Panasonic 27” Microwave Trim Kit for Panasonic 1.6 cu ft Microwave Ovens – NN-TK722SS (Stainless Steel)

My old microwave died, so I bought a new Panasonic 1.6 cf one to replace the old one. The problem was the old one fit inside a custom cabinet, that was designed for it; apparently this was a valid size 30+ years ago, but is no longer the standard size. I bought the new one to fit in the cabinet, not realizing the old trim surround would no longer work. I then measured (and measured again) to make sure that the new Panasonic surround would fit...which it did (thank you, Amazon, for including the measurements for the product). The new Panasonic surround seems a bit pricey, but when it looks, and fits, as good as it does, the price issue goes away. The Panasonic surround is designed for the Panasonic microwave, and definitely enhances the look of the installation. I'm glad that this surround was available for me.

Just what we needed to finish off our microwave! Excellent quality and worth it even though it is pricey. You get what you play for.

This trim panel would not fit my cabinet! The opening size for your cabinet must be a standard one (i.e. only have 3/4" sides for a 27" wide cabinet. The height also needs to be in a very tight range. My cabinets have a front face and have an inside trim piece. To install this panel, I will need to cut heavily into my brand new cabinets. The only way I found out about this is to use a magnifying glass to some pictures provided in the directions. This was after I had already bent up the venting piece which means I can't return this thing now. I did consider cutting my cabinet to make it fit but I test fit the trim piece onto my microwave and there is a very large gap all around the microwave and the trim panel. So much so, that it doesn't even look like it was made for it. I checked my model number against those listed on the Panasonic site and it is made for it. For the cost of this trim (more than the microwave itself), you would think it had more flexibility in installation and would fir like it was actually made for my microwave!

I had regrets about paying so much for a "trim kit", as it cost almost as much as the microwave. But then, I am anal about how things look in our remodeled kitchen and this kit looked really nice in the photos. I also liked that this kit had openings or vents in the front for dissipating heat from the microwave. I avoided cheaper trim panels with no holes for ventilation. When the kit arrived--and it's packaged incredibly well in custom designed foam padding, I was impressed to see all that comes with this kit. I just really expected the face trim, but the kit comes with a sheet metal base that has rails built-in to support the feet of the microwave and lift it off the cabinet bottom for better ventilation and better centering in the opening. I had just finished making my own wooden supports for the feet, but nothing as good as what this kit offers. It's odd that you have to bend the internal vent shroud into shape, as opposed to a preassembled shroud coming with the kit, and the instructions are not perfect and I bent into the reverse image which wouldn't work, and had to re-bend the entire shroud (the Shroud of Turning). Not all the instructions fault, as I had a power failure the night of installation and bent by flash light... Was disappointed the face kit would not fit my cabinetry, as I have 1-1/2" wide cherry trim, and the kit is made ONLY for cabinets with 3/4" thick walls (the included face trim supports will NOT accommodate cabinets with face trim). Other reviewers were forced to drill holes in the face plate and mount with stainless steel screws and throw their nice little support pieces away. I was able to drill pilot holes in my cherry trim centered on each of the 4 square holes in the back of the trim plate and hang on four 1-1/2" No 10 round head screws whose head barely fit through the square holes. Need to measure carefully for these four holes in my trim, but I used the foam insert that came with the packaging as a template as it's exactly the width (30") of the face. Trim Plate looks great, with no evident means of support, but this kit takes some work to fit any odd size cabinet. Still, it was worth the effort as the wife gave it her blessing.

This was the only trim kit I could find that fit my cabinet without having to modify the cabinet frame. The trim itself is made from a high quality stainless steel of appropriate gauge. Installation was very simple. The opening on my cabinet was 24" wide by 15.75" high, so I would have had to modify the opening in order to use the clips that came with the kit. Instead i attached the trim to the cabinet frame using one stainless steel screw in each corner. The picture shows the trim kit with the Panasonic NN-SD745S oven.

Getting the brackets right to hang this with the male and female clips was a royal pain. I had to cut some of the metal brackets with a dremel to get them to fit in the cabinet opening and line up with mating bracket. It took a long time and 2 attempts to get it right. One of the female brackets broke in the process. My old one mounted with 4 screws. Brackets that are adjustable in both directions would make this a much better product. It does look good and works fine now that it's done.

Works for me

The trim actually does fit around the microwave properly. You are supposed to leave space so that the door opens properly. From a distance, the extra space looks black and professional and is probably about 1/2" around the width ends and perhaps a little less on the top and bottom. The material for the shunt to bring the exhaust forward through the vents is rudimentary and requires the use of tape, which is pretty lame. Even so it still works. My main concern is NOT one raised by others. This is that the design requires that the cabinet hole have a width that is about 24" and ideally a height that is probably closer to 14". In other words, the points of connection are FIXED for precise dimensions on the back of the trim. Whatever the exact dimension is, enough) you CANNOT align all four connecting points UNLESS your hole is the perfect height and at least beyond a certain width. This means you either need someone to cut your hole (if it's too small) or else the unit is only connected at 2 points to the cabinet. The other concerns are that it would have been better if there were a way to put a screw through the trim without marring the mirror-like finish, but there isn't. Other trim designs allow for holes to screw into the cabinetry. The actual trim itself is beautiful, but it is cheap and very flimsy like a soft aluminum. If you don't look closely it will be fine. I also found it was actually a little shorter than my hole and so I had to position it just right so you didn't notice the gaps (would have been nice to have more material to work with. There's also no easy adjustment on the height of the microwave so I found I had to buy a piece of wood to go under the existing stand to align it properly. So how else can you attach it if you can't align the hardware? There are 2 possibilities that I thought of. First, you can get a screw that you put into your cabinet to match up with the holes at four points into the frame. This requires very precise placement and is NOT easy to do. Second, you can actually fill the side lengths with wood cut to fit there and glue those pieces to your cabinet frame. This is what I ended up doing.