When we bought our house and gutted the kitchen, we installed the GE Spacemake MW [pem31smss]. It was perfect - small, discrete and fit in the alloted space of the cabinet (12" deep, 24" wide, 12" high).

Fast forward a few years and we started to notice what looked like rust or peeling paint on the interior ceiling of the MW. Had some time so I googled for a fix and now am scared to use it. Apparently the paint in these GEs is very prone to flaking off and leaving the bare metal. That ends up leading to arcs when cooking and potential fires.

I've tried to find a suitable alternative but can't find anything that would fit in that space now. Our counterspace is at a premium so losing a 20"x16" spot would hurt.

Anyone have advice on a quality MW that might fit without too much problems? I'm almost considering the Panasonic NN-SD681S Genius "Prestige" 1.2 cuft which would stick out 4 inches. Wondering if I could break into the wall and recess it a bit to get the fit right...

Thanks in advance,
E