Our combination oven/microwave has to be replaced. I really like having the microwave at eye level and off the counter top, and while at holiday times I do wish I had two regular ovens, I always find a workaround. If we were staying in the house I’d buy the same configuration again. But we’ll be selling in a few years, so I feel that at this point I should be looking to please potential buyers more than myself. Any thoughts on whether a double oven is a real plus these days, or not an issue one way or the other? (There’s room on the counter top for a microwave if necessary.) Any other suggestions or caveats?
A microwave/oven combo will please me very much. 
Some new MWs are dual function, so they can be used as a smallish oven. I really like that. We replaced our dual 27" oven (both ovens were large) with a 24" steam oven/30" regular oven/warming drawer tower because the appliance place was out of 24" MW ovens (they were very popular!). Otherwise, we would have used a MW in place of the steam oven.
That’s my setup also, and I’d be annoyed to give up counterspace to a microwave.
We had the same dilemma 8 months ago. We had an oven/micro convection combination where the micro failed but also had an existing counter top micro. We thought that if we got a new oven/micro combination we could get rid of the counter top micro. Two things influenced us to replace our oven/micro convection combination with a double convection oven. First, we were told by our dealer that the heat from an oven tends to cause earlier failure of the electronic controls of the microwave. We were still tempted to go with that combination because that’s what we were accustomed to. Second and even more determinative was that the best installation with the least carpentry work, given the size of our space which was constructed when we re-did our kitchen 25 years ago and given the size of combo units today, was to go with a double oven. So we ended up going with a double convection oven and kept the counter top micro.
We discovered 2 things over the last 8 months. First, we have adjusted very easily to having only one micro. Second, the utility of having 2 full size ovens can’t be beat when we are entertaining guests at functions involving heated food or cooking of meals or when cooking meals even for ourselves that require different cooking times or temperatures. Our kitchen has become much more functional as a result.
“First, we were told by our dealer that the heat from an oven tends to cause earlier failure of the electronic controls of the microwave.”
Heat from the oven does kill the entire control panel - by drying out a 50-cent capacitor to the point that you cannot see the readout on the panel. In 16 years, a tiny electrolytic capacitor failed… twice.The second replacement would have been fine if the tortie had not jumped and knocked the panel onto the floor. Thermador stopped making replacement panels several years ago. Ooops. Miele apparently solved that problem by adding a cooling down cycle to the ovens, so the heat from the oven is vented away from the panel. We shall see.
My smallish 24" oven has enough room for 2 Pyrex pans to roast veggies. The bigger oven is reserved for other things, like hams. After trying out the Reluctant Gourmet’s method, I will cook my turkeys on the grill exclusively.
I use my MW exclusively to boil eggs and to make steamed broccoli. I loathe the fact that it takes valuable countertop real estate though.
I guess I should also ask whether you folks value having a convection oven. I use the convection feature rarely, and it does add to the cost of the replacement unit. Insofar as the heat of the oven affecting the microwave’s electronics is concerned, our old one lasted 15 years, with pretty heavy use, so given our expected tenure in the house, I don’t think I need to worry about that aspect.
I’m sure having two full ovens is a nice thing, but I’ve lived with just one for so long, I manage even holiday dinners pretty well. I do supplement the oven with a toaster oven that I use for baking potatoes and other small volume tasks. It also takes up counter space, but much less than a microwave would.
BB, our old unit was a Thermadore 24 inch too. Our new oven is a 27 inch double Electrlux that fit in the same space with minor widening of the cut out.
Mommaj, I would get what works for you and not worry about a future buyer. That said, what fits in your space may determine your ultimate decision.
We recently had to replace our double oven. I thought about the microwave and oven combo but in the end, I went with another double oven. I like having the MW separate from the wall oven. But I have a strung feeling preferences are based on what you know. I’ve always lived with double wall ovens and never had a MW/oven combo.
Go with what makes you happy.
Adore having two ovens and cannot imagine not as I use both many nights of the week.
