Pic

It would only bother me if it became a problem knocking things up against it. I think you are hyper focusing on it because there is nothing else drawing your eye away from it. Can you post a photo showing it head on, rather than from an angle?

That would bother me from both an aesthetic standpoint and a functional one. I know OTR MWs are supposed to be very low over the range (one of the reasons many people, including me, don't like them), but 16" sounds too low. What do the MW specs say for clearance?

Otherwise, nice looking kitchen!

Yes!!! It is not ideal from an aesthetic point of view, but more importantly, if your measurements are correct, you stand a very good chance of hitting your head on the corner of the microwave (ouch!!!) as you lean in to look into something cooking on a back burner. It is annoying and expensive to change things, but my vote is for safety first.

It does look off to me. Sorry ! : (

You could cut down cabinet above it and raise the microwave. Or you could add a light rail to the bottom of the cabinets on the left and right to make them all same height visually.

EXCEPT, I don't know why it looks off to me ... ours is exactly like that. Our microwave is 52" from the floor, the bottom of the cabinets are 54" from the floor (18" clearance from counter to bottom of cabs, 16" clearance from stove to bottom of MW). The bottom of the cabinet above the microwave is 68". Same as yours !!

Course, I was *thrilled* to have my microwave raised to it's *current* height. When we bought the house, the bottom of the MW was only about 10-12" above the stove !! We had the cabinet above cut down and the MW raised.

It would bother me a lot.

My microwave set-up is lower than the norm, and while not ideal, you get used to it. I figure maybe it is making the vent more efficient!

I was typing at the same time the aboves were posted.

We have never once hit our head on the MW or knocked anything into it, etc. But it might be because we are not the tallest in the bunch. I'm 5'3", hubby is 5'10".

Google images search yields MWs a couple inches below adjacent uppers, even with adjacent uppers, and a couple inches above adjacent uppers. http://www.google.com/search?q=over+the+range+microwave&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch

You also don't want to go too high with MW because it might start being too high / hard to use.

Agree from an aesthetic point it would probably bother me, but hard to tell from that angle. As covingtoncat mentioned can you please post a picture from head on for a better view?

My current kitchen has an OTR microwave that is flush with the bottom of my cabs, but is probably only 15 1/2" above my slide in range because the kitchen has a slightly dropped ceiling. Stupid me for not changing the ceiling when we remodeled 12 years ago, this time I will, but may still have to go with same location due to space. Anyway...

I can tell you from a functional standpoint the height has never been a problem. I'm about 5'8" and my husband is 6'1" and we've never bumped our heads on anything, had difficulty seeing what's on the back burner and certainly never had the need to lean in to see what's cooking in the back. Top cabs are standard, about 12" deep aren't they? No problem. And previous poster is correct, the exhaust on the OTR micro isn't great so they have to be pretty close to be of any use at all.

That said, if the height difference bothers you and the KD had the deminsions and missed that, I'd make him/her change that center cab at their $ so you could raise the micro flush with the surrounding cabs.

Looks like you're on your way to a beautiful kitchen!

Here is straight on view... sorry for the flash glare. Is it possible to have upper cab cut down to allow the raising of microwave?

That's a common situation when retrofitting an OTR where an actual hood was because OTR's are much taller than hoods.

However, in a new kitchen, there is no excuse if the KD knew you were using an OTR rather than a hood. The cabinet should be re-ordered 3" shorter, which will leave the OTR slightly shorter than the adjacent cabinets. That will also impact how the adjacent cabinets are finished on the sides. I'd bet that right now, they didn't order them to have finished ends. A skin would also need to be ordered and applied for each of the adjacent cabinets as well as ordering the shorter cabinet.

It doesn't bother me, but I think it's just too low.

I had to retrofit some cabinets.
I just cut the bottom off and put a 2x3/4" (the 2 is actually 1.5" wide) across the bottom face of the cab. Of course I'm painting.

Your cabinet maker would probably have to figure out a way to save that bottom rail so it matches your current cabs. Since the top of the microwave is there, I'd have the cut off part on top so when you look up, you see a nice cabinet top.

All contingent upon whether or not you can get a small cab from your KD people.

It would bother me and CF probably has the best answer - I think it is too low but I am not an expert...

