The mw needs the support and you are not gonna see the holes when the mw is in place. Unless you have LOTS of counter top real estate to give up, you will buy another one once you get used to it.

and they want to stop vibration before it starts. It has to be mounted very securely to the wall.

The holes will all be behind the unit. You won't see them. Your expensive glass tile will still be beautiful in all the places you can see.

After all, you had to have holes in the glass cut for the electrical outlets, right? You'll see those. You won't see the microwave mounts.

Two screws from the top of the micro into the button of your over the stove cabinet-one left the other right side approx. middle.
And the bracket is indeed required ,and it attaches to the wall. Actually one part of the bracket on the back of the micro wave ,the other attaches to the wall.

The fan can be connected to the exhaust or it is flipped over and you go with the filter . most people go with the trade off since kitchen counter space is more important.

Your options are this, you lose some of your back splash or you return the micro wave or trade it in for a counter top type.
That's it. And you add a plug inside the cabinet or hard wire the unit,either way you run power up into your over the stove cabinet.

So you have them if you ever need to change it and won't have trouble hunting them down even if they are rare or out of fashion.

Hubby says we will buy more tiles (another $260) and save them for if/when we need them. I'll post pics when it's done. With Xmas coming, we probably won't completely finish the kitchen until next month. Thanks again.

but if it bothered me that much, I would return the microwave and buy one that sat on a shelf.

I believe you have to do something special to drill through tile to prevent it cracking.

Associated topic: I have a combo microwave oven (microwave on top, not one item that does both, of course) in my house, and the microwave is showing signs of going. Don't even buy one of those setups, because there is no guarantee you will be able to find a replacement that fits the frame.

so I put it on Craigslist for $100 - we paid $400 last summer. Bought one that goes on a shelf instead for $300. Costly lesson. No one on Craigslist seems to be interested. The only thing missing is the box and packing material.