No personal experience, sorry. All I can do is speak generally from the viewpoint of someone who uses the range (and hood) quite a bit. My wife and I have an Italian "designer" hood. It looks pretty spiffy, but if I had it all to do over again, I would have gone less for the looks and more for the effectiveness and ease of cleaning. I would have gone for a more restaurant style underside with baffles, a more pronounced "hood," etc. I would not even consider a hood such as the one you named. Nor would I entertain the purchase of a hood with glass or any exposed surfaces on the underside. Everything under there gets greasy quick and I don't want to worry about trying to shine stainless steel in that area. I want to use a heavy grease cutter in there, put as much of the undersides in the dishwasher as I can, put it all back together and get back to cooking. Here is a link that might be useful: range hoods

If you are gutting the kitchen, I would get rid of the OTR MW, and put in a proper hood. OTR microwaves have to be hung low over a range. How much can you raise it? 4"? 6"? You will still be claustrophobic under the OTR MW. And if you raise the MW higher, you or family members may not be able to see inside and/or reach inside. And, it is dangerous to pull hot, sloshing dishes from a height. And you are right that the undersides of OTR MWs get hot. That is why "pro-style" ranges recommend against OTR MWs. Some of those ranges will even void the warranty if you hang a OTR MW above them instead of a hood. Even without a pro-style range, OTR MW's tend not to have longevity because the heat underneath them will either melt the undersides or damage the electronics. OTR MWs do not exhaust well, if at all. First, the capture area is usually two small squares of mesh, pretty worthless. Then the tiny duct of the OTR MW is also inefficient and extremely noisy. You are not the first to comment on the claustrophic set-up of an OTR MW. Or that you cannot use, say, a stockpot for soup or spaghetti sauce because the OTR MW is so low. Again, since you are gutting, buy an inexpensive countertop MW. Panasonic and Sharp make good ones for about $125. Either put it on a shelf in your new kitchen cabinetry, or on the counter, or some people put theirs in the pantry if you have one. Install a proper hood over your range. The distance between the top of the range and the bottom of the hood should be about 30", so you will no longer have the problems you described. And you will have actual exhaust capabilities. This post was edited by akchicago on Sat, Mar 23, 13 at 23:21

My cabinet over the microwave was always too large, causing the microwave to hang too low. I think the lady at the cabinet company mistakenly ordered the standard cabinet that goes with a small hood (this was years ago). We lived with it that way for many years, but it was difficult to use large pots and have adequate room. Just last year, my husband was able to remove the one cabinet, bump it up (and slightly forward), and add new crown mold. It is SO much better. The bottom of the microwave is now even with bottom of the cabinets. It had previously hung about 3in below the cabinets. Whew - much better!

I am confused by several comments here regarding "not enough room". Regardless if it's a cooktop, rangetop, or range, as long as there is not a tall built-in backsplash on the range, I do not see how there would not be enough room for olivertwist to put in the desired niche. I certainly hope there is more than 6" between the top of the range/cooktop and the microwave or how would you fit any pots and pans on top? The niche may not be very tall since the OTR microwave usually sits lower than a vent hood, but I would imagine a niche could still be built there. If standard distance between counter and upper cabinet is 18", I can't see why a 10-16" high niche would not fit. olivertwist, perhaps you can try photoshopping (even with a simple tool like Paint or Gimp) an OTR microwave into any images you might have of over the range/cooktop niches. I think Jodi's is an excellent example and looks quite nice.