I love many aspects of my apartment, but the kitchen’s scarce counter space is not one of them. The limited prep area has forced me to be incredibly picky about which tools and appliances to display and which to relegate to cabinets. And when I moved in three years ago, I decided to ditch the microwave entirely.

I’ve seldom regretted cutting the boxy, bulky appliance from my appliance roster , aside from a few spare instances. (What hangry person would be thrilled to wrap a burrito in tin foil and heat it up in the oven at a painstakingly slow speed compared to the quick minute a microwave would need?) But these infrequent episodes ultimately didn’t sway my stance. Minimal counter space aside, the hulking block shape and technical dials on a typical microwave weren’t exactly alluring to me either.…