Repairing a KitchenAid Superba Microwave Counterbalance Spring

Open the cabinet door above your KitchenAid Superba microwave and unplug the power cord from the outlet. If you have conduit that runs straight to a junction box instead of a power cord, turn off the circuit breaker to the microwave inside your household electrical panel box.

Pull the microwave door open and find the two screws just above the top corners of the glass. Hold the front and back of the door with one hand and remove the screws with a Phillips head screwdriver in your other hand.

Close the microwave door slowly and pull the top of the front panel away from the inner panel. Look at the inside bottom of the door for the crisscross torsion springs. They attach to the ends of the door bracket on the inside of the door. Most often, one spring is either unhooked or stretched out and needs to be replaced.

Check the spring that is intact to determine how it hooks into the brackets. There is a small metal hook on one end of the spring that hooks around the upper part of one door bracket, and the opposite end of the spring has a metal dowel bent at a 90-degree angle that fits into a hole on the opposite door bracket.

Reattach the spring to the door bracket if it is simply unhooked. If the spring is hooked but appears stretched out, remove it from the door bracket. Pull up on the hooked end of the spring to release it from the bracket then pull the dowel end out of the hole on the opposite bracket.

Install the new spring in the reverse order of removal. Push the front panel of the door against the inner panel. Open the door carefully to keep both panels together. Insert the retaining screws into the inner door panel and tighten them with the Phillips head screwdriver.

Close the door and reconnect power to your KitchenAid Superba microwave.