imo, poor ventilation provided by OTR is a huge problem. Also, I think that situating a micro that high is a real danger: hot liquids, etc. might easily slosh out if you're not extremely careful. I'd never have one of these with kids in the house. Similarly, I'd think it a potential hazard if a senior were to give it regular use. I'd only use one if I lived/cooked alone and had a galley kitchen where the limits of space provided no other option.

AMACK said:
"One came in my current home. The venting is bad on mine, too.
I have a gas cooktop. I'm short, so there have been times when my loose pajama top has almost caught a flame when I've reached over the burner to pull something out of the microwave. It can also be dangerous if you have youngsters old enough to use one, but still short, who pull hot items from that height.

I can't say I hate mine. But for reasons above, plus the pain of jockeying for position when I'm cooking on the stovetop and someone else is using the the MW, I found a place for the microwave in the island in our new build."

Exactly the reasons DH and I didn't reconfigure our cabinets to put one in. Since I have a 10 yr old DD, we wanted her to be safe when using the microwave (hey, it's taken me 10 yrs to get her to the place to fix her own lunch!!! Why change that now?) Plus I didn't want to mess with our cabinets and DH wanted a good vent.

Christy

Fran  IÂm in the same boat as you are and here are my thoughts on the subjectÂ

It seems to me that if you have a height or medical issue with reaching into an OTR microwave, then the answer would be easy. I donÂt personally fall into this categoryÂ

Based on aesthetics alone, I would prefer a beautiful, eye catching range hood. But, both my funds and space are limited so I need to worry about function over form (sometimes hard to do :-).

IÂve never really understood the advantage of the MWs that hang down from the bottom of the cabinets. No offense to those of you who chose this option  but I would have so little space between the bottom of the MW and the counter top that it might as well be sitting on the counterÂ

As for exhaust  this can be misleading. OTR MWs of today (at least the ones IÂm looking at) have a minimum of 300 cfm that can exhaust outside. IÂve read that unless you have a pro style range and run multiple burners simultaneously at very high BTUÂs, then a 300cfm exhausted outside should be adequate for most families needs.

Finally Because of the way you worded your question  it sounds like you really donÂt want an OTR We have IKEA cabinets and they do make cabinets designed to set a MW into. HereÂs a picture to give you the idea. It is really their standard cabinet with shorter doors on top and an extra long shelf sticking out. I bet you could do this with your cabinets :-)

I hated it so much mainly due to worrying about accidental spills/drops of hot liquids falling onto wife, daughter or whoever.

I designed the new kitchen with a microwave shelf becasue of that. I had to lose about one shelf's available height but since most of my wall cabinets are 42 inches tall, it wasn't much of a sacrifice.

I love the new location and so does everyone else. Things are at eye level and reaching in or out is no problem whatsoever.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I'll take the opposite view and say that I *love* mine. My old kitchen had a range that was a double oven - with one oven above the cooktop and one below. The darned TOP oven hung over the cooktop so low that I could barely get my 6 qt pressure cooker under it. Boiling water in a stock pot was a joke. Venting??? The vent never did a great job in the first place and died about 7 years ago. If we needed to vent something we opened a window and turned on a floor fan. My microwave was DOWN LOW - got a backache just heating up a cup of coffee.

So the OTR MW is a darned improvement over the old setup. It's at the perfect height for my husband and just a hair high for me, so it's a compromise. (He uses it more than I do.) It has a much higher overhang for pressure cooker and stockpots than the previous range, and a better vent though it's still not wonderful. Mine IS vented to the outside.

I think how high the OTR MW is, depends on the cabinetry you hang it on - doesn't it????

BTW, my OTR MW is a Maytag and it's on its own circuit. Right after the GC installed the MW, the breaker started tripping a lot. We had jery-rigged it into another circuit while we waited for the GC to get out and figure out what he did, but in the meantime the fires hit. So yesterday was his first chance to get out and figure out the problem - the breaker needed replacement! Voila, working MW again in its own circuit!

DonnaR/CA

I like my OTR. I'm 5"2 and have never had a problem with reach. I had one for 14 years in my last house.
I never realized so many people used hoods until I started coming to this site. I thought to my self "did I make a mistake in designing my kitchen".

Not sure if anything would have changed my mind. The cabinet space in my galley kitchen is too precious. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure that I would use a hood because of the noise. I'm a good cook and have never had issues with cabinets warping or discoloring from heat or steam. If there is a smell, I just open the sliding glass door.

I'm 5'11 and DH is 6' so safety isn't an issue for us. Occassionally its a pain when one person is cooking on the stove and another trying to microwave - usually this happens at holidays. My new OTR is an LG and the venting is much improved over my 6 year old WP. As is the noise level. Its a 5 speed vent that can be vented outside and has three levels of lighting.

Long story short...

Wife wanted micro off counter.

Bought convection OTR.

Used for less than one year.

Took down and put hood back up.

