But... weren't microwaves invented to make life easier?

Let's talk about that microwave. As pictured before:

From the original house ad.

First of all, I had no idea what a "built-in microwave" was. And maybe you don't either. There are actual "built-in microwaves" out there. They are very expensive and they open in a totally different way. They look like little ovens. I know nothing about them, nor do I care to.

Here is a photo of one. Also sometimes referred to as a microwave drawer or a built-in convection oven. This one costs over $1k at Lowe's.

The built-in microwave we had was a countertop microwave with an optional trim kit. In this cabinet hole, there are metal-lined walls. And in the back is a plug. That's it - "built in." Sadly, we can't get larger on the original microwave photo, but the trim kit is basically a big rectangle with a microwave size hole in the middle. The trim kit overlaps and screws into the cabinet and comes with a piece that props the microwave up to the correct height.

The microwave in the photo was a GE. It had likely been there for many, many years. Our house was build in... 1996? I think? So this microwave had probably lived a long life. When you cut it on, it made a microwave noise and all that jazz, yet nothing warmed. Sad.

On to buying a new microwave and trim kit. So nowhere on this GE microwave did it say the cubic footage and that's basically how microwaves are measured and marketed. All I had was the measurement of the hole in the cabinets and the length and width of the current microwave. That meant every time I looked at a microwave, I had to go into the "details" section and find its specs, or turn the box over and over in the store, looking for inches.

I also put to use my Consumer Reports subscription. Kenmore is a very highly rated microwave so I was in for that. Though finding the corresponding trim kit proved... difficult. And by difficult, I mean impossible. The websites do not have this information - at least not clearly marked. I figured what I bought would work together if both the microwave and trim kit were Kenmore - especially since I bought it at a Sears appliance center.

And we also decided on stainless steel. A conversion we'd eventually like to make on all the kitchen appliances.

My mistake was going to a Sears appliance center. It was newly opened. It was poorly stocked. They don't carry tons of stuff at these centers. They are mainly showrooms for people to look at big appliances that you typically have delivered. Not products you can throw in your trunk like a microwave. So I had to place an order for the microwave and trim kit I wanted, both of which would fit the dimensions of my cabinet hole.

The Kenmore microwave and trim kit we ordered.

And then we waited... without a microwave... for one week... and then another... the Sears appliance center got our trim kit in, they called to say. That would really not do us much good. The microwave was coming soon. "Soon" proved to be another week. The day they called to offer to go pick up the microwave at their warehouse and bring it the next day - only to call back an hour later and say that, no, it would take another three days - that's the day I quit. I picked up my trim kit, canceled the order and picked up the same microwave, ready to go, at an actual Sears.

We got it home, we put it in the hole. The microwave fit! We opened the trim kit. We held it up to the microwave... the trim kit was a no-go. It didn't fit the space, it didn't fit the microwave.

I retreated to more research. I was reading comments sections, instructional manuals downloaded as PDFs, anything to find a trim kit to fit this microwave. It quickly became apparent that this microwave would be too small for any trim kit. After all that waiting, both microwave and trim kit had to go back. Furthermore, Kenmore was out of the running - I couldn't find any information on a matching set anywhere.

The kicker during my research? I'd find a trim kit with the model numbers for a corresponding microwave. I'd search for the microwave - discontinued. Then I'd find a microwave with model numbers for the corresponding trim kit. I'd search for the trim kit - discontinued. FETAL POSITION.

It was back to square one. And we were still without this convenience that you really didn't know how much you used until it wasn't there.

Finally - finally, finally, finally - I thought I found a trim kit with a matching microwave that would fit our space. A Whirlpool combination. We went to Home Depot to see if we could find it. This was on July 20th. We ordered our first wrong microwave on July 2nd. And low and behold... the employee at Home Depot, this angel in an orange apron, actually pulled out the Whirlpool manufacturer catalog (WHY IS THAT NOT ONLINE??) and helped us match the microwave up with a trim kit and helped us place an order for free delivery.

When the kindly delivery men dropped off our 27" Whirlpool microwave and trim kit, we were thrilled to find that they fit the space and fit with each other. We (Shoe) installed it, screwed in the trim kit and voila, a working microwave.

The new microwave! Crappy photo by me.

Of course, life isn't perfect. We discovered that when the previous owners painted the cabinets, they failed to take down the trim kit and paint below it. So now there's a line of "raw" cabinet around our new trim kit. No matter - we're planning to take on the kitchen cabinets one day anyhow.

Microwave post done. Ding!