Microwave: built in or cabinet?

[SHolderfield]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I haven't used our microwave yet (and hardly ever use the one at home), we use the propane oven far more often. in fact, I think we use the oven more often than the stove top.

I suspect that we will be about the same... Re heat coffee, defrost things, however that convection microwave re-heats pizza or meats great. It even cooks fish quite nicely.

[LeonW]

We found an unused $50.00 best buy gift card at the back of a desk drawer. At the time, the .9cu foot LG neo chef was on sale for $99.99 It looked like it would fit in the microwave cavity, so I purchased it.

I am waiting on some microwave brackets from ETI to arrive, but so far I have had to enlarge the opening in our 2014 Escape 21 about 1/2 inch due to some bumps on the side of the microwave. I also got a piece of plywood to put underneath the microwave so that the door will open. But all that said, I have been using the microwave at home for things like heating soup and defrosting food, and I have been pleased with it. I especially like that the mechanism for supporting the glass turntable is much more robust and easier to use than the one in the stock microwave that came with our Escape. oh, and it is 1000 watts instead of 700 watts so my tea should heat up faster. .

We are plugged in about 1/2 the time. and when we are plugged in, we will use the microwave for reheating leftovers, heating beverages, and defrosting the food I forgot to remove from the freezer. My hope is that the inverter technology will improve the defrosting but I haven't really had a chance to prove that yet.

[BruceW]

Originally Posted by SHolderfield

Our Escape 19 is being built with a hole for a Convection/Microwave. My wife cooks a lot at home with a similar convection microwave and she really wanted the same features in our trailer. We will be bringing this one with us to fill the hole when we pick up our trailer: https://www.dyersonline.com/contoure...8aAtWcEALw_wcB
Kinda pricey but as they say, Happy wife, happy life!

Mounting a convection oven in a cabinet requires a certain amount of space around it for venting the extra heat. I also looked at the Contoure unit and discovered that it requires an opening of 20”W x 13 3/8”H x 14 1/8”D, while the standard opening in the E19 is only 18 1/2” x 11 1/2” x 13”. These dimensions are from the cabinet mount trim kit. So we decided to go with a straight microwave.

[SHolderfield]

Originally Posted by BruceW

Mounting a convection oven in a cabinet requires a certain amount of space around it for venting the extra heat. I also looked at the Contoure unit and discovered that it requires an opening of 20”W x 13 3/8”H x 14 1/8”D, while the standard opening in the E19 is only 18 1/2” x 11 1/2” x 13”. These dimensions are from the cabinet mount trim kit. So we decided to go with a straight microwave.

Escape reviewed the specs for me and approved this unit. They built my cabinet to fit it. I did talk to another Escape owner who had the same unit approved and the cabinet modified to fit it. He says it works great. He sent me a pic of the unit installed.

[jumboscott]

700 watt Magic Chef fit fine under burner cabinet. Just need to mount it.

[LeonW]

Here's a photo of the .9 cu ft LG Neo-Chef in our 2014 21. I had to make the opening about 1cm wider to accommodate some bumps on the side of the microwave. The bottom of the opening was about 1cm higher than the bottom of the cavity, so I put a piece of 1/2" plywood on the floor of the cabinet. I got the microwave brackets from ETI and secured them to the sides of the microwave with 3M VHB tape.

I tried the microwave out in the kitchen at home before I installed it. I like the microwave a lot. but haven't had a chance to use it in the trailer yet.

I wil probably add a couple of strap mounts and a nylon strap just to make sure the door doesn't come open while traveling.

[hotfishtacos]

I traded my microwave space for a larger refrigerator. No regrets!