OT totally off topic kitchens

Until this house I always had a microwave-exhaust fan combo above my cook stove. Loved it for the space saving aspect. The inner area tends to be lower than a countertop microwave. I didn't have convection in the microwaves but I can point out a caveat while you are shopping. My current cook stove is propane gas and claims to be convection. But it's not. What it has is a fan that circulates the heat but it's not a true convection at all. Be sure you investigate that feature. (And I despise baking with gas. The cooking part is okay once I adjusted to the flame rather than an electric smooth top but the oven is nothing like baking with electric. Yuck.)

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Can't believe I'm going to say it again but here it comes - ' it depends'. What kind of cooking are you likely to do on the stove top? If you do lots of frying and enjoy a cauldron or two of merrily bubbling and splashing pots of good stuff; you might not want to have an expensive microware/convection/exhaust fan sitting above the mayhem. If all you're likely to cook on the stovetop is a quiet scrambled egg, that's another matter. What I'm saying is, sometimes the mad Italian or Cajun cook just comes out and can make quite a grease-flying, spaghetti sauce popping mess. How high would the mw/convec/exh combo have to be above your stove and would it be easy for you to lift hot dishes in/out? ( We have a neat shelf built-in for just a mw and can't use it because it is simply too high to be safe. It's a super neat place to grow pot plants.) Just thoughts. HTH Polly

I've got a big countertop micro/convection which is my third---I love the combo passionately. That said, at least for me the itty bitty size that I identify with over-stove microwaves I'm not sure would do me much good as a convection oven. (think having your regular oven that size: how much of what you'd consider baking in it would fit in that bitty critter?)

Actually, that's probably the crucial question. If the answer is "lots", then go for it. In my case, it'd probably be "very little".

--pig

Now Polly -- please clarify....

"It's a super neat place to grow pot plants."

Did you mean POTTED plants.... or are you growing little POT plants on that shelf? If it's the latter.. well.... let's just say I'd be careful to keep it away from those gators!

LOL. You got me, Kate. She is just plain old Devil's Ivy a/k/a pothos, loves the microwave shelf and survives with maybe being watered once a month. She's quite magnificent and loves music. The only thing 'high' around here is that shelf. Polly

"Kate in MI" Now Polly -- please clarify....

Kate, i'd think if those gators got into the 'pot' plants, it would mellow them out alot. oops, nearly forgot 'the scream'n munchies' that come with it. oh well. j.

"Kate in MI" Now Polly -- please clarify....

"Polly Esther" wrote ... LOL. You got me, Kate. She is just plain old Devil's Ivy a/k/a pothos, loves the microwave shelf and survives with maybe being watered once a month. She's quite magnificent and loves music. The only thing 'high' around here is that shelf. Polly

It depends? LOL I already have the over the stove microwave and that works ok for me. The extra cost for the convection is my real worry. Heck, I can make a mess in the kitchen from the living room! You better not get caught with your pot plants. More lol. Taria

Okay. Now we understand where you are. You like MW + fan over the stove. And your question has to do with microwave + convection. I just don't know, Taria. Our new stove came here in January and I honestly haven't tried the convection ability. Just haven't had a need for speed. =) Just a little warning. New microwaves are powerful - as in they can petrify anything really really fast. I'm pretty good at cooking with a MW but I never use mine above 8 power. Proceed with caution. Polly

I really wasn't looking for the speed as much as the extra oven capability. Sorry if I am not so clear.

*Really*! I'd no idea over-stove ones were coming out that big these days. Mine's 1.5 cu ft, and I love it to death. (It's a KitchenAid KCMC155J, circa 2005, for whatever it's worth.....)

Try doing some boneless barbecued ribs on the convection bit. Lovely :)

--pig

I agree with most of what Polly says here, and the differences don't amount to anything. These measurement issues are often guided by architectural/firecode safety standards, (which I'd check with as a part of shopping homewaork) but keep in mind that they're usually minimums - not practicals.

That explains a LOT. |^)

Doc

ws: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Why? What's wrong with mellow gators?

That sounds incredibly tiny to me. Barely enough space for Polly to bake a batch of her special "top-shelf brownies". But then we've never broken down and gotten a nuker...

Stay away from the SM.

Would those be marsh mellows?

--pig

So is the convection part like having a toaster oven combined w/ the microwave? Or is it more powerful than that. Extra cooking space could be quite useful for company as Taria says. (I have an ancient microwave that keeps on working so I'm not in the market for a replacement yet but there's no harm in being prepard!)

Allison.

Allis> So there are happy microwave/convection users out there. The

We have a combination microwave-convection oven, it's not over the stove with a fan, but it is a very convenient thing to have. Jim bought ours after his wife passed away, I met him three years after that and I've been here over 16 years. It is still going strong, he bought it from Sears. Bonnie, in Middletown, VA