“Off” the Counter Microwave

Due to the lack of experience, we hired someone to remodel our kitchen. We weren’t given many choices. We gave up a lot of ideas, like open up kitchen, peninsula island dining area, and quartz countertop… Our countertop is divided by three sections, which is hard to keep things together and organized. I often found myself finding stuff in the kitchen :( Countertop space is precious!! especially when the kids and I practice cooking together. If any chance we are able to redo our kitchen, I’ll definitely hide the microwave somewhere that is NOT on the counter or maybe consider a built-in microwave.

Under-cabinet: image sourse

Appliance Cabinet: image resource

Under-cabinet: image resource

Under-counter: image resource

I considered some possible spots for the microwave. We have utilized all the under-counter spaces, including storing Charles’ growing household tools. After a few tryouts, under-cabinet microwave seems the way to go. In fact, instead of mounting the microwave under the cabinet, we improvised the idea of appliance cabinet to make it look like a under-cabinet microwave. We first removed the doors and adjusted the shelf so that the microwave can be fitted in there:

Charles added a new socket behind the cabinet:

Our microwave is about 5” deeper than our cabinet, so Charles had to make an extra shelf underneath the microwave:

This is not yet the final look. Charles still needs to make a pair of custom doors to cover up the upper cabinet. Anyhow, look at the counter space I’ve won back!