So we find ourselves in need of a new microwave. I think the last time I bought one was about 1985—that lasted forever, and most kitchens I’ve moved into since already had one. Do we need to think about this at all or are all microwaves pretty much the same?
We use it fairly frequently to steam vegetables or cook potatoes, and I’ll make the occasional basic sauce in there (e.g., hollandaise, béchamel). Our current one has a bunch of settings for vegetables and various foodstuffs but we’ve never tried them—we’ve just learned how much time certain things take (and it’s too late to try them out).
If that’s the extent of our use, do we need to do much more than look for a carousel and a timer? Do any of the fancy-shcmancy Vegetable, Defrost, Popcorn buttons work? Is there a difference between brands? What about the built-in convection or other more conventional oven add-ins.
Or should we just go drop a couple hundred bucks and be done with it?
Thanks~
I realize this is somewhat IMHO, but I put it here because I’m interested in cooking results. Hope that was right.
Evenness of cooking and inside space do vary among different models. I would check out ConsumerSearch.com or consumer reports to get an idea of the ones which work best.
A silver digital, Panasonic 1250w, 1.6 cu ft capacity with a carousel for $200. Have used this sweet appliance for a week and love it. Has sensor reheat, defrost, and cooking presets for a wide range of foods. Time set with a detenting knob. Quiet and good looking to boot. My second Panasonic; first lasted for 15 years.
I can’t comment on cooking specifics, but my parents recently bought one with no keypad, only a dial (somewhat aking to an iPod), and it’s a breeze to use. I’d totally recommend look for one with a dial. It’s got other buttons for defrost, popcorn, etc, but no numbers.
I have a SHARP with the sensor-cook technology. I don’t really know how long things take to cook any more because I can just tell it to “sensor-cook” frozen vegetables or whatnot and the 'wave does the rest. I like it. Have had it 9 years so far.
Depends on what you want out of it. It sounds like you would be perfectly fine without all the fancy auto buttons and you don’t need it very big (I’m assuming you want a counter top model because you didn’t specify over the stove.) If this is the case, then you can buy a pretty good microwave for less than $80 at most Walmart/Kmart/Target type stores. They are inexpensive and they cook your food just fine. They all have timers and just about all of them have a carousel.
You can do some research on ratings, but most of them are about the same quality.
We spent $40 on our last counter top model and we liked it fine.
Haven’t had a frozen vegetable in years… we typically plop fresh veggies (squashes, broccoli, artichokes, onions … almost anything veggie) in a covered dish or one of those steam bags and have at it for a set time.
Do any of the “fresh vegetable” button work, or do they mainly function to detect a set mushiness level before stopping.
(If we do get a microwave that goes “ding!” I’m going to incessantly tell Mrs. Dvl that it’s the most expensive piece of equipment we have, and we should use it in case the Administrator pops over for dinner. I’m also going to forbid the salmon mousse.)
At my work my boss recently bought 2 new “big unit” microwaves. There was a fresh vegetable button and a ‘baked potato’ option. I was wary to try either at first, but the microwave just asks you for an approximate weight after pushing either button, and it comes out near-perfect every time. So it’s very possible they work as intended.
As opposed to my old 1995 microwave with the popcorn button… which burned every bag I ever tried to make using that setting…
I only use mine to steam vegetables and reheat leftovers so, apart from setting the clock, the only buttons I use are TIME, requisite numbers, COOK. No power settings, no timers, no defrost cycles, nothing. Just put it in, set time and cook. So last week when I needed a new one I bought a smaller, cheaper, less tricked up one from Aldi for $50. It’s just as useful as the flashier one that died and is so small I will be able to put it on a little stand and reclaim the bench space it is using up.
Definitely do your homework before buying. They are NOT all created equal. Kenmore has some highly rated models: we had one in our home. Our motorhome has a Sharp convection/MW that seems to work pretty well, although we rarely use it.