My experience has been that you get a much better exhaust system with a vent Hood than you will w/ an over the range micro /vent Combination. If you can find a place for the microwave, I say separate the two.

Do you have gas or electric stove?

If gas I'd be inclined to go with a dedicated hood. They do make nice/sexy ones but you have to look for them. However, I have no issues with the microwave over the range. In a large kitchen yeah you could hide the microwave in a cabinet, but I find it annoying to use that way.

Never a microwave over the stove. All it does is vent the stuff right back into the kitchen. Which makes it useless for venting. Especially if you, like me, cook a lot of flavorful food. (Indian anyone?)

quote:

Originally posted by hile:
Never a microwave over the stove. All it does is vent the stuff right back into the kitchen. Which makes it useless for venting.

Many can be vented outside with a change of internal routing if the ductwork is in place as in OP situation.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by hile:
Never a microwave over the stove. All it does is vent the stuff right back into the kitchen. Which makes it useless for venting.

Many can be vented outside with a change of internal routing if the ductwork is in place a in OP situation.

This, the Microwave/hoods I've bought in the past 5-10 years have all had the ability to duct outside.

Bought house in 2006 with microwave over stove and not vented to the outside. So, with microwave fan running, stovetop exhausts are vented through a small replaceable charcoal filter in the microwave and back into the house. Very inefficient and recommended to change the charcoal filter every 6 months. The microwave does have an internal baffle that can be repositioned to vent to outdoors, through the roof for example, but the duct work for it is not installed in this house.

Was happy with the setup for many years. Then, the microwave stopped working and I ran into the same problem others have mentioned. Microwave model no longer available and no suitable "plug and play" replacement. All replacement models required installation modification.

So, I troubleshot the faulty microwave. Turns out there was a loose ribbon cable in the control panel of the microwave resulting from vibrations of opening and closing the microwave door for over a decade. Thankfully, I was able to fix it.

If (when) the microwave spits the bit again, I'm pretty likely not to replace over the stove.

We've had nothing but issues with our over-the-range microwave. When I first installed it, I made the effort to route the exhaust through the existing vent to the outside. But, the fan in the microwave just didn't have the power to pull the smoke, etc., up and out of the kitchen through the venting to the outside. Then, in a short amount of time, the microwave developed cracks, eventually making for a faulty seal around the opening. It appeared that the extreme heat coming up from the burners did a number on the plastic housing around the door, etc. In the space of 17 years, we're now needing to replace the microwave/hood a fourth time!

Because of my experiences, and the collective wisdom of the contributors to this thread, I'm leaning toward replacing the microwave/hood with a hood, and switching to a table top microwave.

Mine's been going strong for nineteen years and wouldn't want it any other way.
Probably use it a dozen times a day, certainly not something I'd want to be less convenient.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
You guys must not have kids. I could never live without a microwave. I also eat a ton of leftovers. How do you heat up leftovers, or chicken nuggets? The oven?

I have two boys. How we heat things up depends on the dish. Not as fast as the microwave but much better results. Crispy foods stay crisp, heating is more even, meats don't dry out. There really is no comparison in the final product and waiting a few extra minutes to eat is not hassle for us.

When I remodeled our kitchen I argued with my wife about an over the range microwave. If you are short or have small kids, what happens when a hot bowl of soup comes down on top of you or them? The heat and steam from the range shortens the life of the keypad and circuitry. I won the battle and designed the kitchen with an open lower cabinet to put the microwave into. It works well and the microwave is not on the countertop.

I had two over the range microwaves.

The better one lasted thirty years, we replaced with a regular hood, when we remodeled the kitchen. It would not handle the 36" gas cooktop that replaced the old stove and the new microwave was placed into the island.

The second one was getting old and we replaced it with a newer model, Both the old one and the new one vent out the back wall. I found the widths are standard but the heights are not.

The installers from BestBuy did a great job adjusting the old wood trim to fit the new unit. I bought one mounted the same way with a mounting plate on the top to save aggravation.

I would go with a hood vent over the stove, no cabinet, stainless steel. I have a zephyr brand, they make the hood vents for most of the companies out there. A nice stainless steel hood vent looks good with any style decor. I have a modern kitchen but I’ve seen them in country style and even rustic and they look good. I have no problems with mine. Even at the lowest setting it completely removes all the smoke when I’m cooking. One thing that I was concerned about was my builder put in a four-inch pipe but the hoods today have 6 inch. Even though the vent is going through a reducer I have no problems.

They are not Passe it depends on your setup, if you have a small kitchen with little counter space then it makes sense.

JMO the best selection is a hood vent not a combo, you'll have better light, ventilation and JMO it looks better.

We picked up a SS model at Lowes, there are a ton of them out there, it's all budget related of course.

As to the microwave, a separate unit IMHO is the best way, we have a combo convection microwave and the interior of the microwave has started peeling away from the floor, it's a known defect that GE does nothing about.

The convection oven is fine but to fix the problem is a $3000 new combo unit. When we do it I'm going with double ovens and a separate Microwave to go under counter...

Thank you all for the input. It is an electric stove/convection oven. The wave will stay on the counter. So far as the hood, I can see a metal vent going up into the cupboards above - I’m just trying to figure out how hard it could be to tie it in.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
You guys must not have kids. I could never live without a microwave. I also eat a ton of leftovers. How do you heat up leftovers, or chicken nuggets? The oven?

I have two boys. How we heat things up depends on the dish. Not as fast as the microwave but much better results. Crispy foods stay crisp, heating is more even, meats don't dry out. There really is no comparison in the final product and waiting a few extra minutes to eat is not hassle for us.

This.

Oven or Stove, easy peasy. Texture remains correct, no nuclear hot-spots, all for a few minutes extra.

Microwaved chicken nuggets (mushy vs crispy) are an affront to humanity anyway.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 46and2,

Get with the times... I cut the cord. Ditched my microwave AND my oven completely. My kitchen seems so much more spacious now!



All kidding aside, my microwave will eventually go above the range. I very rarely use microwave like others. Reheat things the way they were originally cooked, way tastier.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Thank you all for the input. It is an electric stove/convection oven. The wave will stay on the counter. So far as the hood, I can see a metal vent going up into the cupboards above - I’m just trying to figure out how hard it could be to tie it in.

Home Depot (and probably Lowes, too) sells every kind of adapter pipe. Square to round; larger to smaller; you name it. Kind of like putting together a puzzle. And, the real purpose of high quality duct tape.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Get with the times... I cut the cord. Ditched my microwave AND my oven completely. My kitchen seems so much more spacious now!

A safe in the kitchen?

quote:

Originally posted by synthplayer:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Get with the times... I cut the cord. Ditched my microwave AND my oven completely. My kitchen seems so much more spacious now!

[IMG][/IMG]

A safe in the kitchen?

This guy is a forward thinker! I'll let you guys know how the conversation goes with the wife.

On a side note, I may need to crash on one of the local members couch for a couple of days.

I don't know if this helps but it's a picture of what we had to do. We have a vaulted ceiling in our kitchen. Because the studs are directly in the center the actual vent pipe needed to go around the studs and be hidden. So our builder put this bump out that our vent goes into.

When I had a vent hood that went into a cabinet in a previous house they just piped it through the top of the cabinets to get to the outside.