Microwave - countertop vs built in vs combination

16 years ago

I am trying to choose my appliances for my new kitchen.

I am having a wood burning stove fitted which will serve for the oven in the winter.

I am then having an electric wall oven.

The question is - is it worth the money to get a built in microwave to go with the wall oven in a stack? Is a combination oven which does microwave and conventional (plus lots of other stuff I'm sure) really worth the money.

I am in France. The price difference is - Countertop $100, built in $700, combination $1300.

So the difference in price is huge (bear in mind I'm doing an Ikea kitchen and don't have an unlimited budget).Is it worth it?

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Comments (5)

fandlil
16 years ago
We have had a Panasonic combo micro-convection oven for over 20 years, probably the first one on the market. After the novelty wore off, we stopped using the combo and convection features and use it simply as a MW oven. If you're on a tight budget, I think you should go with the higher end item only if you're really sure you'll use it.
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mls99
16 years ago
I'm doing an IKEA kitchen, and I'm putting a countertop microwave in the tall cabinet that will house the wall oven. I don't particularly want the MW on the countertop, but I don't need an enormous one and as you pointed out they are a lot cheaper. You could get the oven panel from IKEA in the same finish as your cabinets and trim it around your MW that way too.
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Every single one of you has given me excellent advice here, thank you! Artemis78 and pinch_me - yes I've been planning/hoping for a wall-mounted faucet, along with the idea of being sure to have enough extra tile to fill it in later should I go the deck-mounted route in the [hopefully distant] future. I asked my contractor and he said it's no big deal to just block off that wall plumbing at a later date and have it re-routed to the deck should I change my mind later. That seems like the best compromise. Now it's just back to trying to find a wall-mounted faucet that has a sprayer option and isn't too obnoxiously large. The 3 options appear to be: the kind that have the external hose that has a wall-mounted cradle (if that's the right word) or hook, but then the hose just dangles in the sink; or the Jaclo Original Steam Valve wall faucet which has the pull-off hose (camouflaged to look at a short distance as if no hose is sitting atop the gooseneck), but the goosenecks are very high - possibly too high; or getting a solid stainless steel wall-mounted faucet (so far it's either Jaclo or Kohler's HiRise brands only, that I can find anyway) and then get the new Kohler independent HiRise side spray that's unfortunately deck-mounted but would match either of those brands nicely cause it too is solid stainless steel in the same offered finishes (brushed or polished). But putting a hole in the deck seems to defeat the purpose. The problem with the Kohler HiRise wall faucet is that it's very plain looking and w/ my intended marble subway tile backsplash, I thought it needed porcelain levers to fit in better. The Jaclo offers GORGEOUS porcelain (as well as cross/wheel) handles in both white and black with a thin silver (stainless) strip on them even. It's an amazing touch - especially the unpredictably attractive black levers. I just gotta determine whether that's just too darn high a gooseneck for my tiny space. At the moment I'm thinking that or else throwing in the towel and getting a single-hole deck-mounted faucet to save money since I'm going so far over budget...now that I know they have hole covers anyway (should I switch to something different, later)! :)
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dlspellman
16 years ago
I have the GE Advantium 120 and it is truly one of most used and favorite appliances. I use it's convection baking more than my normal oven. It does great for muffins, pizza, brownies, casseroles, etc. I paired it with a wall oven and didn't do any other microwave. So far, even after Xmas, that's been fine. I like the flexibility of two ovens, or a microwave and an oven.

Having said all that, for our basement bar area, I did buy an inexpensive countertop microwave/convection oven that does most of the same things at Home Depot for like $125 and had it placed in a cubby area of cabinetry.

So, if budget is an issue, I'd go that route. Get the functionality of the combo at much less the price... And as one previous poster suggested, you could have a niche built somewhere in the kitchen to house it giving it a more built-in look. But, I do like having the smaller oven, rather than heating up a big oven for a small pan of biscuits or something.
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fondantfancy
Original Author
16 years ago
What I am now thinking of is a main oven, a small oven and then a separate microwave. I can do this combination much cheaper than the combination microwave and space isn't a big issue for me. I could put the smaller oven in my "baking zone" and the main oven near the cooktop, probably with the microwave above it.
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User
16 years ago
Don't know if you will have pull out shelves in any of your cab that you could leave a countertop model on and have an outlet installed at the rear wall of the cab. You would keep counters clear, spend less for a countertop model and it would be out of sight.

I didn't want to part with any more loss of cabinet space and didn't have room on the counters so i bought a rolling cart, which i also used during reno, and have my old OTR Advantium 120 microwave on it.
Better planning would have been to find a niche for it on one of my pantry pull out shelves with the outlet behind, but I can live with what i have for now. Although weight may have been an issue for such a large bulky unit.
I do like the Advantium and use it but not as frequently as some posters here. I doubt if i will replace it when it no longer works, but who knows? But if we weren't new empty nesters and had a house full of kids it would be a different story.
So often depends on multiple considerations of your situation.
Good Luck,
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Microwave - countertop vs built in vs combination

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fandlil

mls99

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Microwave - countertop vs built in vs combination

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fandlil

mls99

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dlspellman

fondantfancyOriginal Author

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