I would not like my MW in an upper cabinet, and would choose the pantry even it if it not super convenient. Why? Because I don't want to reach up for hot food. I also don't use my MW a lot, so that is also a consideration. When we did our kitchen last year I put mine in the pantry (which is in our basement!) and am very happy with my decision. YMMV though.

edited to correct: upper cabinet, not upper pantry.

Clueless we do use it daily to reheat coffee. We occasionally use it to reheat food or if I'm baking (rarely) melt/soften butter, not for cooking tho.

Lilysmom good questions!

How often do you use it?

daily to reheat coffee other than that to reheat an occasional meal or melt butter when baking on rare occasions.

Can you leave the pantry door open while using it? Is your pantry ventilated, so moisture/steam is not locked in?

yes I can leave it open because my pantry is a double bifold door pantry, yes my pantry is ventilated with louvre doors.

Can you place it in an upper cabinet that is not too high for you or family members? Do you need that cabinet for something else?

yes I can place it in a cabinet that would be perfect height for all. I don't need that cabinet for something else but was thinking it would be nice for other things at that nice height and I love the streamline look of just the beautiful cabinetry.

Ours is currently OTR recirculating and since we were updating thought now would be a great time to get a vented hood unit. I personally have never minded our OTR. Very convenient, not too high and keeps everything together. But Because we have a u shape kitchen I don't love that the ORT is right smack dab in the center. Also with it being 30" wide like the range it's a pretty big focal point when you walk in the room that I would rather not have be the focal point. If I had limited options I would do it there.

I had intended to move it next to fridge and have built in but then started wondering If was getting overly "appliancy" in that one area now as I had already decided on a beverage/wine cooler next to the fridge below. I kinda had my heart set on having the cooler as we have a cabinet depth fridge and beverages take up way too much room and we go thru a ton of beverages living in a warm climate. But that would mean fridge and next to it MW above and beverage cooler below. Too much?

the other thing besides it looking "appliancy" there was the fact that the built in MW is only 24" plus a trim kit installed in a 36" wide cabinet. So I would lose that space and now have another set of short doors above next to fridge that will also have short doors. Now I'm wondering why I want all these short doors?! So I can reheat my coffee once?

in cleaning out my tall pantry and my double door pantry I found electrical outlets so really started thinking it could be a viable option! So I asked DH about MW in the larger double door one and he said sure whatever you want :)

I love the idea of having it in a walk in pantry like you can but think this is as close as I'm gonna get with the double door pantry. I sort of like the out of sight idea and easy to replace if need be.

So I just walked the distance from say coffee pot to the OTR MW and its 3 steps and from coffee pot to double door pantry 6 steps If built in I wouldn't have to move lol.

In your past homes, or houses of friends and family, have you used the microwave, in similar locations of what you are thinking?

My past home had OTR style too. My friends have built above wall oven...nice! I find that convient and that's why I thought I wanted a built in but again I think when those 2 appliances are paired and stacked it looks good.

Any option is in budget.

Sherri I think you meant upper cabinet. I guess we don't mind that height. Just don't know about having everything in one spot? i didn't point that out.

I think I remember you posting about it being in your basement that's a great place out of sight! That's not an option as I'm on a slab but even when I had a basement that prob would not be the best for us.

So my could be something like this?

That would be an awesome pantry and I would not think twice about putting in in there.

Its about how you use it and at what frequency....and having a landing spot for hot bowls is important as well.

If the pantry is inconvenient then I wouldn't want to - due to having to carry hot stuff too far of a distance.

Autumn.4 thanks for your feedback I was going to do mine similar to yours but built in with a trim kit, the upper cabinet planned for there is so wide (36") though so I started feeling like I was wasting that space. Also stumbling across the electrical outlets in both my tall and double door pantry made wonder if I should consider putting it there. My tall pantry is only 18" wide so that would be tight and not much venilation, but yeah I'm thinking it might work in the other one. I thought maybe still keep it at eye level and keep the shelving below open for a landing spot.

If you have a pantry where you can put it at a great height, the pantry.

Practigal yes if i put it in pantry it can be any height...shelves go from top to bottom.

This is one of my favorite step in pantry images. It is similar to what you have shown above but maybe a little smaller depth wise? It looks very functional.

Regarding ventilation - we have our chest freezer in our pantry and not venting it was definitely an oversight. We leave the door cracked open 24/7 which was something to get used to for me. :O

Lilysmom I'm kinda hoping you can work on your DH to just have yours in the pantry too. I love your kitchen it's such a beautiful space. The cabinetry the lights, the ceiling height, everything love it. The last pics I saw were in smmm's "how's your kitchen going" and I can't remember where your range is? So did you already install the OTR?

your right about getting help on the forum. It does help so much! i'm feeling good about doing it in the pantry. Geez that was kinda last minute thought. My KD is gonna kill me! Lol

i'm gonna scroll through pics for inspiration and start organizing my pantry!

Thank you!

Autumn.4 that is an awesome pantry thanks for sharing that pic. The depth of the pantry in your picture is more like what I have and actually mine does not even step in. But I think it will still work great. Yes it does look very functional. I do like the pocket doors on that one to access the corners better. I have bifold doors which block it a little bit more but I think it could still be very very useful.

thanks for your feedback and sharing the pic. I saved it for inspiration :)

Lily'smom we too decided on a wall of cabinets and no large hood...the consensus here was we were not thrilled with the clunky stainless hoods that may have been an option but then didn't want that to really be a focal point. Unless I could have cheryl hewitts hood! Now that is out of the budget! So we're just keeping it simple. Less is more is my motto. :)

Ours hangs over the stove and is a convection oven too, so it gets a lot of work. Putting it in a pantry would be terribly inconvenient for us.

Scotty if you use a lot that would not work. In my next house if there is one I would prob prefer MW/convection and matching wall oven stack.