The main reason was the lack of venting. I had it vented to the outside. It claims to have a 300CFM blower but would never suck any smoke up. I think the bathroom fan had more power. The front was always dirty/greasy. It did free up counter space nicely but the kids could no longer reach it. Going to put in a GE JEM31 this weekend under another cabinet. Going to miss the convection though.

My OTR microwave is my favorite part of my kitchen. There are drawbacks, for certain, such as the really hot stuff over your head and the fact that the kids will be grown before they can nuke their own stuff.

But I love the microwave itself, not so much the positioning of it. Its a whirlpool velos, with convection oven and grilling capabilities. You can fry and egg, grill a steak, bake a meatloaf, or warm up your coffee.

As far as the venting, its better than anything I've ever had so I guess I don't know what I'm missing. The vent is loud, though, which bugs me since there's already plenty of noise in my house. But, it holds up a piece of paper even on low, which was said to be some kind of venting test. However, I'm suspicious of the test when it works even on low. The biggest vent drawback (other than noise) is that the vents seem to be mostly in the back, so if I boil a big pot of pasta in the front, it draws half the steam out, but the front half of the steam goes up the front of the microwave.

I too have the OTR microwave... primarily due to space constraints, however I must say, it is a huge improvement in what I had before (a 1977 Tappan double oven -- yikes!).

We have the GE Profile & love the aesthetics, but also the function -- easy to use, makes great fresh vegies, popcorn & more. It works okay as a venting system as well... definitely not the power of some vents I'm sure, however adequate for our family of four.

Here is a link that might be useful: My GE Profile OTR

I'm not crazy about mine . . . but in this kitchen, it was the best option.

I'm 5'5" -- not particularly short -- but it's too high for me because of the size of the cupboard it's under. Could have been solved by putting a spacer over it but that wasn't done.

The vent fan is loud and inadequate.

The worst problem is that I have a glass cooktop, and I live in fear of losing grip on something and destroying the cooktop.

Next kitchen will have a different solution.

Not for me. I hate having them run when I'm standing right there, they cost too much, they don't last, they are hard to install and replace, they are pretty inadequete, both as cookers and as vents.

Full disclosure: it's been a while since I owned one, and they may have improved [but then again, they couldn't have gotten much worse].

If it were OTR or nothing, I'd go with nothing.

"I think how high the OTR MW is, depends on the cabinetry you hang it on - doesn't it????

Yes, high cabinets means you can't see in the microwave and have hazards getting bigger (or fuller) dishes in and out. Lower cabinet means it's in your forehead while you're cooking at the stove, and it limits the size of pot you can safely deal with on the back burners. I dealt with one briefly in a friend's kitchen, so didn't get into venting issues, but I hated feeling crowded by the microwave...both in my face and on the stove top. It's not for me. There are many other options I'd resort to first. My personal favorite is to put the microwave on the bottom portion of an upper shelf, like Jeri showed above.

The GE spacemaker is a fantastic microwave because it is only 12 inches deep! I have mine attached under a short cabinet right now, so the bottom of the microwave is flush with the bottom of the other cabinets. In my new kitchen it will be in the exact same spot, but will have a shelf built for it so its not just "floating".
Its best feature is that it doesn't stick out of standard depth cabinet!

(Don't mean to hijack this thread... this might be an option for someone who whats to get the microwave off the counter, but doesn't want an OTR)
Here are some pics:

This angle is a little deceptive: it only sticks out 1/2 inch:

I suppose it also depends on what you want from your MW. We do have the IKEA cabinet I showed above and a small MW that fits nicely in that. But! I wanted a second oven and went on a quest. I had no idea my quest would bring me to MW/Convection ovens. They get great reviews! Who knew! :-) But the space we have for a MW is only 24" wide and this limits what I can cook in a Convection oven. I really want my second oven to be able to take full size cookie sheets. This then lead me to the OTR MW/Convection ovens which can take full sized cookie sheets.

Soooo  I suppose if I only wanted a MW for reheating coffee and popping corn, I would not go with one over the range  unless space gave me no other option.

BTW  My last house had a small kitchen that came with an OTR MW. I have no memory of ever not liking it for any reason. When it died, I replaced it with a really inexpensive ($130) OTR MW from Home Depot. It was sooooo much better than the old one  all for just $130. So  they really do not have to cost a lot of moneyÂ

I have the same dilemma that Jeri faced - I would love to separate the micro and hood, but I have my heart set on a convection micro and can't find a place for a micro that big besides over the range. If I had a bigger kitchen, I would probably stack it over a wall oven along with a gas cooktop, but I just don't have enough space.

Now, if I were just using a small microwave just for reheating and melting, I would go with a microwave cabinet. But trying to fit a very large convection micro into one of those just doesn't seem to make sense. Like another poster said, you may as well leave it on the countertop.

We love our OTR Advantium: both a microwave and 2nd oven. But we are both fairly tall and I'd like to say fairly young. The venting doesn't seem to be a problem either. Yes, the kids aren't allowed to use it due to the location It depends on your situation, personal tastes, and available room. I would read all these great posts and consider which advice best matches your situation.