I guess I am in the minority here - that would not bother me at all. Very nice looking kitchen, and still looks like enough clearance under the MW to do everything you need to do on the stove top.

We had the same situation in our old kitchen and the biggest bother to me (and reason we changed it) was that I could not have a stockpot on the back burner and be able to see into it and/or stir anything. Ours was much lower (by looking at the pic) than yours. If that is not an issue for you, then aesthetically it would not bother me a whole lot.
However, since you're still in progress,if they can cut the cabinet above then yes, I would ask that it be changed.

Again Green Design hit the nail on the head.

Thanks for all your insight... I am sick. Cabs were custom made... no retrofit... complete gut and new construction... Cabs on either side are finished! So maybe easier to replace than I think. I will talk to my cabinet maker... Actually, it was not the cab makers mistake... I hired a separate KD and when looking at the plans... she had a 21" cab listed so that is what he built. I guess it's worth the cost to change for peace of mind right? I was incorrect though... there is a 17" clearance from range top to bottom of microwave. Clearance is not an issue... I just don't care for the look of it. Another mistake to stress over...

That would bother me as well. I am also having a OTR micro installed and the bottom better be flush with my upper cabs. I purchased all my appliances in advance and my cabinet guy has all the dimensions to he could plan/build accordingly.

It would. Aesthetically, it looks and ugly and I don't think that's safe.

Thanks for posting the 2nd picture. It doesn't look bad, not sure I would have noticed it in a completed kitchen, but like you it would bother me and I'd want it changed. Probably gives the illusion of being too low because it's not flush.
Not your cab makers fault, but it is your KD fault and she should have it remade at HER cost. You are well within your right to insist on that. That's why we hire professionals to create our dream spaces,right?

Nice looking appliances too. Looks so clean with the smooth flat range top. I measured from my range top not the grates so I probably have even less than 15 1/2".

Good luck, be assertive and keep us posted!

It definitely would bother me.

Measured mine in the kitchen I did last summer ~ 20" clearance and I wouldn't want it any lower. I am 5'4". Mine is not flush with the bottom of my cabinets.

Hope I did it right in my new kitchen AGHHH, something else to worry about! Microwave hasn't been delivered yet!

I think there is a reason it is not done flush. If you look at the range specs it probably has a "Distance to Non Flammable Materials" set of dimensions. This Generally includes the area of 3" on each side of the range. The lower inside corners of the cabinets on each side are technically below this height specification because they are 30" apart, as is width of the range, instead of 36" apart which would include the 3" to each side.

It is often designed exactly the way you have it, with the corresponding OTR microwave the same width as the range below, even though that manufacturer actually spec's a wider space for the upper cabinets over the range. (Which would require a 36" wide microwave.

Setting the microwave lower puts the capture area below those edges of the cabinets, which is a sort of compensation.

17" is adequate clearance and should meet the manufacturers specs. It shouldn't be a safety issue (you don't want it too high - though the inch or two you are looking for to bring it flush with the cabs shouldn't be a gig deal). No light rail? My Mom's looked like this initially but I thought it looked fine once the light rail was on.

I'm sorry, but it would bother me. It looks like it's falling out.

Are you placing a light rail around the bottom? If so it may end up even.

You may want to check building code for your area. My custom cabinet guy said our 17" clearance was too low because code now requires the OTR micro to be at least 20" above the range, so he has adjusted everything accordingly. I would hope your KD would be familiar with local code but might not hurt to check.

If you don't have light rail to make up the difference (ours is supposed to be 1.5"), I would definitely bring it up with the KD. One of the main reasons to go custom is to avoid exactly this sort of thing.

Hi - To those of you asking if there are plans for light rail... No, the cab maker builds his cabinets 2" deep underneath so we wouldn't have to do this. I don't want to bring the cabs down any further than what they are... 18" clearance from countertop to bottom of cabs.

To those of you who know about this sort of thing... Is it a huge deal for him to take cabinet down and resize 2-3" shorter and then re-hang?

My husband thinks I'm CRAZY!!

That is how ours is. It sits about 2" below the bottom of our cabinets. Doesn't bother us at all, especially with everything else around, you don't even notice it.

