For many people, yes it is!! LOL! It is nice when they are built in. I am short as well and don't like reaching up to remove hot items. It is really just a personal choice. If you prefer your microwave on the counter then that's all that matters.

I've got a new house and the microwave is sitting on the counter in the walk in pantry. Perfect height - I don't want to bend and don't want to pull out things above my shoulder level. Got a bit of osteoarthritis going on :( Functionality matters.

Of course it's okay! Many people don't like them on their counters (me included), but if you have the room (which I don't) then put it where it makes sense to use it. The option we are going with in our new kitchen is a drawer microwave in the island. My sister has one and it works great in that location. But again, I don't think there is any "right" way to design a kitchen unless you are just designing for resale. If it doesn't work for you and your personal needs/preferences, then don't do it!

PERMISSION GRANTED!

;)

If you're concerned, you can do a nice sized appliance garage for when your snobby friends come over. :)

"Is it really that big of a faux pas to put a nice sleek stainless microwave on my countertop?"

LOL. It's not a faux pas at all. I wouldn't have my microwave anywhere else. It's what works best for YOU.

The only time it would be an issue if is you are planning to sell the house soon and comparable homes all have a built in or micro drawer. Otherwise do what works best for you

we have ours on a cart in a hall closet. so i'm not warming up my stone-throwing arm for you!

I redid our kitchen exactly that way. Looked at all the alternatives and they didn't work. CKD said buy a small microwave and put it on the counter, which is what I did. After a couple months, I moved it to the garage. Just didn't use it.

It's your kitchen!

They tried to talk me into something other than counter for my microwave oven, but I don't used it except to reheat plates, etc.... I opted for a Whirlpool corner unit and have been just fine for over three years. Can't believe anyone would think it's a faux pas.

Entirely up to you. I personally wouldn't have one on a counter but I generally don't like much of anything cluttering my counters. When we redid our kitchen we had a shelf in the lower part of the upper cabinet with an outlet behind for a small countertop microwave. It wasn't technically built in but looked more like that. It was just a regular microwave sitting on a shelf that was part of the cabinetry. It was actually lower than other cabinets for ease of access.

As everyone has said - it's your kitchen, do what works for you! I think sometimes we lose perspective on the "working" aspect of the kitchen. Is it nice to have a beautiful kitchen? Yes, but not at the expense of it actually working for you.

Nothing wrong with it at all, but if you get push back from your friends and neighbors, you can disguise it. I suggest a wicked witch of the west outfit complete with striped stockings for halloween, reindeer antlers and red nose for christmas, etc. The goofier the better. They'll get the point as well as a good laugh...

Absolutely! It is your kitchen so really do whatever helps you the most.

If you want it on top then do it ..its your house ! Mines on the top ..and horror of horrors you can see it from the door !!

I think it makes sense to avoid built in. The short life span of appliances these days begs for easy replacements. Besides, I think the worst worst worst place to put a microwave is over a range or cooktop. Who wants to lift, look, and carry hot items over hot burners???

I totally agree with Nel Smith. Microwaves are an appliance that don't follow any standards for height, width or length. What might fit into a built-in space today, you may not find a replacement for next year.

I built an entirely new house with a new sleek kitchen and put my matching microwave into the corner of the l-shaped counter with a cool light behind it. I use mine on a daily basis for coffee, tea, reheating leftovers, cooking various items (baked potatoes are perfect) popcorn, you name it... I'm def. a microwave user and would never want mine in a built-in either. Go for it!

Your house, your kitchen.....do what you want. Didn't you remodel the kitchen so you could enjoy it better? Go for it! I did a major kitchen renovation and happily plunked my Breville Smart Oven on the counter. I use it daily, and wouldn't have it anywhere else. (I don't own a microwave.)

I designed my kitchen specifically to have a microwave on the counter. Wouldn't want it any other way - it's most practical. Best hight and I can take out stuff and put in front of it for stirring. And I give a s&%$ what other people think.

