That was a common layout several decades ago. I would be inclined to do do a major re-arrangement, but I would be doing most of the work myself and I would have to consider budget, as well. We work with the budgets and spaces we have. I'll offer some considerations about the existing space and the questions you asked. Is 17.5" too close for an OTR over a gas range? No. People put all kinds of gas ranges beneath OTRs including "pro-style" ranges. There's a photo of one over an NXR in the discussion that I've linked below. Note that the base of this one was only about 4" higher than yours -- maybe 22" above the range. While your OTR could be easily (well, relatively easily) vented to the outside, swapping in a higher powered gas range presents a couple of things to think about. One concern is "coverage." It isn't very good with an OTR. Basically, an OTR is mostly venting just the two back burners. This is not a fire hazard concern but, rather, an annoyance, It means more heat and more goo in the kitchen than with a dedicated vent hood. The other concern with OTRs over gas ranges is a suspicion that waste heat from a gas stove may contribute to eventual failure of the microwave part of the unit. Frankly, though, microwaves are such a commodity product these days and often so cheaply made that it can be hard to determine how much havinga gas range contributed to or accelerated a failure. Also, consider how often you will be using all the gas burners on the range on full power at the same time. Also, you don't avoid waste-heat problems by going with a radiant electric stove. They just make somewhat less waste heat, but not hugely so. IIRC, radiant smoothtops put 50% to 55% of their energy into pans, so roughly half of the energy can go into the room as waste heat. . With gas ranges, the rating is 33% to 40% going to pans. That's about a 20% difference, which is not huge. Coil burners are closer to 70% to 75% of energy going into pans and induction is rated at 85% to 90%. The latter differences are significant and may affect your planning about what to do with your kitchen and range replacement choices. The 30" height-above-the-stove recommendation for hoods is mainly to get them out of the way so cooks don't bang their heads when leaning over to stir or look into a pot. Another consideration that may affect your planning is that In your current kitchen layout, a hood is going to project out at least another 10 to 14 inches fruther from the cabinets. In the present location, that that could crowd (or seem to crowd) into the space expectations of folks using the sink. You can get a relatively shallow venting appliance --- can we really call them hoods if they don't have a canopy? --- which may mitigate the distance from stovetop to hood/vent somewhat. Not ideal, but workable. For example, my old house kitchen layout is such that I went with a 5" tall Zephyr hood. There is another 30" minimum clearance requirement that sometimes gets confused or mixed in to these discussions. That is for when you don't have a hood, and then the unobstructed distance above the range to flammable upper cabinet bases is generally specified as being at least 30 inches. An OTR or range hood are regarded as non-flammable surfaces so they can be closer. If you swap in a hood, what to do about a microwave? Apparently, you use the convection features a fair amount? (Otherwise, I'd suggest a cabinet hung MW unit elsewhere in the kitchen.) Do you have room for a cart someplace to hold that GE convection mw? Is there any kind of a pantry space where you could put it? If not, then maybe you just vent the existing one to the outdoors. Then give your self some time to plan and budget for a more extensive revamp. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread with photo of Nunyabiz's OTR

BoxerPups...I love the look of the wood-type hoods like in your second pic. I wanted something similar in my kitchen but as my KD told me, it was a "budget buster"! Oh well! I do like the look of my chimney one, but I like the wood better! Bpotts44...If it were me, I'd rather walk the extra steps from the other side of the kitchen to get to the MW from the refrigerator than have an OTR. Quite a few things I add water or other ingredients to, so, to me, it wouldn't be the end of the world to get things out of the refrigerator, put them on the island, do what I need to do on the island around the prep sink, and then walk over to the MW. My sister has an OTR and when she's cooking w/her kids (or visitors) helping there seems to be a periodic bottleneck at the range & MW. I've also noticed that when something's cooking on the front burners (like boiling water/pasta), the front of the MW gets hot...has anyone else noticed that? (Just curious.) Oops...LexLuthor you answered my question! Lovlilynne...noise level generally depends on the size of the hood, the length of ducting, turns, and location of the fan. Every manufacturer claims their hoods are quiet...but keep in mind when they tell you that, they're talking about the "best case scenario" for installing a hood (no turns, short duct). People here, too, have various installations so when someone says one vent is quieter (or louder) than another, take it with a grain of salt until you know the details of their installation! I probably have the "worst case scenario" and while it isn't quiet, it's certainly quieter than my old builder-grade "Nautilus" (I think that was the manufacturer)...and much more powerful. I have 3 or 4 turns plus approx 11' of duct run...converted from 8" round to a 6"x8.5" rectangular duct. I did have it on high last night b/c I was baking bacon in the oven and w/no vent near the ovens I had bacon grease/odors in the kitchen so I was trying to air it out (along w/the open windows). I didn't have to raise my voice much to be heard in the DR. That's a good thing! [BTW...I think I'm going to stick w/frying bacon on the griddle on my cooktop from now on...then I'll be able to vent the grease & odors outside! I cringed when I saw the grease & smoke rush out of the oven & up to my cabinets & ceiling last night!]

Thank you for the pictures of the GE Cafe which looks so nice and I love the features. I also love the beautiful venting hoods in the pictures and that microwave is beautiful also but is too tall for me so I would need a step ladder to use it. I am leaning more towards this range but keep waking up at night about the NXR that I love the way it looks a little better and it has that small back-splash in the back but I hate to clean and wonder if I will dislike not having self-cleaning. My current oven I am not able to clean and it is still dirty looking but I know it is 20 years old but every time I think I can live without the self-cleaning feature, I open the oven and see that I was unable to clean it right and I dislike cleaning. Does anyone use the temperature probe and is it really the nice feature that I think it will be? I also need a circulating vent so I can't have the pretty overhead hood that I desire and keep searching for one that is exactly 30" to go in between my cabinets that does not require outside venting and it is making me unhappy with my few choices. Thanks for letting me share since my friends don't understand my need to have everything work well in my kitchen as well as be a look I love.

From personal experience, I would highly recommend induction cooking, but the reason I'm posting is to say that we have no ability to have a vent to the outside. We have a Zephyr Europa (Genova model) under cabinet hood, and it works brilliantly (for what it is). I had an OTR micro-hood in my previous apartment and it was terrible for a number of reasons - the height of the microwave, the fact that the vent did nothing. The Zephyr on the other hand does in fact completely contain the effluent as long as I remember to turn the fan on to get the air stream going before I start cooking. It has greatly reduced (to almost zero) the number of times I have set off the smoke detector (a regular occurrence in my previous apartment), and the grease on the surrounding cabinets and smells in the room. I'm not suggesting it's as good as venting outside, just that it works fabulously for an under-cabinet recirculating hood.