Microwave ovens are household appliances used to cook foods using microwaves and heat. Generally, a microwave oven includes a cavity assembly and a door. The cavity assembly includes a cooking chamber, and one side of the door is rotatably fixed to the cavity assembly. Thus, the cooking chamber can be opened or closed by pulling or pushing the other side of the door.
Some microwave ovens installed in furniture are designed to function as a hood for discharging smoke and fumes generated while food is cooked using a cooker disposed under the microwave oven. A display unit can be installed in a door of a microwave oven to receive commands from a user and display information about the operation of the microwave oven.
However, such microwave ovens of the related art have disadvantages as follows.
Since the cooking chamber is opened or closed by rotating the other side of the door forward or backward, it is inconvenient to place articles at both sides of the microwave oven when the door pulled for opening the cooking chamber.
Furthermore, the door is movable after it is pulled for opening the cooking chamber. Therefore, it is inconvenient to place food into the cooking chamber and take the food out of the cooking chamber owing to the movable opened door.
In the case of the microwave oven installed in furniture, a hinge assembly used to attach a door to a cavity assembly is disposed within the furniture. Therefore, the whole microwave oven should be first detached from the furniture to separate the door from the cavity assembly.
Furthermore, due to a passage formed in the cavity assembly of the microwave oven for discharging smoke and fumes, spaces for other electric components are insufficient.
Moreover, the microwave oven should be first detached from the furniture when repairing or replacing electric components or other components of the microwave oven.
Meanwhile, a door of a microwave oven can be overheated while food is cooked in a cooking chamber. Therefore, a user can be injured when holding the door, and a display unit installed in the door can be damaged by heat.