My microwave has been on the counter for years, and I wouldn't want it any other way. It is handy and MUCH easier to keep clean. When my friend sold her house with the over the stove microwave and started cleaning for her showings, she was amazed at how filthy the rotating carrousel was! It hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long? Out of sight, out of mind. Put it where YOU want it!

it any other way

Thank you all for your comments and advice. I feel much better about putting the microwave (a nice one) on the counter!

Put it where you want It!

We built our house last year and the standard option was to have the microwave over the oven which I knew I didn't want, so we paid extra to put a range hood in and move the microwave to a different wall built into the wall cabinets. I love the location and look of it but it's too high for me to use comfortably (I'm 5'4"). I just didn't realize it would feel so high. It's high enough so that the space under the microwave is the same space between all of the wall cabinets and counter. Thankfully I don't use the microwave all that often but ultimately you should make your home as comfortable as you can for the way you use it.

I have mine like that, it wasn’t what I would have chosen but it was a sample home n the cost to change things around would not have been worth it to me. It’s fine, I’ll live with it. :).

Interesting. There's almost unanimous support here for putting the microwave where it works best, and for most people that's on a counter. So who was it who established a design "rule" that said you had to have them built in, or in drawers, or undercounter, or you'd failed home decor 101?

jmm1837, I have no idea, and I've never heard of any such "design rule" in the first place. I have always had my MW on a counter, and would not even consider putting it anywhere else.

We're house hunting and I keep seeing that microwaves over the stove are the norm for remodels and new homes in our price range. Currently I live in an ADA apartment so the microwave sits nicely in a corner on the kitchen counter. I prefer them there.

My last apartment had the first microwave over the stove configuration that I'd used before and I hated it. Reaching up over a hot stove to remove hot food (often liquidy!) from over my head was nerve-wracking. And, I love to cook and the steam and grease from the stove top cooking worked their way between the inner and outer glass on the microwave door. There was no way to clean it and I thought it ruined the appearance of the microwave.

I am seeing microwaves over gas ranges with way less than the needed 30-36" clearance during our house hunting. So, I've given my husband the heads up that a given expense with a home will be to remove the microwave and put in a proper outside venting hood.

Dianne, Builders often just go with what's cheap for them to install. Sad but true. And then many buyers--unlike you--think that the developer's choices must be "right".

So, as far as I can figure out, the boxy standard 30" range that we think of as a basic range nowadays, four burners, an oven and a storage or warming drawer at the bottom, came out in the 1950's and became a standard in the 1960's. They were simple, worked pretty well, and were easy to drop into tract houses and apartment complexes.

In the '60's or 70's, the same kind of ranges but with a second, eye level, oven, smaller and often with a rotisserie, became the new thing. There were other kinds of ranges that were mostly built-in, that had eye level ovens as well, and the secondary rotisserie oven was also really popular in the 1960's in wall ovens. I don't know if these had ventilation in them. Back then there were wall ovens that vented from the rear to outside the house, and tilt open exhaust fans over wall ovens, so there might have been. These ranges got people used to seeing an oven over the cooktop, and I've seen kitchens where a secondary oven has been hung over a separate range.

Anyway, while "Radar Ranges" had been put into high end kitchens for many years, in the 1970's some time, less expensive countertop microwaves became accessible. Some of those double ranges, I think, started having a microwave instead of the second oven. A short time later, the OTR MW came out as a separate unit, giving the same look, but more flexibility being a separate piece.

Combine that with small kitchens with no room for countertop MWs or MW carts, and you get a whole slew of OTRs. Then someone shifts it over to have a real hood, then someone wants the shifted over, built in MW to match the other appliances, so every brand has them now, even though they're all made for them by Sharp and Panasonic.

The products, and the quest for ever more counter space (junk piles and all) is where the consumer got the rule to get the microwave off the counter.

The designers just don't like countertop microwaves because they look like afterthoughts and "clutter" (though the current trend in interior design has designers putting huge amounts of clutter in most rooms). Also, the designer doesn't usually get a fee for small appliances, but gets a cut on the built-ins.

And that's where the "rule" came from.

It's funny that we are concerned about having visible cooking appliances in our cooking room.

ROTFL! Too true!

