18” deep for a built in, minimum.

How can I achieve this look? This looks like a 12 inch upper cabinet.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-traditional-kitchen-denver-phvw-vp~96938

This has been asked before. The shallowest oven you're going to find is probably this GE Profile PEM31SFSS but you'll have to make the oven's shelf deeper than 12" to hold it and allow space its cord. (You don't know the depth of the cabinets in the photo above.)

Ok, so I think after some research I need to have a deeper cabinet for the microwave. I then have two options:

1. Buy the GE profile and trim kit and make it look like a built in cabinet...

or

2. Buy a small but sufficient countertop microwave (we use the microwave for the following: reheating food, making nachos/quesadillas, heating up mugs of water for tea, heating up frozen veggies, defrosting bagels/bread). Put the microwave in the cabinet (currently sized at 24 inches wide by 18 inches tall) and then put a door that hinges up over the cabinet. We would open the door to use the microwave and then close the door when it's not in use.

A little more background: that area of the kitchen is next to the fridge and is approximately 36 inches wide. We'd have the microwave cabinet, and a 24 inch high cabinet above it. There is a 12 inch wide cabinet that is next to those two cabinets spanning the total height of both.

We got the ge and our builder carved out a space between the studs to add a plug and make the cabinet deeper. The front of the mw is even with the rest of the cabinets.

We got the largest GE MW, but left off the trim kit. We like it better w/o the stainless surround.

Darbuka - that microwave looks really good! It looks like that cabinet is deep - how wide is it? What model is that?

Wiscokid - The problem I see with the Sharp microwave is that if it ever breaks and they no longer make it, then where does that leave you?

"Wiscokid - The problem I see with the Sharp microwave is that if it ever breaks and they no longer make it, then where does that leave you?"

That Sharp R1214TY oven mounts the same way an over-the-range, recirculating model does. I don't see why you couldn't use any over-the-range recirculating model and mount it as shown in the photo. The only difference is that there is no range beneath it.

Stephanie…the MW is 24” wide. Here’s a pic of the model#:

@darbuka How has your microwave faired over time? Everything I am reading warns that the microwave needs 3" clearance on top and sides. Also, is your cabinet 21" D or 18" D? Thanks

@Cait Armstrong, 8 years in, no issues. Microwave is used several times a day, and is still going strong in that location.

The cabinet depth is 21”.