Hello The widths have to be the same to fit between the cabinets, and the depth is not too critical. However the high has to coincide with the back wall mounting bracket and vent cut in the house if there is one. So why are they all different heights!#%@$!!?? In this case the old LG Microwave was 16-5/8” high and the new Kitchen Aid is 17-1/4” Heigh or 5/8” higher!! The mounting bracket for the LG was mounted to wall and the tile backsplash is tiled right up to it so the bracket could not be moved down without breaking the tiles! Yes, maybe plywood could be placed above the tiles and fastened to the wall so the bracket could be moved down and overhang the plywood and the bracket could still be attached 5/8” lower. I went with a faster and cheaper option of carefully removing the cabinet screws and outlet in the cabinet and the cutting the nails with a saws all to remove the cabinet from the wall and remove the doors so 5/8” of the bottom could be cut off and then re-installed on the wall. The Microwave could then be installed on the old bracket and new holes had to be drilled in the bottom of the cabinet and the new microwave could then be installed!! I may add a trim board along the top of the microwave later, just doing this took 2 days!!! Anyone have this problem? What did you do? Pic 1 - Old LG Microwave Pic 2 - new Kitchen Aid Microwave Pic 3&4 - Change Blower to blow out back of house from blowing down onto range. Pic 5 - Remove upper cabinet to cut 5/8” off the bottom edge Pic 6&7 - New LG installed
Not quite the same issue but I just recently reset the wall bracket and raised the upper cabinet for our new microwave. The new one was about 3 inches taller than the old unit so I couldn't see the stove controls where it was originally installed. Of course by moving the upper cabinet I had to redo the electrical outlet location too. The top of the cabinets don't line up now, but I think it looks ok.
Thanks. You too. I see we both have the same Kitchenaid microwaves. How do you like the stove with the front controls. We've been looking at a matching stove but not sure on which model.
It is a good quality stove and cooks well, Nice to have a better quality Microwave now The front controls on the stove are very handy but you have to be careful not to bump into them and turn them on. Our kids are grownup so we are all set
I also forgot to mention that the holes for the mounting bolts that go into the top cabinet are always in a different place and my cabinet bottom is looking more like Swiss cheese!
I used to work at an apartment complex with almost 200 over the range microwaves. We changed a lot of them. We used the same manufacturer and they seemed to change mounting brackets and mounting bolt holes every two years. We also had a few different models. I ended up taking a piece of 1/4" plywood and transfered the mounting bolts locations from the paper instructions to the ply. It was easy to hold the ply up, zip two holes and changed the bracket. We also used a fender washer when we started getting multiple holes in the same area. I never did like over the range microwaves as the stovetop heat always dried out the plastic and we were always changing handles, door frames and keypad frames. Nice installs to btw. We replaced a 19 year old microwave about a month ago. The new one is quite a cooker. Seems like I have to use shorter cooking times. Old one was probably tired.
Guy at the local appliance store told me that those over the range microwaves are their best money makers...people drop stuff on the stove when loading/unloading the microwave! These new smooth top stoves no likey that...
I was fortunate when I replaced my OTS Kenmore microwave (came with the house). I found a GE microwave on CL (brand new, discontinued model) that was the same dimensions. Although the mounting brackets weren't exactly the same, I decided to see if the existing one would work. It did although it does lean forward a little. I don't care, it works and is the same color as the existing appliances (unlike the old one, which didn't work and wasn't the same color). And you know if you don't get the door closed because it will swing back open until you close it properly I did have that issue - annoying for sure.
If it took 2 days I don't see how this was the faster option arguably not the cheaper way if your time is worth anything . I do kitchen and bath design for a living and people come in with these problems all the time. What I suggest is that when the back splash is done, take the micro down and do the tile back behind as well so down the road, you are only dealing with filling some holes with grout and not missing tiles. In your case, it would have been a lot easier to just add a couple strips or a whole piece of 1/4" or whatever thickness was and remount the micro. You were able to remove the 5/8" from the bottom of the cabinet because of the cabinet being a standard (partial covering of the inside frame, usually 1/2") overlay cabinet door. Full overlay cabinets don't have much more than a 1/4" of frame work showing below the doors so you would be SOL in that case and can't cut the bottom of the cabinet box. FYI your cabinets were not set up for a micro hood. They were designed for a standard 6" high hood. Your bottom of the micro should be 3" or higher above the bottom of the wall cabinets. From eyeing it you have an 18" h wall cabinet above the stove and it should be about 12" h for the micro hood. I would bet money that you can't fit a stock pot on your back burner and be able to stir, let alone grab any of the heat/ steam with the hood. People try to do this all the time and they are usually going for the cheapest micro hood which are all this size shown. There are a few manufacturers that make space saver height micro hoods that will help with this sizing but they are more $$$
There is a spec for hood as far a distance from same to stove top, don't remember it right now. but applies to the MOR the same. Schlot- staggered cabinets are all the rage with high ceilings - looks good
I said it in my quote above yours without saying the actual distance. The recommended height for a hood to the cooking surface is 24" or higher but the problem is that with a OTR micro, that puts the micro too high for a lot of people so you usually end up with somewhere around 21" from the cooking surface depending on the micro. 30" h wall cabinets----12" h wall cabinet above the stove leaves about 3" or so from the bottom of the wall cabinet to the hood (approx 21" instead of the recommended 24" from the cooking surface). If your cabinets are higher than 30" then you just add the same amount to the micro wall cabinet (36" will be 18" h, 39" will be a 21" etc.)
