Finding the right place for your microwave in the kitchen will leave you weighing up many factors from safety, to convenience ...

While no microwave is truly portable, it was easier to lift the 28-pound model on and off the counter than some of the large models we tested that can weigh in at close to 40 pounds.

For deeper kitchen cabinets (with 14-, 15- or 16-inch depth), you’ll also need a bump-out kit, which allows the microwave to sit even with the edge of the cabinets. Bump-out kits are cheap, too ...

Instead, a built-in microwave will occupy other cabinet or wall space elsewhere in the kitchen. This setup gives you a safer, superior ventilation system, as well as taking up no counter space.

In my old apartment, my countertop microwave took up half of the counter. That’s why over-the-range (OTR) microwaves are another popular option.

Installing the microwave themselves was a tricky project; in hindsight, Danielle says it would’ve been a better idea to hire a professional, but it provided much-needed additional counter space.

1955: The first domestic microwave oven is introduced. Walk into almost any American kitchen today and there’s one appliance that is likely to be sitting on the counter somewhere — a microwave ...