Main Pros and Cons of Having a Microwave Oven in the Kitchen Island

Hey Readers! This article will look at the pros and cons of having a microwave oven in a kitchen island (such as drawer microwave oven device) so read on to find all details below.

Microwave ovens are an accidental gift from science to home cooks all around the world.

Microwave ovens were invented after a scientist working in a defense company noticed that microwaves from an active radar melted his chocolate bar.

Today, if you need anything heated, just pop it into the microwave and voila, it’s done.

Microwaves have made heating things up really convenient, and that has made their position strong in the kitchen, but actually deciding on a position for them in the kitchen can be a tricky task.

You can keep them in a variety of places, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Where you put your microwave can be a stylistic choice, a practical decision, or a blend of both. One such place is installing a microwave in a kitchen island, let’s see why you might want to go down this route.

Fun Fact: While microwave ovens today are small, efficient machines which can cost you a couple hundred bucks on average, this wasn’t always the case. The first microwave (Radarange by Raytheon) came in just under 6 feet tall, weighed 750 pounds and sold for $5000!

Why would you want to install a microwave oven in a kitchen island?

The usual places to keep a microwave in the kitchen are either on top of a countertop, among one of the cabinets up top, or maybe hidden in one of those cabinets.

Out of all the places that you could keep your microwave oven, why would you keep it in a kitchen island? We found at least a couple of reasons why.

Firstly, this might be completely subjective, but microwave ovens can look unsightly if kept in view, particularly if they don’t sit flush with the design of your cabinets up above or are slightly old.

Keeping them in a kitchen island can keep them out of sight and won’t mess up your kitchen’s interior.

The option of hiding the microwave in a cabinet would solve the design issue, but ventilation is a bigger problem that you’ll have to deal with if you go with that.

Secondly, microwaves kept in cabinets high up can be hard to reach if you or your partner are on the shorter end of the height spectrum. Heating things up can become a real pain in the toes.

You might say that this can be solved by putting the microwave on a countertop, but that presents its own challenges.

Microwaves can crowd up a countertop and make it harder for you to work in your kitchen.

Space on countertops already comes at a premium and losing a little over a square foot of space isn’t ideal at all.

This clutter can also impede your performance and productivity in the kitchen. It can even make you want to cook less often and this can lead to you slowly avoiding cooking altogether. We don’t want that now, do we?

A microwave in a kitchen island makes sense for these reasons. If you’re seriously considering making this decision, make sure you get an actual drawer style microwave and don’t try to fit a regular microwave in your kitchen island.

The microwaves that are intended to be installed in kitchen islands are designed with this functionality in mind and will work much better than a makeshift solution.

Microwave in Island Pros and Cons

So now that you know why you’d want to keep a microwave oven in a kitchen island, here’s a quick pros and cons list of doing that.

Pros of Microwave in Island

• A microwave next to cabinets above your stove can come in the way if you want to install an exhaust system to clear up the fumes and smoke that arise while cooking. A microwave in a kitchen island can allow you to add an exhaust fan above your cooking stove.
• You can save some space on counter tops or on top of islands if your microwave is inside the island. This can make room for other stuff; It can also make your cooking station a cleaner and more pleasant space to cook and socialize in.
• Putting your microwave oven in a kitchen island keeps it out of your way while cooking; you get more area to work with without bumping into a microwave. This can be super useful when you have another person that needs to use the microwave while you’re cooking.
• It would make good use of a pre-existing kitchen island.
• Finally, a microwave oven in a kitchen island will ensure that your upper cabinet design looks sleek and has a sense of uniformity to it.

Cons of Microwave in Island

• To start off, this is perhaps the most important and dangerous disadvantage of this option. If you have kids running around your house, keeping your microwave in a kitchen island might not be the best idea. Little kids can mess with the microwave in the kitchen island, burn food, destroy the microwave or cookware, or worse, hurt themselves.
• The second con is related to the same reason why microwaves in kitchen islands are great for short people. They’re placed at around knee level. Due to this, taller people might have a harder time bending over whenever they have to use the microwave.
• Finally, drawer-style microwaves are much more expensive when compared to countertop models. So if you’re on a budget, going with these won’t really work out for you.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, installing a microwave in a kitchen island has its positive and negative aspects.

According to this pros and cons list, it would work best for people that want to save space in their kitchen, don’t have any kids, and can spend a little extra cash on a drawer-style microwave. I don’t know about you, but this description sounds a little too specific to me.

This is why it’s best to remember that this is just a rough guideline. You should make your own decision after weighing the pros and cons and thinking of how they will impact your kitchen. Happy Cooking!