time to downsize? yes, it would bother me.

Yes, it would bother me.

#3--it would bother me a lot. Does it bother YOU?

The thing that bothers me about it is that part of my brain thinks it is sagging like it will fall down. A corbel or something under it to make it look supported would help the visual, at least for me.

Yes. In addition, if it is as crooked as it appears, there is a safety issue with items sliding out of the microwave when you open it.

I don't know enough about over the range microwaves to know whether they're all the same heights or what. Its quite possible that it did hang that way and with all the stuff of a normal kitchen, you never noticed. But its also possible the cabinet over it is a little too tall. Or perhaps the uppers in the old kitchen were installed a little lower.

So look up those micro specs and see where the installed height is supposed to be. Generally they say something like the top of the micro 36 inches above the cooking surface. Whip out that tape measure and check the height and the height of the gap between the counter and the upper cabinets - standard is about 18".

If you are your own kd, this is the type of thing you won't see after you've moved in. It sticks out right now because there's nothing else to look at. Option one is to do nothing. If its installed at the wrong height because of your contractor, you might be able to use it for leverage in another issue.

One fix is to have the cabinet over the micro re-ordered shorter. This involves uninstalling the last cabinet and the micro cabinet. Fix up any dings while waiting for the new cabinet. Install the new cabinet, the micro and the end cabinet.

Nother possible remediation would be light rail around the bottoms of the uppers. If everything is too high, I'd try for it. It'd look good with your cabinets.

I don't know if shopping for a different one would result in the same problem.

Yes the depth would bother me.. however what bugs me more
is the microwave tilting forward. This tells me it is not
installed properly. It looks like it would be flush on the
bottom once it is correctly installed.

How can I tell? I just installed one last week.. real pain in the butt to get right.

DIY_Mike

It looks like there is no light rail up yet either - are you doing any kind of undercabinet lighting? If so, you'll probably get another piece of trim under the cabinet bottoms, which might help alleviate the difference in height.

But the real problem is the tilt - it just isn't installed level regardless of where the height is supposed to end up. You need to have them come and re-do; this wouldn't pass an inspection and isn't safe.

Chin up! You'll get there!

If you are using 30" tall cabinets, when you 're planning an OTR MW, you should use a 12" cabinet above the range (18" if 36", 24" if 42" etc.) for the best look. That allows the MW to not stick out below. All MW's are 15" deep and designed to stick out from the adjacent cabinetry. Many now "vent" from a top grill against the wall cabinets in recirculation mode, so you cannot use deep cabinetry to build them in. Yours has the grill on the front rather than the top, but it IS installed within the manufacturers height above the range specs and is actually a bit higher than many people who retrofit one. It just isn't ideal visually, which using a shorter cabinet would have given you. Now, it doesn't look especially level in that spot, so I would check to make sure the bracket on the wall was installed correctly as well as the bolts from the cabinet above. Man

It doesn't bother me all that much, assuming it is level (hard to tell in photos but some think it is tilted forward which I would fix.) I think if I were you I would be asking the same question. The comments about the light rail are valid. It is hard when you are so hyperfocued on the kitchen to determine what really matters. The big question is if it is worth the cost and effort to either get and install a new microwave or change the upper.

Good luck.

My microhood is the same in myy current kitchen. I picked the cabinets, I'm to blame. it doesn't really bother me. the big thing, and I can't tell from your pic, is there enough room between the micro and the stove?

Hi-Thanks for all the responses. I realized after I posted this last night that the reason it didn't bother me before in the old kitchen was because there was no end cabinet and you saw the entire side of the microwave.
With respect to it being level-it took the electrical guy who installed it three times to get it "level"-but we just now realized that he only looked at the bottom of the side (and that IS level) but the inside is definitely slanted forward. This can be fixed (of course), but it will still be lower than the cabinet. Maybe a light rail would be the most esthetically (and least costly) solution.

Or maybe a newer, smaller MW. Hmm.

