A little over 2 years ago, I wrote about how we were able to make a minor, low cost repair to our microwave and keep it going. 2 extra years isn’t bad, but unfortunately, I couldn’t save her this time.
A couple of months ago our microwave stopped working again. I opened it up and troubleshot all of the microswitches and they were all working properly. What I found was, the latches that press them down when you close the door had give in them and were moving up.
I didn’t go to the extent of looking it up on the internet, but I did try to take the door apart. I was unsuccessful and gave up because I figured if I did get it open, I’d be limited on what I could do. I couldn’t secure it with screws and have screws sticking out the front of the door.
I could get it to work by pressing down on the door from the top, but I’m not that cheap.
So, we took a trip to Target and picked up a new Panasonic microwave. Not necessarily our first pick, but due to being in the cabinet now, it fit the dimensions we needed with the selection that was available.
About a month after using our new microwave, we noticed the top of the door was making contact with the cabinet, but the bottom was not. I adjusted the hinges and that only made it worse, so I put them back to normal.
We removed the door and tried switching the hinges to see if it followed the hinge. It looked the same.
Christy ordered new hinges. We put them on and had the same results.
We don’t know for a fact, but the only thing we can think of is, that it has something to do with a difference in heat and moisture the new microwave is putting out versus our old one and when we close the door, that heat and moisture is trapped in the cabinet and bowing the wood. Sounds plausible, right?
After we completed the kitchen we realized that door is one thing we would have done differently. Instead of replacing the door as it was, we should have added a piece of wood to the top of the middle shelf to frame out the bottom two shelves and had the door made to fit that.
That would have left the microwave open and fully accessible, instead of opening the door each time and hoping a kid didn’t come running around the corner and hit into it. We don’t want our door to get hurt.
Well, now it looks like we’ll get our chance. When the weather warms up, we’re going to get a new door made and make it the way we wish we would have from the beginning. On the plus side, I think I can use a side rail from the existing door for the piece we need at the top. One less thing for Christy to paint.
In this picture I’m hold the door closed to show what it used to look like.
This is how it really looks.
