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!

This has turned into a wonderful discussion! I have my mother's old juice extractor; it is in excellent condition and works perfectly but it is lemon yellow rather than white. And despite decades of being used regularly, it shows no sign of rust or discoloration. Oh, and I have Mom's old cast iron frying pan as well. She got it at her wedding shower party in 1948. I also have my original Oster blender from the early 1970s. This thing is a real workhorse and so far has handled everything I have thrown at it with no sign of slowing down. And when I bought my mobile home (in a wonderful senior park), it came with the original 1978 O'Keefe & Merritt electric wall oven. The upper door was slightly ajar and two different contractors told me that to close it and cook I needed to slide the latch over to completely close it. Idiots! Only if I wanted to burn the house down along with the chicken. I soon found that there is a vintage appliance repair store in town. They came out for $65 and told me all it needed was one small part. Twenty dollars and a few minutes later--perfection. They also said it was a top notch oven, had probably not been used more than a half-dozen times, and to never get rid of it. I promised, LOL. And the washer and dryer are the same age. They were missing a couple of dials and the turnstyle in the washer needed a new part but once done, again perfection. They work perfectly.

MIne is over the stove and it is fine. I am not a great big cook though. I suppose if you cook often and a lot then it might not be for you. My whole neighborhood (middle class) was designed with them. I don't know any of us who would sacrifice counter space for it. My hubby prefers clutter free counters and the only cabinet space I'd sacrifice is the over the stove space. I wouldn't want a hood there and then have to use of other valuable cabinet space for the micro. Ours is vented to the outside. It does not pull real well from the front burners and is loud on high, but we don't leave it on high for long anyway. I didn't think steam should set off smoke detectors. Steam usually goes up and dissipates unlike smoke which spreads and travels. You have to weigh your cooking needs against your space needs. We use our micro ALOT, for reheating and heating of frozen stuff. Not too many chefs in our house.

Thanks Nicole....That french door oven has its good points and bad. I never realized that it's actually helpful to have an oven door that catches drippings that might spill while basting etc. With a French door oven, where do you think all those small drips and drops go with no oven door to catch them?? On the floor of course! I think I'll reserve that oven for items that have no tendency to spill or drip or else set up something in the drawer right below it to catch spills. It's these small things that somehow escape us during the design phase that show up later when we actually use our kitchens. Considering your kitchen, If it were mine, I would definitely keep those two dishwashers (no doubt about that one...sorry, I missed that post of yours with the layout for your island). I would most likely consider the following... possibly work towards enlarging the island if feasible (wouldn't worry about one slab or two etc.). think about omitting one of the trash pullouts and then making the island slightly longer to accommodate the micro. I would not squeeze the micro in that corner next to the fridge or ovens. That would drive me nuts. Too squishy....I like lots of elbow room. I don't necessarily think your triple oven stack is a bad idea as long as the micro isn't too high and you other ovens aren't too low. I was looking at my Wolf range, and the oven door is VERY close to the floor (the bottom of the door is approx. 7" off the floor...so pretty low). You could customize your wall oven cabinet to have your bottom oven fairly low and work your way up from there with the micro being at a decent workable height. Do you have a pantry where you could possibly put the micro?