Microwave Project
A new Lowe's was opened near our house so I went over to take a
look. They had a big display of microwaves. We have needed a new
microwave over our range for at leaast a couple years.
I went home and checked out removing the old unit. I found it heavy but
doable. So I took it out and put it beside the house. It was in two
pieces - the microwave itself and a bracket unit which contained the
fan and lights.
I picked out a microwave. Unfortunately they didn't have one in stock
but could deliver one in a couple days and take away the old unit at
the same time. Ok.
The new unit showed up. The guys took my old unit. Deb and I moved it
into the kitchen where I unpacked it. Hmmm. It didn't appear it would
fit. I went back to Loew's as well as looked on the web, I couldn't
find a unit that would work. So I started looking at changing out the
cabinets. (Old cabinet configuration)
I took a door with me over to Lowe's to see if they could
match it. They couldn't match it. A guy there said it needed a custom
cabinet and estimated $800 to replace it. Well that's probably
not going to work. He advised against trying to modify the cabinets on
my own.
After looking things over for a few days I decide to try
to modify the doors. With some advice from my friend John McCoy I
proceeded. It turned out it was pretty easy to modify the doors. Now
the problem was the vertical and horizontal pieces.
I cut the vertical piece with a router and broke it out. I
found the pieces were not glued in but were put together with pocket
screws. It was nearly impossible to unscrew the screws so I just broke
the horizonal piece out. It came out perfectly. This turned out to be
easier then expected. I made a bracket to hold up the front of the
microwave. The horizontal piece is now held in by friction. (New cabinet configuration)
With some trouble I put in the new bracket. Deb and I
WRESTELED the new microwave into place.
It looks great and works very well. (New microwave)
Looks like we need to redo the wallpaper and maybe the whole kitchen.