Microwave » Daniel M. Hendricks

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Convection Microwave

We received our tax return money recently, and didn’t fair too badly. The great majority of it we put towards the home equity loan, but we thought we would spend a portion of it to treat ourselves on a new over-the-range convection microwave oven. At first we were looking at an Amana, but we ended up getting a Maytag convection microwave. Our other applianaces are Amana, but they don’t make a convection. Being that they are the same manufacturer, the Maytag matched very nicely.

Although it’s a bit like programming a nuclear device, it works very well and looks hella sharp. Hanging the thing was quite possibly the worst thing I will ever do, especially since I don’t have to physically go through child birth.

Since our existing cabinet hung too low, we had to replace it with something more appropriate in size. We found an unstained cabinet at the Home Depot that looked very similar. The next step was to find some stain that matched. Since the polyurethane on our existing cabinets had yellowed with age, this didn’t turn out to be as easy as picking up a premixed can from the hardware store. We ended up going to a local paint and stain place and have them try to match the stain. It didn’t turn out perfect, but the average person probably wouldn’t notice unless we pointed it out to them.

Wanda did the staining (sweet), and once it dried our next step was to hang it. Before we could do so, I needed to install a new outlet in the upper cupboard, since the new microwave required the power cord be installed up through the bottom. The outlet turned out well, although I mismeasured where the hole should have been in the cupboard. Fortunately, it still lined up enough to work well.

Once the cupboard was hung and the outlet was installed, it was time to hang the microwave. Long story short – after messing around with paper templates, brackets, stripped and inadequate screws, misaligned holes, and instructions that seemed to be poorly translated to English, we finally got it hung. It looks very nice, and works even better. It was well worth the trouble.