New Microwave Tips

ChrisReid

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
So my Microwave popped and smells like radiation now. It doesn't heat, and we need a new one before we all starve to death. So much like TVs, computer mice and every other sort of household electronics, there was a technology boom in the late nineties that began drastically changing the nature of appliances. There's a lot more technological options. I can pretty well tell the difference between a $35 0.7 cubic foot cheapo microwave a decent name brand 1.5 cubic foot box for $90, but it gets a lot weirder.

Sears offers an $1800 microwaving marvel http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...vertical=APPL&pid=02279492000&tab=spe#tablink
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I have no idea what makes it worth $1800. Aside from a couple buzzwords, it looks like a normal microwave. It's not even very big.

Edit: I guess it does stuff like an oven too. <Trelane> It's like some magic cooking device which can do anything

Amazon is trying to tell me I need a $350 deluxe microwave http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...2-9226477-2983219?v=glance&s=kitchen&n=289935
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It looks really really average.

The best one I've found is only $99.99 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat05018&id=1051384416890
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It seems to have all the power and features of the others, and it's even a whole step larger. Sharp isn't a bad brand, and that looks like a good deal. If I dig a bit more, I could get a weaker/small model for like $70, but I'm really leaning towards that $100 Sharp one. I've got the space and don't want one less than 1.4 cubic feet. Bigger would be great. Is there any reason at all to not go with that?
 
don't go for the oven features, if you want those, just buy a separate one.

anyway, just buy an oven, your chicken wings and pizza's turn out a lot
better than anything from those multi-function thingies. microwave is only
good for defrosting things and heating pre-fab thai food.
 
Mace said:
don't go for the oven features, if you want those, just buy a separate one.
Click to expand...

All but the cheapest ones have those features built-in.

Mace said:
anyway, just buy an oven, your chicken wings and pizza's turn out a lot
better than anything from those multi-function thingies. microwave is only
good for defrosting things and heating pre-fab thai food.
Click to expand...

I already have an oven. Two actually, it has a big top and bottom separate chamber deal. I think we store pots or tupperwares in there. There's probably spider webs inside. I don't need an oven, I need a microwave. How else would I make eggs or ramen noodles and everything?
 
1200W is oodles of power for heating things. (higher the W rating means the faster it warms your snacks and pops your microwave popcorn) Plus its 2 cubic feet. Sounds good to me. (although you may want to find out waht kind of track record this brands microwaves have as far as beaking down is concerned)

If your not intersted in aesthetics then the extra 150 bucks for a stainless steel model isnt worth it.

The other convection oven/microvave hybrid would be interesting if you actually want to do anything that you would normaly do in a regular oven. If you dont cook, dont bother. However. If you do, the time saving feature might be of interest to someone with a busy schedule (and with money to burn) .
 
I have a combi microwave oven in my house. It's pretty damn good for most things, and it's nice and spacious. It does carrot cake much better than any conventional ovens I've used. All this talk about getting a seperate oven and microwave is a load of bullshit really, unless you make a habit of cooking ostriches in your oven.
 
As someone who cooks from time to time I completely disagree with you, Camper. There is a major difference in the results produced in a "true" oven as opposed to your standard combined microwave. Ovens are quite useful for producing large batch of cookies. :) The $1800 version that Chris posted, however, might be an exception I'd be interested in seeing how that works. However from what you've described your needs as, Chris, the $100 Best Buy version seems like a good fit. Your call though.
 
Not in the combi oven that I use. My family use our large oven for cooking large amounts of food - say for a family, but I reckon that a large high quality combi oven would be just fine for one person. Besides, my carrot cake never turns out as nice when I use the large oven.
 
Ya know, I never ever eaten anything delicious ,cooked in a microwave. Agreed with Striker on that. Microwave is for heating stuff, not cooking stuff. The Sharp one seems allright, ma grandma has one, for about 3years now? no problems yet.
Yep, I never saw a micro for 1800 yet :D I wonder if it peals potatos on its own.. :D
 
I would have to agree with you 100% on that one. However, combi ovens also do normal oven convection cooking, and they can be pretty good. They can be pretty awful as well, but that's where "Which?" comes in.
 
When you say combi oven...are you talking about an oven that can also do convection cooking or are you talking about a microwave that can also "function" as an oven (and/or convection oven)?
 
I would buy the most average microwave possible; otherwise the cooking directions on boxes won't be quite right.
 
Maj.Striker said:
When you say combi oven...are you talking about an oven that can also do convection cooking or are you talking about a microwave that can also "function" as an oven (and/or convection oven)?
Click to expand...
The second one without the quotation marks over function.
 
You should ask yourself if you need a convection cooker or not - if you don't, stick with the Best Buy one. Otherwise, look at the Sears one... and try to find something a tad cheaper. Nine times out of ten, unless you cook for yourself often, you probably won't need the convection cooker features, and I can get a better (and bigger) convection cooker for less than the extra $1600-1700 that that Sears model would cost me.
 
I already established that I already have, and don't need, an oven or convection whatever.

I went ahead and got the Sharp one. It has a Popcorn button and a flashlight built right into the top!
 
Nappydman said:
If you go to estate sales, you can get microwaves really cheap.
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Target had a brand new budget microwave for $35. I'd just go with that and avoid the time spent hunting down sales if I wanted a cheap one, but there were certain features I needed. Not really worth the time.
 
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