Or maybe a newer, smaller MW. Hmm.

Good luck with that. They are getting taller and taller. 17+ inches high is becoming the norm as they add convection and other features to the high-end models and then re-use the same outer box for the entry-level models.

I am having a similar issue. We are painting our cabinets, and although I've lived with my microwave like this for years, it's jumping out more at me now. The space is a big tight in the back, but only when I have a huge pot and it's more that it's blocking the controls on my electric stove.

Here's a work in progress pic:

I'm going to talk to my dh to see if we can maybe raise and bring out the cabinet some to minimize it sticking out, kind of like this

I think it's a fairly minor thing though, and it's hard b/c I know I'm in a super critical mode right now (dh and I were watching house hunters the other night, and I was complaining about granite tile on the counters of a higher end kitchen LOL).

My DH says it is a "drunk detail"-this is a term coined by our architect. She said that these are the things that you never notice unless you're flat on your back on the floor-drunk- and then you don't care.

I'm not sure I agree, but I may live with it for now (after it's leveled). If it still bothers me in the month or so it takes to get the backsplash in, I may investigate getting a newer, smaller one (if possible).

A light rail sounds like a perfect solution to me unless you really want a smaller MW.

Quarter round trim along the sides if it still bugs you. Don't let it bug you too much. It's OK.

Seems like I'm definitely in the minority, but if I had an OTR microwave, once the slight tilt was corrected, this would not bother me in the least. I believe they often do "hang" a bit lower than adjacent cabinets, which may be beneficial in your case just for safety if you are 5'4". Chances are good it was this way in your old kitchen- try to dig up a picture to check. Lack of a range sort of emphasizes the difference at this point.

By looking at your second picture, I don't think you could have it flush with the cabinets, even if they were deep. It looks to me like that would interfere with the opening of the microwave door.

My kitchen has been done for a few years now, but I definitely do remember being concerned about details that turned out to be insignificant in the long run- it was just my eternal quest for perfection. As long as what you are doing is safe, within code, legal, and aesthetically pleasing to you, try to relax and know that it won't be long now until you can thoroughly enjoy your new space!

I had to go look at the pics of my Mom's to remember. Didn't want it lower than the light rail but other than that it came down to ease of use. We lowered it 3" from the original design but she still has 17" clearance over the stove which exceeds the specs but is about the minimum clearance advisable. Once leveled a light rail would clean up the visual.

Without light rail on the left side:

With light rail:

I think it's a hard decision to make when you don't have everything in and done. The one thing I will say is that you want to make sure you have enough clearance while using the stove. I had upgraded my micro years back in my old kitchen and it definitely felt crowded and darker working in that area. Although I loved my new advantium it just seemed to not fit well above my stove. It hung down more and there was too much of a shadow. The smaller one was so much better. This may not be an issue here or you may not have a choice but I just wanted to mention it because I love having a lot of space over my stove. It brings more pleasure to cooking. Good luck to you.

Yes it would absolutely bug me.

I'm again on the wrong side of the tracks. Ours is below the cabinetry also. In fact, due to my slight height (5'0"), we did it like that on purpose so I could reach the microwave comfortably, still have room on the stovetop for my meatball pot and meet code. If the microwave sat any lower, my big pots would not have enough room to express steam. If it sat any higher, I could not reach it without fear of dropping full bowls. I wanted our microwave on the counter so I could reach it. My husband said, 'No Way' to that. He won that argument so he made it work for us. I'd refuse to use the microwave if he made it level with the other cabinetry. If I dropped a dish, it would crack my stovetop.

Well, we got the MW leveled today, so now the door doesn't hit us in the face when we open it. A great improvement! And really, nothing slid out, but in all honesty we're eating mostly salads right now anyway. It still is lower than the cabinets, but it is the requisite distance above the range according to the specs. So I guess I'll live with it for awhile and see how it goes. The range still isn't back in yet, so it will be interesting to see if that helps with how it all looks.