11 Plus Exams Forum

After my very successful Panasonic breadmaker and slow cooker purchases following advice on here I thought I'd try asking about microwaves!

We're finally replacing the one I bought for my final year at college in the 1980s but it seems I'm still living in the '80s on microwave terms... I simply want a basic microwave. I don't want a grill, steamer or anything else fancy. Just something with enough space to fit a decent-sized Pyrex dish so we can heat up the stuff from yesterday's slow cooked meal or (DD's latest requirement) milk for coffee. I'd therefore like to be able to time things properly rather than using an imprecise dial.

I realise I'm unlikely to get 30 years out of the next one, but we're probably having a kitchen unit modified for it so it needs to last long enough to make this worthwhile.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

This was exactly me, about ten months ago. My trusty old beast from student days had heated it's last can of beans, all those tomee tipee memories gone to the skip.

We too looked for a big size and nothing else. We decided at sixty quid we would risk the big, simple, nuke it high, 1000 watt 31 litre Daewoo that had very mixed Amazon reviews, mostly complaining it was noisy! Well I was a low rent acoustic engineer so knew I could sort out the vibrations if need be, but actually I like it's big "fault". A reassuringly loud hum vibrates through the walls for 3 minutes as it nukes your can of curry whilst you watch master chef in the living room, lack of hum means it's time to swap over and nuke your uncle's bens rice instead, plate up your nan bread, slop out your dhal just in time to tip out your two minute sachet of rice and return with your nosh to the sofa, nursing your burnt finger tips.
Obviously cannot speak for its longevity, but function wise it has been spot on so far, no gimmicks, no nonsense, but does have a lot to say for itself.
Daewoo 'kor 1noa' I think it says on the front, but like my old microwave my eyesight is getting a bit rusty.

Oh...edited to say: the cord is annoyingly short, be prepared to extend as required.

We have a very basic matsui, it does nothing fancy just defrosts or nukes the food! To be honest we could have done with the bigger model but the space wasn't big enough. However, as a brand I would thoroughly recommend it, it's been working well for about 15 years now.

I have a very basic manual dial one, I am amazed you've managed to keep yours so long!

Must confess I am really bad about wiping down the inside after I've used it, so they rust a bit

However we are on number 3, first one bought in 1991 ( I didn't think I would use one!!!)

First one was a combination one, but after that, cheapest manual one I could find.

My 1986 model's a Matsui doodles! Clearly longevity was part of the brand values! Sadly they are no longer on the market Probably went out of business because no-one needed a new one... I vaguely remember it being Currys 'own brand' at the time.

Thanks for the other ideas. I'll do some more searching...

What's the budget?

A bit flexible as I'd like to get something that lasts. Some stuff I've read suggests it's worth paying a bit extra to get a stainless steel interior and avoid yoyo's rust issue. This could save us money in the longer term if we don't have to pay for the kitchen unit to be modified to take a different microwave in a couple of year's time.

Being a minimalist at heart I have a Panasonic Slimline combi - microwave, oven and grill. It is easy to clean as the body is stainless steel. Hopefully, it wouldn't rust for long time.
Don't have a kettle, toaster, ice cream maker. Some of us use the grill to toast and others use the flat fry pan and some don't toast at all. Usually boil water on the hob(big quantities) and microwave for small tea cups.

Ours is a Daewoo like Southbucks3. It's not too noisy, but you can certainly hear it and it does exactly what i would expect! We only use it to heat things up - I have no interest in "grilling" or "ovens" etc on a microwave as part of me is still wary about all those waves and I prefer things to be properly cooked (read chargrilled etc!!)

We have had it a good few years (don't really know - maybe 4 or 5) and certainly no sign of rust! The cord is an ok length - but then again, the socket is right next to where it sits, on a surface, under an annoying chimney wall, that couldn't be used for a kitchen cabinet!

Berks mum, no ice cream maker I can completely understand, no toaster is ok too - for a couple of years we used the grill, but NO KETTLE!!!!!!!!!!! How? Tea just doesn't taste the same with pan boiled or microwaved water. I would find it really hard not to have a kettle.