I have the same (similar)Frigidaire microwave in the house I purchased a couple of years ago. It's a CPLMV169DCD (the newest one has the last 3 letters changed). Anyway, I was surprised to see steam venting from the front left corner of the "vent area" on this "exterior vented" system, when boiling something like rice in the microwave, which we do all the time. The situation got critical, when I realised it was ruining the cherry cabinets over top the microwave... replacing one cabinet door would, no doubt, be a major run-around with finding matching finishes from the (probably) discontinued line etc. etc... as always happens... so I want to get to the bottom of the microwave steam issue. I removed the microwave and took the thing apart, and found that there appears to be no way to direct steam from the microwave into the venting for the rear ductwork... and steam is very difficult to control once it starts flowing. So I contacted Frigidaire on their website and got the pat answer that the system is set up for front venting and rear venting and you have to change the orientation of the fan motor etc. etc. This appears to be BS... that stuff is obvious to manipulate during installation... there is no design feature for getting the steam from the microwave cabinet into the venting system... the venting system is only for air being sucked from the (very inadequate) vents on the bottom of the microwave cabinet... a sort of range vent system that works very poorly and does not capture much air-flow from the stove top (anything on the front two burners does not get captured by the "range hood" vents.) So I found an outfit in Calgary that just does installation for the large appliance retailers and got talking to a technician who finally remembered that he got the run-around from Frigidaire when trying to fix up the exact same problem for a client and he admitted that it seems to be a design problem that Frigidaire has not addressed and continues to act as if it is not a real problem. This is likely due to the fact that most people don't actually cook in their microwaves, but just heat the odd coffee-cup... and they call this microwave part of the "Professional Series"... that is laughable... no professional would consider such a very low-grade machine. In addition to the steam problem, here is the list of defects on this 2-year old machine... - fan for range-hood has only one speed (hi and very noisy) since installation (previous owner did not notice, before it was too late for warranty service I guess) - turntable motor broke after one year... very lightweight part which I removed from the bottom and fortunately is easy to replace... but it will burn out again! - inside light has burnt out after 2 years only When you look at the parts and manufacturing of this machine you find that it is substandard compared to something like Sharp even in the $120 range. Anyway, I am now looking at replacing the microwave with a proper range hood only and getting a microwave that sits on the counter. I managed to rig the inside vents etc. so that half the steam gets sucked out by the fan, but it's still not perfect and my wife continues to steam-burn the cabinets forgetting to turn on the fan or boiling something for 15 minutes or more. I'm not sure that this helps, but at least I have "vented my steam"! Cheers

Thank you segesta & weissman. weissman - I can't vent outside from my high rise apt. :( I hope to finally get to see the Culinarian in the next week or so. If it's as good as everyone says, I can't see myself settling for lower BTUs. As it is, I hardly ever use the burners I have under 12,500 BTU. And even if I did go with 15,000 burners, I would still need 600 cfm's. segesta - yes, idiot software, but it is even more idiotic that their personal shoppers assured me I would get the rate advertised, and then their bosses refused to back them up. If I get a vent, I have to either give up the microwave or lose the counter space. And the reviews of recirculating vents on this site are awful. Tough decision. Can't an appliance co. develop a 600 cfm microhood that can withstand high heat ranges? The only microhoods I have been told can withstand high heat (well, 60,000 BTUs) are the Viking & Dacor, and both only have 300cfm. Doesn't make sense. There must be lots of apt dwellers like me who want a high heat range but can't vent outside!

I think the key word above is "appear" because to me these OTR microwave ovens look like they are not flush by two or three inches. From an earlier post: "If I can use the top vent [to] go up through the cabinet and resolve the ductwork above that cabinet, that vent will care for the stove venting and the magnatron venting, and I would not need a MW with a front-facing louver." In my view, neither this nor any other microwave oven venting scheme I'm even vaguely aware of will "care for the stove venting" because they move far too little air per unit time and the units do not overhang the burners sufficiently. Perhaps if a supplementary blower designed for higher pressure loss is used in the path taken by the this so-called ventilation to augment the flow rate, barely adequate air flow will be possible. But even then, capture area will be too small to have much effect on front burner plume capture. You can design for style and give up on having adequate ventilation, or design for adequate ventilation and give up on OTR microwave ovens. Your statement "For what it's worth, most of the cooking on our stove is boiling water or soup, scrambling eggs, or simmering an occasional kettle of sauce." suggests that you can get away with doing the former. In that case, provide manufacturer specified cooling paths for the magnetron, and ignore limitations of the mediocre or worse ventilation. And don't sear steaks on the cooktop before baking them in the oven.

FYI...... I do my own cleaning in my own home. I have also stuck my head in more client toilet bowls on a glamorous powder room install than you can even count. Elitist I am not, nor is basic daily cleanup of a kitchen, or wipe down of a bath, or making your darn bed. Infirmities aside, nobody is that "busy". For all the angst that goes into any kitchen, any room for that matter; with all the focus on "does this look nice with that and all the rest? Hardly make sense to cruddy up your results. Half the time when someone wants to redecorate? They'd be half there if they simply tidied, cleaned and purged the junk. I suppose that advice is "elitist" too.