It’s been a while since I’ve shared an update about our kitchen remodel.  But if you follow me on Instagram, you know that we recently had a little addition to the space.  This baby arrived a few weeks ago and has been a pretty big deal in our lives.

The reason for the fanfare is that we didn’t have a microwave…. for four and half years.

It’s not for any noble or environmentally conscious reason; we just didn’t have one.

We used to have one.  When we moved into our home, there was no built-in and so we purchased a cheap counter top microwave.  Our intention was that “someday” we would install one above the stove.

Sometimes that “someday” can take awhile.  Eight years later, we were still living with our “temporary solution” when there was a small fire in it.  Thankfully no one was hurt and the fire was contained to the oven itself.  At the time, money was tight and replacing it wasn’t high on the priority list.  So I learned to cook without a microwave.

And we got used to not having a one.  Honestly, it really wasn’t that difficult since I’ve never been a big microwave user.  We mainly used it to heat water and make popcorn. So we bought a kettle and an air popper and we were content.  The only time we even noticed it’s absence was when we would have friends or family over and they needed to warm something.  Well…. then and when we went out of town and I realized I was leaving our housesitters without a modern convenience.

However, someday has finally arrived.  After lots of research, we picked out a microhood and have begun demolition of our kitchen cabinets.

**This is probably a great place to note that while ALL of this was going down, I was at a conference.  This install was actually a three day process with numerous trips to Home Depot that I was in no way involved in.  This is going to look surprisingly easy because for me, it was.  Tyson would tell you otherwise.**

Part of the delay in tackling this project was that we knew installing a built-in microwave meant that we would have to customize the cabinets.  The upper cabinets that hide the vent tubing for the stove hood are the perfect height for the hood, but too low for a microwave.   We would need to cut and raise the cabinets by five inches.  We didn’t want to do that until we knew we were ready to actually paint the cabinets.

The process included moving the power source up a few inches as well.

**I’m suddenly realizing that with the big hole above my stove, there is no turning back, is there?  Yikes!**

Once the hood was removed and the cabinet cut to the size we needed, Tyson added a support bar across the back.

He also custom cut a new shelf for the cabinet.

To allow for all of the vent tubing, Tyson cut out spaces in the support bar and the shelf for the duct to feed through.  He made sure there was a hole for the power cable to feed up through too.

Then it was just a matter of following the manufacturer’s installation directions.

Once the microwave was installed, he changed out the vent with a transition piece and used duct tape to seal the exhaust system.

As for the microwave itself, we went with the LG LMV1683ST.  It’s brushed stainless steel like our other appliances and we came across a killer deal for it online.  It was the most bang for our buck, it’s pretty and it will cook things… all this girl could ever hope for.

We still have plans to add a decorative panel across the front where the two cabinet doors were.  The panel will still open to access the exhaust tubing and power source, but for all intensive purposes it will look like decorative molding above the microwave. That’s the next step and I can’t wait!

Are you working on any big projects that are steadily coming along?  Have you ever gotten comfortable living without something that’s pretty common place? Is there an appliance in your home that you could never live without?