The Dacor OTR MW is made by Sharp. There is a Sharp OTR convection MW that is identical, except for the door appearance, that's all. But the Dacor will cost double what the identical Sharp will cost. You could save a lot of money by buying the Sharp instead. Like you, we have a small kitchen and could only do an OTR MW. If we could have, we would have done a hood for sure. We also don't have the ducting to the outside. From what we saw of convection MW's they didn't do such a good job on the convection part. So we chose instead the GE OTR Advantium. Much better than a convection MW, and I would recommend it. However, it comes in two versions, the 120 watt and the 240 watt. We chose the 120 watt which was much less expensive, and we also didn't want to pay for the wiring needed for the higher wattage Advantium. Some people believe that the more expensive Advantium is superior, but we have been very satisfied with ours.

We were planning to get one from the Whirlpool Velos Gold series, but it seems they aren't available in Canada/Ontario? Anyway, we decided on the Panasonic Genius Prestige (the pompous name still makes me laugh). We will be venting it to outside (not done yet due to snow on the roof and very low temps) so I'm hoping it will do a good job of that. It does go up to 420 CFM which is better than many of them. So far we have only used the microwave function and while we don't microwave much, I'm happy with it. I have heard much about the safety issues with lifting things up and out of it, etc. Perhaps it's because I'm tall, but I can see right into the dishes that are cooking in there, so this is not an issue for me at all. Actually, I'm finding it much easier, ergonomically, to use than the countertop one that required me to bed down and lean on the counter!

I have yet to have an issue with my LG stove (thankfully), but I own a TON of Samsung stuff. Washer, Dryer, TV, Laptop, MP3, 2 cell phones, portable speaker, surround sound, and probably a bunch of other stuff I can' remember. The only thing I ever had an issue with was the TV 4 years ago stopped turning on and off. I tried calling the place I bought it (it was within a year of when I bought it). They asked me if I paid the $250 surcharge for the "protection", when I said no, they basically told me I was out of luck and had to buy a new tv. I called Samsung next, they had a guy to my house the next morning. They told me he would be there between 10 and 12 and he actually showed up at 10:30! It was a transistor. He put booties on before he entered my house, fixed the TV, was very polite, and was gone within 25 minutes. He apologized on behalf of Samsung for the faulty transistor and said they knew they had an issue from a supplier and were trying to fix the problem. My point is, whatever your local store has told you is a lie. I actually did not own most of the other Samsung stuff before the TV thing happened. I bought the washer and dryer after that, the surround sound came later and so on. I have yet to see better customer service from a company, so I imagine they are trying to sell you something that has a better markup.

It's always hilarious to see posts on Houzz about small kitchens. Especially comments that are like "You MUST reconfigure to get a larger range!!!!!" I currently have a 20" range in my studio condo and it's perfectly good for me. I'll have a 24" one in my remodel and am also looking for 24" OTR microwaves. There is no other space for a microwave without taking away storage space. And no, I can't just cut a hole in my condo building to be able to vent to the outside. Every studio unit in my building (including mine) also has the range next to the wall and all that's required is 2" of clearance space and a non combustible material right next to it. Everyone just tiles around the range. Does anyone have opinions on XO appliances? They also have a 24" otr option, but I can find no reviews anywhere. "It’s a white elephant choice. Just like the 24” range." I swear everyone on Houzz must live in the suburbs in 3000+ sf houses lollllllllllllll. 24" range is NOT a white elephant in a city with small dwellings.