That said, I can imagine having a stove with one of those 1/2 ovens and a full oven.
Our microwave is built in with cabinetry at counter level. I am too short to take hot items out of a microwave
that is above my head and younger people cannot reach.
My dream would be to have my two wall ovens, counter height microwave and a counter toaster oven --both built in, not on a counter.
My ILs have an expensive oven/micro combo (top oven serves as a micro) and frankly the thing sucks. It’s a terrible microwave and is always malfunctioning.
We have a 1987 oven/microwave combo. The microwave hasn’t worked in years. We’re thinking when we redo the kitchen we will go with a conventional stove (I like to cook) and a separate installed microwave and do something else with the section where the oven is now. 2 ovens would be nice, although a combination microwave/steamer/convection would probably be the most practical.
OP is your kitchen one that appeals to chefs or people cooking for large crowds?
ETA: The big negative of the combo oven/microwave is that if one section goes you have to replace the whole thing and they are not cheap!
When we redid our kitchen three years ago, we installed an under-counter Sharp microwave. It cost a bloody fortune compared to a counter top micro but (a) it doesn’t clutter up the counter, which is a fetish of mine, and (b) it left space for me to install a double oven, which I use lots – usually, to broil in one and roast in the other.
Here are images of the Sharp micro: https://www.google.com/search?q=sharp+under+cabinet+microwave&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=599&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj367eHtuPKAhWFcT4KHVBPC7cQsAQIUA
And here’s the Sharp page: https://www.sharpusa.com/ForHome/HomeAppliances/Microwaves/Models/KB6524PS.aspx
FYI: We didn’t pay as much as the Sharp page suggests.
I was thinking the undercounter microwave sounded awkward (were a tall family - so opposite issues ), but it looks like it pulls out like a drawer? Is that right?
We are in the midst of this issue. Sadly, mine is a 27" oven/microwave fit into a 27.8" width cabinet.
The repair guy (who’ve we’ve used for years, very happily) strongly recommended against replacing it with a microwave/oven combination – he said the microwaves fail in a ridiculous percentage of case, and then you’re stuck messing with the whole thing.
His suggestion: either a dual oven, or a single oven with a shelf built in above into which you slot a countertop microwave. That might require an additional electrical connection, but even so it would be practical in most settings.
- It drives me crazy to spend hundreds of $$ to repair a microwave that would cost $200 max new but you can't replace it because it is attached to the freaking oven!
- My wife often misses having a 2nd oven. We think it would be difficult sizewise to replace the existing oven+microwave with a double oven.
@swimcatsmom: Yes, it pulls out like a drawer, but there is also a button to push so that, when you press it, it just gently glides it open for you.
Admittedly we are not a tall family and in my last house the micro was too high for me to comfortably lift something heavy and/or hot out. But this is right under the counter. One doesn’t need to squat or stoop to use it – just a slight bend at the waist. It’s even higher than the bottom oven in a double wall oven.
I’d advise putting in a double oven with at least one of then a convection oven. I love our Dacors when needing to cook a lot of food.
We have our microwave oven at eye level in a separate cabinet. It plus our wonderful new counter top Cuisinart convection oven are the 2 most used appliances - there’s just the 2 of us now - but the double ovens are a must for resale value.
I have a single wall oven and would love a dual oven. OK, maybe they would both only get heavy use 3-4 times a year, but I want one. When my oven died about a year ago, it would have been replaced with a dual oven if it hadn’t cost so much to get the cabinets redone to accommodate it. My microwave is in a cut out in the cabinets at eye level. Perhaps that is something you could consider. Oh, my oven is a convection oven also. I use it all the time. Reduces cook time.
The top one is like my steam oven (ours is plumbed in so it does not have the water reservoir), and the bottom one is the “speed oven” (which combines MW and convection techs)… I am sad that there were non in stock when we needed it.
good grief!! first you have to preheat the oven and then 7 MORE MIN to cook Asparagus?? " I can steam them on my cooktop in a double boiler in 2 min tops!