He probably wouldn't "resize" because that's essentially a rebuild. He'd just plain make another, perfectly good cabinet. He sounds like a professional to have those gorgeous extended cabinets so no light rail is needed.

If you cut the cabinet as I called a "retrofit" it's not a big deal.

Nice kitchen!

Thanks CEFreeman and others and others who complimented on kitchen... It's getting there, but has been a struggle... Does anyone know what size corbels I need for 12" overhang on island and peninsula bar counter? I think the counter people told me I need to brace for 3/4 depth of overhang... so I'm guessing 8" deep corbels?

I just measured mine and it is 18", still with an inch showing below cabinet. 16" sounds really short. Especially for large pots.

Am short, 18" is about as high as one could go for me. Currently moving my range to the left, the micro will be on it's own under the cabinet. I worry about someone dropping hard objects from the MW and damage the range glass top. Would move the MW, but the electrical move isn't worth it for now and need more counter space to the right.

You have your range options in front which will help. Cooking anything in back is a pain for me. Thankfully the larger cook areas are in front.

Technicolor - I actually have a 17" clearance from range top to bottom of microwave. I just don't care for the way it hangs down. We are taller people to... I'm 5'8", hubby 6'3" although he does NOT cooking. I'm going to ask my cabinet builder to make me a new overhead cab... I know it will cost some $$ - I just hope he'll do this for me. What a pain! However, the issue right now is for him to finish up the last few things he needs to complete the project. Then we'll go back to this issue. I'm sure he'll be thrilled (NOT!)

I also need to take the time to see what the manual states is the proper clearance to work properly. I'm tired.

have him rebuild it to the correct height. if it costs extra it costs extra. these are the errors that happen in a job. this is actually minor, it could be much worse. bite the bullet now and get it fixed, you will be glad you did, it looks funny the way it is now.

For what it's worth, I've seen lots of OTR microwaves that hang a bit below the cabinet line. It may be so the microwave is not too high to be reached by most people. I just looked at a picture of my old kitchen and it was that way. It never bothered us at all, but it does look a little better if it's higher.

Yes, by all means check your building code to see what the minimum vertical clearance is. It visually looks low to me. And yes, I find it bothersome to view.

Our old OTR microwave hung down like that. It was installed after a standard range hood was removed. It never bothered me aesthetically but every time I would boil water the bottom of the microwave would be full of water droplets from the steam hitting it. (I never used the exhaust fan because it sounded like a freight train.) You will be glad you moved it up.

"Once quartz counters are installed, we will end up with 16" of clearance from range to bottom of microwave."

Not understanding what the addition of counters does to distance between range and microwave? Did I miss something?

Hello,

Here's mine, it looks just like yours I believe. I've had mine for over 5 years and never once had a problem and never once hit my head on it!

OMG! It looks fine. Your kitchen is going to turn out beautiful. Only people from garden web would come over and comment on the OTR microwave. Normal people won't notice. And don't worry, you're not going to hit your head either. Your eyes will see it coming!

We had the same situation, and lived with it for 14 yrs. It was agravating when trying to use large pots on the stove, and not having as much room to stir and lift lids, etc. (our MW hung down 3in. below the cabinet). Our cabinets weren't custom, so I don't know if they thought we were using a hood or what. Anyway, last year my DH bumped the cabinet up to make the MW flush with cabinets. It looked OK the old way, but functions so much better now. If I were you, I'd try to get it worked out now. The more room you have over the stove, the better.

I agree that it is fine, and you are just focusing on it because nothing else is there. I have seen many like this, and they looked fine to me in the context of a kitchen with everything else. I think you can fix it, but if you don't fix it today, it is NOT the end of the world.

Hi, I think your cabinets are beautiful and I think the microwave looks fine. As many here have stated, it is hardly noticable. However, I would worry about the clearance from the cooktop. Our KD told us we would not be able to have the MW OTR because you need to have a minimum of an 18 inches from cooktop to bottom of cabs. Ours was 161/2 and then became 16 with light rail. With all that said, rather than ordering another custom cabinet, is it possible to remove just the header or bulkhead over the cabinet above the MW and bump up the existing cabinet to the ceiling? I think it would look nice and solve the problem. Good luck to you. Your kitchen is lovely.