We’re looking to replace our microwave. Seems everybody does stainless steel and black stainless steel for colors these days, and regular black not so much….or at least not in the ones that Consumer Reports rates highly.
We have an Over The Range microwave and black appliances (my wife detests the hospital-like stainless steel trend) so we want the microwave to be black as well.
So I am looking for advice on model numbers that meet the following criteria:
Heats relatively evenly. We’re not cooking 5-star meals in there but I want to avoid massive cold spots.
Quiet. Our current one can almost be heard by our neighbors next door, it’s f’n loud.
Vents well: We have the microwave venting directly outside through a vent. I want it to be strong enough that it will actually create the updraft needed to pull steam/smoke from the stovetop below.
Any dopers have something that meets this requirement
Microwave ovens set up standing waves, which creates natural hot spots and cold spots. If you aren’t familiar with what a standing wave is, this image should help:
The spacing between the peaks and valleys in the standing waves depends only on the microwave’s frequency, which is always 2.4 GHz (approx.). So different brands will have the same spacing between the hot and cold spots. It’s just how radio waves work.
Anything with a rotating platter should rotate your food through the hot and cold spots to make the overall heating fairly even. If it doesn’t have a rotating platter, then you’ll end up with more noticeable hot and cold spots.
Placing your food closer to the edge of the platter will make it move more through the hot and cold spots, which helps to make the heating more even. So having a larger platter helps, though you are going to be constrained by needing to fit the microwave in the available space over your range.
I’ll add that there are microwave ovens with rectangular platters, that instead of rotating, shift from left to right. They can heat a larger volume because there’s less “wasted” space in the corners. The design is intended for over-the-range ovens.
I’m not sure what the correct name for this sort of oven is, but I’ve used them.
All I know is that CR has a category for evenness of heating, and some models with turntables suck at it, and some models with turntables do not suck at it. It’s not as simple as just standing waves and turntables. Some models have sensors that help them in some way, perhaps adjusting the intensity or ..whatever… so that food is heated more evenly. I don’t care how it’s done, I just want it
We have a Panasonic NNSE2848 in black. Actually, we have two. We installed the first one in 2015, and it broke in 2018, just beyond warranty. We contacted the service organization, they charged us to diagnose that it was a fuse in the power supply, which is apparently a very common issue with these models. The cost of repair was similar to the cost of a new one, so we bought a new one (same model, allowing us to reuse the wall mount components).
Aside from that huge issue, the oven itself works well. It’s an “inverter” model, which AIUI means that its magnetron has variable power, instead of a time-based on-off cycle. Because we have a Jenn-Air range with the built-in downwards evacuation fan, we don’t use the fan in the microwave – actually we disconnected the microwave’s fan motor when we installed it.
Ours actually does both. The rotating platter sits inside a rectangular tray that slides back and forth. Best of both worlds, I guess. Never had a problem with stuff not heating adequately.
We’ve had two OTR microwaves. One came with the house, and the other was a replacement when the first one died. I had no idea how much work it would be to install the replacement. I guess I kind of assumed it’d be a ‘plug-and-play’ situation, but far from it. Even though the replacement was the same brand as the first one, the mounting bracket didn’t align, nor did the vent/chimney assembly, so the installer basically had to do some patching from the first one and install the second one afresh.
After about 15 years, the replacement failed. It is now a storage cubby, and we are currently using a countertop MW. Eventually, we plan to remodel the kitchen and install a proper vent hood where the defunct MW is now. The built-in fan never did that great a job venting anyway.
I recommend watching this video to understand how to use your microwave for best results. I was surprised to discover that I had no idea really. Many others in the series by Lan Lam have contained similar surprises.
When I first read about uwave ovens, it was understood that the “fan” was inline with the waveguide and cavity, and dispersed the standing waves. Mine isn’t like that now, but I’ve wondered about the recent models with no turntable.
