Range hood or over the range microwave

[lovemachine]

Range hood or over the range microwave. Which is better? What do you guys prefer?

 

[Bruenor]

I'm going to be replacing my range hood with a microwave. I have a small kitchen with limited counter space, and I want to free up the space that the microwave is currently on.

 

[lovemachine]

My microwave is old, and needs to be replaced soon. My range hood has also stopped working. It's old, came with the house. It also has the exhaust going into the attic.

I'm unsure to just get an over the range microwave, or just buy a new range hood, and replace the microwave when mine goes bad.

As far as range hoods go, I'm assuming I should stay with the exhaust instead of a filtered one.

And should the exhaust go into the attic, or ran thru the roof?

 

[hoosierdoc]

I love our last two hoods, but they move some serious Air. If it's a smaller unit I'd just go with a microwave.

If you can, exhaust it outside. Cooking leads to a lot of humidity that you don't need in your attic

 

[bobbittle]

Range hoods are much more eye appealing. I will never own a microwave/hood combo. Ever.

And the exhaust should go outside.

 

[hornadylnl]

If you're used to a huge microwave, the over the range microwaves are smaller. I could put a whole sheet of paper towel over over a dish with no problems. My otr microwave, I have to fold the corners of the paper towel or it just twists off when it hits the walls.

 

[lovemachine]

If you're used to a huge microwave, the over the range microwaves are smaller. I could put a whole sheet of paper towel over over a dish with no problems. My otr microwave, I have to fold the corners of the paper towel or it just twists off when it hits the walls.

I didn't even think of that.

 

[AuntieBellum]

I was 100% against a microwave/hood combo when we bought our new house. I was afraid I'd feel cramped over the stove. Our microwave wasn't old by any means and worked well. We found a floor model microwave/hood combo on clearance, and hubby talked me into it. I love it - it works amazingly well (much more powerful than the one we had on the counter). Plenty of space over the stove top still. It is a little smaller, but I'm not cooking a turkey in the microwave. It's also a little more difficult to reach to clean, but not too bad.

 

[perry]

I love my over the range microwave. Have one in my house and last apartment. Two apartments ago I had a small dorm room sized microwave, so the over the range was actually bigger I think. I don't have all that much counter space now, and a good chunk is taken up by the toaster oven (used more than the regular oven I think). For my workspace, the otr works great and I would not have it any other way.

 

[BrandonHtwo0]

You can get a nice over-the-stove microwave that has fans and filters for pretty cheap nowadays. I personally like the look of them and when I did our kitchen I opted for one. The fan+filter works great and i havent reallt felt hindered in any way by not having a hood.

 

[IndyBeerman]

All depends on your clearance.

When we bought out house we had a range hood over the stove. We thought about putting a microwave over the stove but after looking at the dimensions of both small and medium sized microwaves and making a cardboard box with those dimensions and temporay taping it up there, I was fully against it. Enough things going on when cooking on the stove without trying to pull out a hot plate or bowl.

Besides, the interior dimensions was also just too small, I like a larger microwave.

The one thing I did do though was finish what the previous owner started, but did not finish. The range hood has almost a jet engine for venting (moves a ton of air), but vented back out through a charcoal filter. The light was flickering some and took out the hood to find out that there was a loose connection, but also the previous owner has started the install of an exterior vent. Hole was there, duct work not hooked up to the hood, nor vented to the outside.

Little but of work and viola, hood vented to the outside. So if the wife burns a little bit on the stove, the range hood will do the trick. But if she torches something in the stove like she did two weeks ago (burnt Stouffers Frozen Mac & Cheese tray, and earned her the nickname of "The Great Macaroni Killer") I just open the window in the breakfast nook and mozy upstairs and turn on the whole house fan which moves over 7800cfm on high. Sucks it right out in a hurry.