microwave or microwave/convection with trim kit

13 years ago

Right now I have a microwave and a toaster oven both on the counter. We toast muffins very often, bake casseroles, plus reheat leftovers etc in the toaster oven.

For the remodel, we want to remove countertop appliances so I'm thnking use a trm kit and build into cabinets but I'm leary of the convection microwave oven combos. I can't see built in toaster oven and micro oven, but maybe that's possible? Has anyone done this? I don't know what other options I have. Any suggestions are appreciated.

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Comments (5)

turner2010
13 years ago
We just installed a Sharp convection/microwave with a trim kit and we love it. Not sure it would replace a toaster oven, but it certainly is more flexible than a microwave. We were told that Sharp makes the convec/micros for the top brands - Wolf, Viking, etc. Units look identical except for price tag.
plumberry
Original Author
13 years ago
thanks, turner. wonder, does the convection toast bread/muffins, reheat leftovers, bake casseroles?
thanks again
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Sorry I couldn't be more helpful then. Have you thought about an alternative to the Panasonic MW/Convection, particularly the Sharp MW/Convection Sharp MW/Convection 930-cs and its matching easily-available 30" trim kit RK-93s30 ? But to be honest, my initial reaction to your post and other posts about built-in MW's is to say "skip the built-in part of the MW". IMHO, a better alternative would be a countertop model installed on an open shelf in your cabinetry (with outlet installed in back of that shelf). For one thing - expense. Why spend extra on the trim kit. For another, as Deee pointed out, sometimes it's hard to match the trim kit to the MW, as manufacturers are constantly discontinuing machines and making new ones. But most of all, MW's these days tend to have short lives, 3 years or so (unlike older MW's that were built to last). It's unfortunate but a true fact of life. So you get a built-in, with a certain specification of width/depth/height, then it dies, you are stuck trying to find a replacement with those exact dimensions. Better to have the MW placed on an open shelf in your cabinetry to remove or change or upgrade when you want, and easily. There have been several threads on this topic on this Fourm and on the Kitchens Forum, with people posting nice pics. Some people have the MW's on a shelf in the lower cabinets, which would require bending, but people say they get used to it. What I did, which I learned about on this Forum, was to put the MW in my pantry. It's out of sight, and out of the way. But I am not a frequent MW user. I just think MW built-ins are a bad idea. Sorry, just my $.02.
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bishop8
13 years ago
I'm in the same situation as you. I was looking for a combo steam/micro/convection oven that would also make simple toast. I'm beginning to think it's a fools' search (like me trying to find a 5-seat hard-top convertible with all-wheel drive; another discussion entirely).

Anyway, I found this thing from AEG which was interesting:

http://www.aeg-electrolux.ca/features/kb9820e-m.html

I don't think it actually has mircrowave (and has steam), but what I thought was neat was that it has a 'variable economy grill' setting which only turns on the centre portion of the grill to make toast. I'm presuming some others might have something like that, so it's a feature I'm going to look for. It also makes me wonder, with steam and grill functions, whether I can get away without a microwave, though I guess this would still be slower than a microwave for quick reheating.
twosit
13 years ago
I am in the same position as you are Plumberry. We use our toaster/convection oven a lot, but hope to remove most of the small appliances from our countertop during our kitchen remodel. Making a cabinet for a microwave AND the toaster/convection just doesn't seem reasonable. My toaster convection is large and the exterior gets quite hot. If a convection/microwave would allow us to only have to put a normal toaster in the appliance garage--then life would be good.
Does anybody who has a convection/microwave find that they can use it to bake?
fauguy
13 years ago
When our 7 year old GE Profile over-the-range Microwave went out a few months ago, we wanted to get a convection/microwave unit so we would not longer need a Toaster Oven/Convection sitting on the counter taking up space. But we had to find one that would work in our space, as there is a full-granite backsplash that comes right up under the cabinets. The problem was finding a unit where the rear-wall template wouldn't have to be drilled into the granite. All of the KitchenAid/Whirlpool units were 17-18" down in the back, which would put them 2-3" down into the granite. So we ended up having to go with another GE and got the JVM1790SK for about $430 (it was only $60 more than the non-convection PVM1870SMSS). We've used it for about 2 weeks now and works good. Have done some convection baking and fast-bake (that uses both the Microwave and Convection together). So far the only thing that hasn't turned out grate was pizza, as it was still soft in the middle (not crispy). That's probably because there' no bottom heating element (there's just a 1550W coil on the right-side around the fan).

microwave or microwave/convection with trim kit

Comments (5)

turner2010

plumberry
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twosit

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microwave or microwave/convection with trim kit

Comments (5)

turner2010

plumberryOriginal Author

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bishop8

twosit

fauguy

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plumberry
Original Author