Six Inches = Worlds of Difference

Ever since we moved into this house 8 years ago, the microwave and oven situation has annoyed us.  The microwave was mounted WAY too low, and we couldn't get to the knobs for the stove and oven without bending over and reaching past the pots to access them.  Not to mention the fact that the oven was a hideous black with white trim (that we painted black a couple of times over the years, but the paint kept chipping).  Plus, the microwave door has broken and been patched together a couple of times on our watch.  It was a pretty sub-par situation for an otherwise, pretty-nice kitchen.

_{*photo taken during home inspection before we purchased the house}

Earlier this summer, we decided we were ready to replace both the microwave and oven and finally address the height issue for the microwave.  But...that meant we had to lose a cabinet that was way too long for that spot, and since the cabinets were installed about 15 years ago, we were unlikely to find a new shorter 24" cabinet to match.  So we had to improvise. 

Here's a little better photo of how it looked a few years ago before we painted the kitchen:

One Saturday in June, we removed the cabinet and took down the microwave to see what we had to work with.  All summer, we've been cooking with the microwave on a 4ft table in the dining room, while we ordered new appliances and brainstormed ways to hang the new microwave higher.  It seems like it would be a simple project, but there are *always* challenges to work around. When we removed the cabinet, we had to finish off the ceiling, build a shelf, notch around the wood in order to use the outlet that was exactly behind where the top of the microwave needed to hang, deal with a pocket door behind the wall (which makes anchoring a shelf & microwave tricky), and try to find trim that matched our cabinets to keep it all looking "on-purpose".  Renovators deserve big bucks.  This stuff is not easy.

It took us all day, and LOTS of tools, but Ben built  a new shelf (that we now need to find something cool to put up there), mounted the microwave at an appropriate height (though Paxton disagrees), and we can now enjoy our new appliances.  Thankfully, we found a few strips of matching trim in the garage, an almost-same-color wood board to create a drop-ceiling, and we didn't kill each other or break anything else in the process! 

It may not look exciting to you, but this is an 8-year-old annoyance solved for us!

UPDATE:  We filled the gap. :)

It's nothing special, and might get replaced one day if we find something with a little more meaning or sentiment, but for now, these three items from At Home will certainly do...