LG MHEC1737F Over-the-Range Convection

Real-World Cooking Performance

The MHEC1737F is the rare over-the-range microwave that earned Consumer Reports' 'very good' rating on heating evenness and 'excellent' on auto defrost — testing levels normally reserved for the better dedicated countertop units, not for a unit that also needs to function as a kitchen hood. The 950W microwave performance is competitive with mainstream countertop units, and the 1.7 cu ft cavity is the largest available in any single-piece OTR convection microwave from LG, Samsung, or GE Profile.

The convection mode runs at 1700W — substantially more powerful than the 1400W in Toshiba's EC042A5C-BS at the same price tier — and the dedicated air-fry mode circulates heat with high enough velocity to deliver actual crisping on frozen fries and wings, not the marketing-sleight-of-hand that some OTR 'air fry' modes amount to. Speed Combi is the unit's standout preset: it runs convection and microwave concurrently to roast a 3-4 lb chicken in roughly 30 minutes.

Build Quality and Design

The 30-inch chassis fits standard above-range cabinetry but at 74 pounds it is at the upper end of what most pre-2010 kitchen cabinets are rated to hold; LG's installation manual calls for verification of the support frame before mounting. The PrintProof stainless finish is the genuinely useful design upgrade over standard stainless: water droplets bead and wipe clean without leaving streaks, and the surface resists fingerprint smudging far better than the standard finishes on the Sharp SMC1585BS or Panasonic NN-CD87KS.

The 300 CFM venting system supports both ducted exterior exhaust and recirculating modes, and the slide-out vent (not on this model — that's the 2.1 cu ft MVEL2125F sibling) is replaced here with a fixed wide-mouth intake. The SmoothTouch control panel is glass-fronted with flush capacitive buttons that wipe clean of grease splash without trapped seams.

What Reviewers Loved

Consumer Reports' lab testing put the MHEC1737F in the upper tier for both heating distribution and defrosting accuracy — uncommon for OTR units, which typically trail dedicated countertop microwaves on pure microwave performance. The Best Buy 4.5-star aggregate from 532 reviewers shows owners frequently citing the convection mode for baking cookies and reheating pizza, with the air-fry mode receiving its share of frozen-food praise.

Owners moving from a vented range hood appreciate that the MHEC1737F consolidates the venting (300 CFM) and microwave functions into one mount, freeing the upper cabinet space the previous hood occupied. The ThinQ app integration — when it connects — supports scan-to-cook on packaged foods and remote-start from a phone, which is a quality-of-life upgrade that older microwaves cannot match.

Where It Falls Short

Installation is the headline friction. The 74-pound weight is a true two-person job, and the OTR cabinet support frame must be verified rated for the load before mounting — this is not a DIY swap for someone unfamiliar with mounting hardware. LG provides installation hardware but assumes a competent installer; cabinet retrofit is real work.

The Wi-Fi connection has drawn repeated 'temperamental' notes from reviewers, with users reporting the unit drops from the ThinQ app and requires periodic re-pairing. Wi-Fi is a feature, not a critical function, but buyers expecting reliable scan-to-cook should not pay for the smart features as their primary justification. The interior LED is dimmer than competing units, making in-cycle visual monitoring harder without opening the door. The warranty is one year parts and labor with five years on the magnetron only — Panasonic's three-year unit-wide coverage is more generous.

Who It's Best For

Family kitchens with an existing range and above-range cabinetry are the natural buyer. The MHEC1737F replaces a separate range hood and a counter microwave in one footprint, frees substantial countertop area, and adds true convection and air-fry capability that earlier OTR units lacked. Households cooking on a 30-inch standard range with a vented exterior duct will benefit most from the 300 CFM exhaust pathway.

Skip it if the existing kitchen layout has no above-range microwave cubby and adding one requires cabinet modification — installation cost can rival the unit price. Skip it also if you live in an apartment without exterior venting and have no recirculation upgrade path (the unit supports recirculating mode but with reduced odor removal). Apartments without a range hood are typically not buying OTR units anyway.

How It Compares to Alternatives

Against the MHEC1737F's stable-mate LG MVEL2125F (2.1 cu ft, larger cavity), the smaller MHEC1737F is the only one of the pair with true convection and air fry — the larger MVEL2125F is microwave-only despite the bigger cavity. Against GE Profile PVM9005SJSS (the comparable 2.1 cu ft OTR), the LG adds convection capability the GE does not match. Among the countertop picks in this guide, only the MHEC1737F replaces a separate range hood and frees the counter space — the Sharp SMC1585BS sits on top of a counter and demands roughly 4 sq ft of working surface.

Value at This Price

At $599-649 depending on color, the MHEC1737F prices in line with mid-tier OTR convection units. If you would otherwise install a separate range hood ($300-500) and a countertop microwave ($200-300), the math works in the LG's favor cleanly — and the convection plus air-fry capability adds functions a basic OTR unit does not include. Compared to combination microwave-wall-oven setups that start at $2,500, the MHEC1737F covers most of the same use case at a quarter of the price. The PrintProof finish premium over standard stainless adds roughly $50 to the unit price and is genuinely worth it for kitchens with frequent fingerprint contact.

Setup and Software

The ThinQ app integration is the marketing headline and the source of the most documented reliability frustrations. Initial pairing requires a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network — the unit does not support 5 GHz — and several reviewers note the connection 'sometimes felt a little temperamental,' requiring periodic re-pairs. When working, the scan-to-cook feature reads packaged-food UPC codes through the phone camera and pushes the manufacturer-supplied cook time to the microwave, eliminating manual entry. The recipe-card sharing feature allows owners to push convection-bake cycles from popular recipe apps directly to the microwave, bypassing manual mode-and-temperature entry.

Remote-start from the app is the quality-of-life upgrade owners cite most: starting a frozen meal from the living room while the cook walks back to the kitchen saves the 3-4 minute heat-up window. The ThinQ syncing with compatible LG ranges and cooktops is the deepest integration on the market — the microwave hood light and vent automatically respond to the cooktop state — but only matters for households already in the LG appliance ecosystem. Software updates roll automatically when Wi-Fi connects, but a notable subset of owners simply skip the smart features and use the unit as a conventional OTR microwave with no functional loss.

Voice integration through Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa is supported once the unit is paired in ThinQ, allowing 'add 30 seconds' or 'check remaining time' through any compatible smart speaker. The voice integration is reliable when ThinQ connectivity is stable but inherits the Wi-Fi reliability concerns when the connection drops. The convection mode and air-fry mode are accessible directly on the SmoothTouch panel without requiring app interaction, so a non-tech-savvy household member can use the unit fully without ever opening the LG app — the smart features are additive, not foundational. Firmware updates over the past two years have improved Wi-Fi stability and added preset routines for newer packaged-food formats, suggesting LG continues investing in the smart-cooking platform rather than treating the smart features as a one-time launch checkmark.