Microwave ovens

[Phil Pascoe]

Does anyone have experience of the flat bed ones? Are they worth the little bit of a premium? We decided to go go for a fairly basic oven as we have never used them properly, just to half bake potatoes, heat tinned stuff and defrost, so the couple of decent ones we've had have been money down the drain, really. The penalty paid seems to be the loss of the grill - is there an enough of an upside to this?

 

[gcusick]

I assume you mean the type without a turntable.

We have a built-in Neff one that matches our other appliances. It’s 900W. Works fine, though you do lose the entertainment of watching your dinner rotating. The upside is that cleaning up is easier after the inevitable explosion.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

If you think of a microwave as a back up device in case your normal cooker fails it can make sense to have the grill (+ possibly oven) functionality.

It may cost a small amount more than a basic one with a turntable. Note that built in would not be my choice - 3-5X the cost of a worktop model and if it fails you need to replace with one of the same dimensions.

 

[Sachakins]

If you think of a microwave as a back up device in case your normal cooker fails it can make sense to have the grill (+ possibly oven) functionality.

It may cost a small amount more than a basic one with a turntable. Note that built in would not be my choice - 3-5X the cost of a worktop model and if it fails you need to replace with one of the same dimensions.

Or use a standard one, with stainless steel facia.

 

[William2020]

We went for a flat bed one from Panasonic last year and haven’t looked back. Our previous microwave rotated but was low powered. Current model is 1000 watts (although you can reduce it at the touch of a button) and I certainly don’t miss knocking the turntable as I’m putting something in. Cleaning is a lot easier!