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Had no idea this was such a popular topic and that multiple threads had been devoted to it here on C-D. Therefore I have to add my opinion.
Previous home had a microwave mounted ~5 feet high in an alcove above the counter and I seldom used the darned thing, due to all the reasons mentioned. The embarrassing part is that we actually designed the kitchen cabinets to include this feature, not realizing how relatively useless a microwave is mounted up there, in the sky. Ah well, live and learn.
In our current home the MW is on the counter, where God intended that such an appliance be used.
Why in the heck would it be useless? Do y'all have shoulder issues? I guess it could be an issue if you expect your young kids to use it to make themselves meals or snacks (you wouldn't want them using the stove or oven).
In our next house, I'll opt for countertop placement...which is where every micro I've had in previous homes has sat. It's a more comfortable height for me (at 5' tall, I guess I'm the shortest who's chimed-in so far).
But even more than the height question, I don't like:
standing at the range stirring something while the micro is running...right at my head height;
clogging the path to the micro or the range if more than one of us is in the kitchen trying to use them at once;
my kids' having to reach up to the micro over something hot cooking on the stovetop or burners that haven't quite cooled down.
Why in the heck would it be useless? Do y'all have shoulder issues? I guess it could be an issue if you expect your young kids to use it to make themselves meals or snacks (you wouldn't want them using the stove or oven).
It might just be me, but I find them useless that’s what they’re supposed to do. If you’re trying to heat vegetables, they come out piping hot, yet in a minute they’re very cold. I don’t appear to be doing anything wrong but that’s what happens to me.
When you put in a piece of lasagna that’s frozen, the edges are cooked until they are absolutely crispy and the interior is still frozen solid.
The only thing I find it useful for is running it for 30 seconds so I can loosen the contents of the container and up end it into a pan where I can heat it, or thawing frozen butter in 5 to 10 second jolts in order to use it to make cookies. And only when I forget to take the butter out of the freezer. Which is rare.
In fact, since I got the electric kettle, it’s faster to heat water in the kettle that it is the microwave. Seriously, I won’t be getting another one.
I liked my microwave placed on a shelf above the counter. I’ve had one mounted over the stove, which I hated and several placed on my counter. My present one is the second one I’ve had installed in an oven cabinet over the regular oven. It is eye level. This is my favorite installation. It is convenient.
My ex and I used to keep ours on top of our refrigerator. I am six feet tall, he is six feet four. When regular-sized people came over, they sometimes mentioned it, but it worked for us. We were in an apartment with a kitchen that had limited counter space.
Why in the heck would it be useless? Do y'all have shoulder issues? I guess it could be an issue if you expect your young kids to use it to make themselves meals or snacks (you wouldn't want them using the stove or oven).
When the unit was in the sky, the visibility of the contents, stirring the contents, lifting dishes into the unit, staging dishes for the microwave - everything about it was less convenient.
On the counter, we often have an array of dishes waiting to go in the 'wave, simply open the the door, slide them in and out and it's quick and easy. We can readily see the contents and stir if needed. Another advantage is choosing whatever shape/size of appliance we want. Under the cabinet, you are stuck with whatever geometry the alcove will accept.
Having lived with both arrangements greatly prefer it on the counter.
I could see where having one mounted "under cabinet" would be necessary if counter space was really limited. Fortunately we don't have that problem.
It might just be me, but I find them useless that’s what they’re supposed to do. If you’re trying to heat vegetables, they come out piping hot, yet in a minute they’re very cold. I don’t appear to be doing anything wrong but that’s what happens to me.
When you put in a piece of lasagna that’s frozen, the edges are cooked until they are absolutely crispy and the interior is still frozen solid.
The only thing I find it useful for is running it for 30 seconds so I can loosen the contents of the container and up end it into a pan where I can heat it, or thawing frozen butter in 5 to 10 second jolts in order to use it to make cookies. And only when I forget to take the butter out of the freezer. Which is rare.
In fact, since I got the electric kettle, it’s faster to heat water in the kettle that it is the microwave. Seriously, I won’t be getting another one.
They do have limited utility. I think the last time we ever tried to COOK anything in a microwave was way back in the 70's when we got our first one, and really believed it was an "oven". The novelty ended there, quickly figured out that its primary purpose is for reheating leftovers or previously cooked frozen food, or for making popcorn.
It might just be me, but I find them useless that’s what they’re supposed to do. If you’re trying to heat vegetables, they come out piping hot, yet in a minute they’re very cold. I don’t appear to be doing anything wrong but that’s what happens to me.
When you put in a piece of lasagna that’s frozen, the edges are cooked until they are absolutely crispy and the interior is still frozen solid.
The only thing I find it useful for is running it for 30 seconds so I can loosen the contents of the container and up end it into a pan where I can heat it, or thawing frozen butter in 5 to 10 second jolts in order to use it to make cookies. And only when I forget to take the butter out of the freezer. Which is rare.
In fact, since I got the electric kettle, it’s faster to heat water in the kettle that it is the microwave. Seriously, I won’t be getting another one.
Okay - so it's not the placement - you just don't like any of them.
My parents got one in the 70's and actually used it for all kinds of stuff - even making cream sauces for chipped beef. Though I don't use mine much for cooking I use it to heat up most any leftover, for unthawing frozen food and for heating up water for a single cup of anything. And with limited counterspace, above the stove is perfect for the grownups...not for kids.
Oh - if you want to unthaw a big thing of frozen lasagna you need to use an "unthaw" cycle that is maybe 30-40% power.
Someone made another good point: microwaves are often used in conjunction with preparing an entire meal (for example, I often use the nuker to thaw something out). Leaning over a hot skillet full of popping oil to get something out of your vent hood/nuker also sounds suboptimal.
I vote for on the counter (despite the loss of counter space). The drawer type sound interesting but I have never experienced one in person. Another option is built into a wall like a wall oven, at roughly the same height as a counter - if I were building an expansive kitchen I might rather have the nuker in the wall and one oven rather than two ovens. I've had something similar in the past. I'd have to think hard about that one. I've also used one hung under the upper cabinets - it was OK but you don't really gain much counter space because the space is only a few inches high - and I'd still prefer it lower.
Don't forget, too, that integrating the nuker into the vent hood also means you're going to have a poorly performing vent hood. Multipurpose tools almost always perform worse than single purpose tools. My preference will always be for a proper updraft vent hood, not combined with any other appliance except a light; and a proper microwave, not combined with any other appliance. And keep in mind that nuker's going to give up the ghost a lot earlier than the vent hood, so with one that just sits on the counter you can be back in business in the amount of time it takes you to drive to the nearest appliance store or HD and swipe your credit card through the reader. No searching all over town for the one true nuker that'll fit that oddball space in a size they made obsolete 10 years ago.
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Solly says — Be nice!
