Can we live without a microwave?

I'm not superstitious but do bad things happen in threes? Does Monday's doctor mess count as two? This morning I popped a frozen waffle into the microwave as I do every morning for thing two, and put it on for 25 seconds. Unlike every other morning the microwave started sparking and sounding like a diesel starting up. I opened the door as arcs were flying in the microwave to stop it, and it smelled like burnt hair. There was nothing else in the microwave but the waffle, which by the way was still frozen solid. Yep, the microwave is broken.

So can we live without a microwave? Hubby's coworkers don't think so, but I have hope! I would much rather install a non-vented hood over our stove, compared to replacing our hulking "range over" microwave with another one! The thing is so low food actually spatters on the front of the microwave, it's a cleaning nightmare. I don't want another one in the same spot, and am wondering if we need one at all! Counter space is a joke in my kitchen, and a freestanding microwave would take up a lot of space...

Not having a microwave will also alleviate the issue I have with Big Kid carrying cat food from the fridge over the dinner we are cooking to warm it up. I don't want cat food in our dinner, not to even bring up it's gluten. Oh yeah, how ARE we going to heat up the cat food now?