It's the great room thing. If your kitchen is in your living room, you have a much greater impetus to have it noise free, smell free, sight free (i.e., clutter free) and have it be "designed" and "pretty" to the point that sometimes function is overlooked.

"It's funny that we are concerned about having visible cooking appliances in our cooking room."

Actually, "sad" was the word that came to my mind. It reminds me of my former step-mother, who wanted her home to look like a fashion-plate from a magazine, with nothing personal in view and nothing but decorative objects in sight. Even boxes of kleenex had to be kept in drawers rather than on the counter. She thought her decorating style was wonderful and relaxing, but I thought it was anonymous and boring. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Oh, and Fori, I know of big time architect/designers who hide the regular wall ovens behind some kind of door or hatch because they don't want them to be seen either! I'm with you on the "cooking room". :)

I say it/s your house do what you want. I've recently started moving things around in my 84 year old mothers kitchen to make things easier for her. Ive wanted to do it for years but she's never wanted me to touch it. one thing I did that I think works real well is to move her small microwave kitty corner in the corner. its seems like so much more room and keeps things away from the out of reach corner. I also stuck a glass hotplate at the front to help with the hot things coming out of the microwave.

Nothing wrong with it. If your concerned have a spot at the height you want put into your cabinetry, that's what we did. Make sure the put in the outlet too though! you can even get kits to from it as though it were built in, usually around fifty dollars.

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this post! I recently remodeled my kitchen and resisted my kitchen designer's advice to put in a microwave drawer. It was so expensive, took up valuable cabinet space, and seemed like it could be a nightmare if it stopped working and had to be replaced. I only use a microwave for melting butter and reheating leftovers, so I didn't see the need for a fancy drawer microwave. I like having it on the counter for convenience, and I have enough counter space that it's not a big deal. I am trying to find a new one to match my stainless steel appliances, though. The one I have now is black, and I think it would look prettier if I had a stainless one. Any advice on a reliable, nice looking stainless countertop microwave? I'd like a smaller footprint, but I don't want one of those tiny .7 cubic foot ones with 700 watts. Ideally, I think a .9 cubic foot to 1.1 cubic foot model with at least 900 watts of power would be great. If anyone has some thoughts about brands/models they would recommend, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks in advance!

Panasonic and Sharp make fine mw. Sharp may make all of them in fact and just have different trims and such for different brands. I saw plenty of stainless countertop mw when I Googled.

Since I am only 4'10" tall, I chose a stainless steel microwave that I keep in the corner on my kitchen cabinet.

I'm glad to see so many people here chiming in about it being your party and you can cry if you want to. That's my feeling too. But I know there are plenty of folks who don't feel that way, who really do sniff at kitchens not being super-neat and spiffy and tidy in a way they expect, which seems to include nothing visible, including appliances.

All I can say is this attitude really surprises me and is very cultural - not my own. It just still makes me shake my head. Years and years ago now I posted a "post" picture of my kitchen which was just a snap shot of life in a busy family. I think there may have been wet foot prints visible and certainly a lot of clutter on the counters. It wasn't ideal, I suppose but honestly, I kind of don't see it, certainly don't mind. But a firestorm of opprobrium erupted here. There *is* an aesthetic to this place and the folks who post and expect something here, so it's understandable why you'd be reluctant to suggest the heresy of emplacing a MW on the counter.

So again, I'm happy that folks' heads are telling them that of *course* you can do what you want. Sometimes their hearts cry out differently but babysteps is good. Do what makes you comfortable.

That said, for reference and possible interest, I've long been (personally) horrified by MW so I would want to hide it away just because I was embarrassed to get one! lol. I actually use it *all* the time and have decided to shelve that particular prejudice. I have a "speed oven" which is MW+convection and it works great for us. I highly recommend it, especially if space is tight. That did get built in and fwiw I'm happy with it. But if it doesn't interfere with your counterspace it's hard for me to imagine why it's anyone else's business what you do with it. OTOH if aesthetics is your business of concern, then perhaps your answer might be different. But if expedience and cooking-preference is your first order of business, then, well - it's your space!!!

:)