I have a Sharp R530ES above my KA. I originally had ordered the KA MW but three things made me change my mind 1) cost, and MWs are not made to last as long as they used to; 2) the KA had a dial and I like a touchpad to program time; and 3) the matching KA MW looked beautiful together in the showroom but it opened like the KA oven, pull down handle, and I thought that would be odd and uncomfortable to use - I prefer having the door swing open. Here's a pic. We saved money by going with the Sharp ($300 compared to KA $800), but the trim kit wasn't exactly cheap at $190. (Not sure how they come up with that price for a few pieces of metal other than they know you want it so they charge what they want to charge.) We're very satisfied with the Sharp MW. Unfortunately we were crunched for space so we were unable to have a border of wood trim on either side of the MW and oven which, IMO, would have looked a bit nicer. Hope that helps.

The bottom of my cabinets is 18 1/4" above counters, with the 1 1/2" light rail hanging down below that. Re the under cabinet lighting: yes, I wanted a uniform look, all controlled from the same switch. I chose the linear lighting, over fixtures, at least in part so I could do that. I think it has worked out well. (Its on in the picture.) The light in the bottom of the MW is still there and operational, but I doubt I will ever use it. Regarding mounting of this MW: The *door* is trimmed in stainless steel (if you get that model). But the rest of the cabinet is not. It is painted silver, and isn't especially attractive. If you look at the Sharp literature, in a standard install, 1+" of the cabinet extends beyond the adjacent cabinets. I don't think this would look very good. Having the *door* extend out would probably look fine, depending on your details. The edges of the door are tapered a bit, so that on the left and right the door is about 3/4" thick, while in the middle it is thicker. My cabinet doors are also 3/4" thick. So I have the MW *case* mounted flush with the cabinet boxes. Then the edges of the MW door are flush with the adjacent cabinet door. But in that installation you need a bit of a spacer to give clearance for the door to open. The online manuals are insufficient to get all the details of how to do such an installation. I would encourage buying the MW in advance so you can examine it in detail when making final design decisions. This MW does snap into a mounting plate attached to the wall. But it also must be screwed to a cabinet above. So you must have something above it to attach to. Also, the power cord emerges from the top of the cabinet.

We have the R1214. I would say it needs to be open on the bottom. Besides ventilation, it has under cabinet lighting built in. It mounts on the wall behind it and the electrical cord comes out the top thru the cabinet above. Note the front edge of the cabinet box above the MW should have been 14 7/16" from the wall for a nice flush fit. Obviously ours isn't. Grrrr. It isn't required to be this way for the door to open. The underside. We are very happy with ours, but I must say I am not a microwave cook, more of a reheater. We had a problem with our first one. Sharp's customer service was excellent and the unit was replaced. We would buy it again.

Hi Herg, See the original post where we connected for another comment from me regarding the usage of the GE MW owned by my sister with 5 children. MJ