Rather than a combo, we installed a separate oven and then a cavity behind nesting doors with an outlet in the back to hold any MW and yet have it hidden.

The bottom of our oven is at 16 1/2" and the bottom of the MW is at 45 1/2". We like the height and the arrangement very much.

Thanks! It's actually a separate MW (with trim kit) and oven but will be installed together. My old unit was a true combo.

Yours looks very nice! Unfortunately we use our MW constantly so having it behind doors would be a bit less convenient for us (that tells you how much of a cook I am!).

I think our old MW/oven was higher than yours as your oven seems lower.... I wish I would have measured!! :)

I will have to check some of my old pictures - we had 2 drawers under the oven.

Thanks!

We have ours in a shallow open cabinet at waist height. Good for the adults and not dangerous for the small people.

Ours will be underneath the top cabinet and have a drawer underneath; there will be a bit of counter in front. I'm really looking forward to it - have always had MWs over the range, which has seemed high and awkward even though I'm not a short person and neither is dh. This arrangement seems like it will be comfortable and practical - important since we use our MW a lot.

I don't think I'd like MWs that are that close to the floor, OP. It would seem weird, bending over to deal with the food...and then the controls that you'd almost have to squat to see and use? Ugh. Not for me.

Ours will be underneath the top cabinet and have a drawer underneath; there will be a bit of counter in front. I'm really looking forward to it - have always had MWs over the range, which has seemed high and awkward even though I'm not a short person and neither is dh. This arrangement seems like it will be comfortable and practical - important since we use our MW a lot.

I don't think I'd like MWs that are that close to the floor, OP. It would seem weird, bending over to deal with the food...and then the controls that you'd almost have to squat to see and use? Ugh. Not for me.

Perhaps my post was confusing?

This will just be a normal built-in microwave above a single oven. The single oven (bottom) is currently planned at 17" above the floor. The MW will in fact be above counter height. I'm just trying to nail down exactly where it will fall (as I prefer it at the height we had it).

Note that my husband (6'4") would not allow a MW installed in the island, so he would definitely not allow one that was close to the floor! :)

Our oven is about 15" above the floor, which results in the center of our microwave (with trim kit) slightly below my eye level (I'm 5'2"). You should be able to look up the measurements of your oven and microwave and estimate where they will end up in your cabinets---remember to add on for the shelf for the microwave. Remember, the oven will extend beyond the cutout measurement by quite a bit, and you need to allow room for the microwave trim above that. If you look at the specifications and included pictures it should be not too hard to figure out (at least approximately).

The bottom of my oven door is 19 inches above the floor. The bottom of the microwave door is 48 inches above the floor. (These measurements are not from the from the trim that is below the doors.) I am only 5'4" but I would not like my oven any lower than it is.
As you can see in the picture, I also have a drawer below the oven.

Well, the doors to our mw are probably open 90% of the time. We close them when company comes and we aren't using it.

Also we wanted the cavity so we could put any mw that fit there. We didn't want stainless in our kitchen and we didn't like the price of the trim kits plus the price of the mws that go with the trim kit.

YMMV

Thanks for the replies!

Annie - true - I didn't even notice that the doors sort of go into the cabinet (saw pic on my phone) -- I was thinking they'd swing like normal hinges - so much better!

I actually like the built-in look with the trim kit, so went that route (although I have no clue why trim kits are so expensive). I'm sure I'll regret it when I have to replace it!

badgergal - what brand are your ovens? Do you like the MW that opens from the top? They look so nice, but my kids are too short to use that kind I think, so I opted for the normal swing door.

Annie - thanks for the measurements for your oven/concealed MW...we're doing similar and I've been struggling over how high we should place the oven. it's hard to tell for sure in your photos, but does the drawer below the oven extend down closer to the floor than the other cabinets next to it? (i.e. you have a reduced toe kick area?)

Seosmp
Ours is similar to my GW twin - badgergal.
I measured ours and it is 21 inches from the floor.
The top oven is a speed oven. Both BG and mine are advantium but different models. My lower oven is a wolf oven. BG ovens are both GE
I am 67 and DH is 72- inches not age.
I would not want the speed oven any higher with the door opening down. It is perfect for us and hopefully when we sell the house - taller folks will be interested(19 years from now)
Grr - photobucket isn't letting me paste the picture link on the ipad. Will upload later or go to this link. I tried all 4 options on PB from my ipad.
- See more at: http://s1072.photobucket.com/user/a2gemini/media/IMG_7180.jpg.html?sort=3&o=89#sthash.3hG0UgCt.dpuf

Thanks for measuring, and including your measurements! :)

Well, it was yet again a last minute change/decision (cabinetmaker is making that cabinet today!), but I decided to raise it an inch to 18" from the floor. This will leave open the option to add a warming drawer below the oven at some point in the future if I or the future owner wants to (cabinetmaker said he needed to raise an inch to accommodate this).

So I think it will be at a pretty good height for the various heights in the family (5'4", 6'4" and a 9 and 11 year old).

Seosmp, just saw that you asked about my ovens. My GW twin a2gemini is correct they are both GE Profile. The upper one is the Advantium120 so not quite as powerful as a2gemini's. I do like the door opening from the top but it probably would make it more difficult for your kids to use until they were taller.

In case my twin comes back to this post, I am inserting a picture to show her something else we have/had in common. Hope you don't mind.
A2, I was looking at your kitchen pictures trying to see if I could get your oven picture to post. I came across a picture of some furniture you had. Check out my lower level furniture that's still hanging around my house.

Badger - OMGosh - I can't believe you had the same furniture that I did - I gave mine away to someone who needed a sofa and then to a re-use center. I still have the corner table - it is holding plants - so if it leaks, NBD. So funny.

seos - are you going with a drop down door or side opener - if side opener - you can go a bit higher. If drop down - you are probably OK at current height but since you are both taller - you can go higher (but remember kids..)

Sometimes KDs want to keep the drawers even for symmetry - but I wanted a taller drawer to hold my bread machine and a few other appliances - now it stores my Vitamix and accessories when not in use - which is seldom but wanted a home for them.

I think my picture should post now - not sure why ipad was acting funny.

{{gwi:1408055}}

Thanks - I am going with a side opener because of the kids -- my son is finally able to use the MW so I'd hate for him to not be able to reach anymore! :)

I also realized I have another friend who has hers installed in an upper cabinet (so bottom is at 54") and I did not have any issue with that height --- so I think we're good! In any case, the cabinet has been built so I can't change my mind anyway (which is a good thing for me actually!!) :)

Below are the measurements for our oven/microwave cabinet. The microwave is not too high for DW, who is 5' 4" tall. It ends up being a bit lower than the old OTR microwave that we had.

From floor to bottom of oven is 22 3/8âÂÂ
From floor to microwave shelf is 52 7/8âÂÂ

We went with a single oven and a separate microwave with a trim kit. Microwaves always seem to conk out before ovens, so we did not want a combined unit.

This post was edited by gpraceman on Fri, Jun 14, 13 at 1:49