Check out my trashcan find!

[retromom]

Ah yes, Litton....

Don't even talk to me about Litton. I had one in the early 80's and it was the BEST microwave that I ever owned! We had to get rid of it because our new house had an over the range microhood that was about two inches narrower than the Litton. We sold the Litton and bought a Magic Chef (also a great microwave) which matched the gas stove in the home. We kept that Magic Chef for many years. I'm sure the seals had deteriorated and the microwave was "nuking" us! LOL

I still keep my eyes opened for a Litton or Amana Radarange. There are several Litton and Magic Chef microwave cookbooks at our local thrift store. If anyone's interested.....I think they cost $1.00 each.

Venus

 

[agiflow]

My first and only Litton

The first microwave i bought was a Litton "prestige",it was a compact model. I think 0.6 cubit ft.I really liked that little oven,the floor in it was ceramic i believe and it was a really good cooker.
This was in about 1988 when i got it,Litton wasn't around too much longer after that.They seemed to do well in CR's ratings at the time.
I had it for about 5 or 6 yrs. before the electronic touchpads were malfuntioning.I got it repaired and it only lasted about another year before i ditched it for a ge.
Looking back i wish i had held on to it.They did make a great microwave.

 

[agiflow]

Microwave quiz

Does anyone know out there when the first home microwave ovens were sold? Also who were the first manufacturers to offer these early ovens.Thought this might be fun.

 

[jetcone]

Nice find!

I love my Amana! And I love telling people it was their first countertop unit so it used Uranium to make the microwaves! I just get looks of amazement even from my father the Scientist! Then I have to reveal the joke to them.

But people can see they are sooo solid that they think the early units used some kind of rare voodoo to cook unlike todays "toss'em out when the oven gets dirty" microwaves at BB.

When I worked at Magic Pan in the 70's all they used were Litton Commercial touch pad microwaves! It was soooo modern! No one was using them as much as Magic Pan because they heated sauces so well. Litton even programmed them at the factory for the Magic Pan recipies , there were ten SS pads across the top and each one was for a specific dessert crepe or dinner crepe.
I had never seen touch pads before.

 

[cadman]

Oh Litton...

Litton was pretty good (and early in the MW industry too) but I'm amazed at the lack of styling and sometimes wonder what they were thinking for the home market. Guess it's like the Betamax thing. All I can say is Cybrvanr got a great machine. I spent today removing the little black strip from below the exhaust vent, and cleaning the glass tray from an identical machine. This tray has the 'early' writing on the front warning about the items that can be put in the MW and how the glass tray cannot be absent. Gotta finish up my RR4 and update the webpage!

http://www.eldocountry.com/radarange/radar.html

 

[kenmore1978]

First microwaves

I've seen a Tappan wall oven microwave that I think was from the 50's. The first time I was aware of microwave ovens was from little ads (looked like little classified ads)in the back of magazines like Popular Science in the 60's with sensationalistic prose like "miracle oven bakes a potato in only 8 minutes!"

 

[retromom]

Amana collection

Cory:

That is an amazing collection. Those Amana radaranges were so futuristic in appearance. With all that chrome, you would almost expect to see it on a space station. Amana knew how to combine function and style. I'll keep my eyes opened at the thrift stores for one.

Jon (Jetcone)

Can't believe you worked at Magic Pan! They used to have one in Houston. It was one of my husband's favourite places. I wish crepes would make a comeback.

Venus

 

[GESwivel]

First Home Microwave Oven

The first microwave oven, for the home, was made by Tappan. They were first introduced in 1955. Amana was the first to market a "countertop" microwave.

I have a 1.3cu.ft.Tappan microwave oven that I purchased in 1983. It is still going strong after all of these years. The sucker weighs a ton. It has always cooked great. I never needed to rotate the food and it does not have a turntable. It uses a reflector fan to distribute the waves.

 

[agiflow]

old sharps

I know of a few people who have sharp microwave ovens from the early 80's that are still going strong,they also weigh a ton.This is my second sharp in 5 years.They are nowhere the quality they used to be.Won't buy another one from them.

 

[kenmore1978]

Sharp microwaves

I have a Montgomery Ward microwave oven made by Sharp in 1978 and it's still going strong. Door latch is getting sorta funky, and the original glass tray broke, and the interior light burned out (you have to remove the shell to replace it) but otherwise it works perfectly. Only had one repair, an internal fuse blew. It was TOL for 1978, browning element, temp probe, electronic digital controls. My only complaint is that it's a little slow by today's standards (650 watts was a lot in 1978, but not now) so usually have to cook for the maximum time stated in most package directions.

 

[westytoploader]

Here's an early Sharp I saw at an estate sale last December. Anyone know when this was made? Looks at least 20 years old...

--Austin

 

[kenmore1978]

Dating Sharp MW

Since it has the carousel, I suspect early 80's

 

[lavamat_jon]

Carousel

I didn't know the Sharp Carousel was that old! That range was still going strong until a couple of years ago here, when they were just rebranded "Sharp".

I can't believe how big microwaves used to be. We replaced a Sona (I'm not sure if you got them in the US) from the 1980s, which was a huge monstrasity a couple years ago with a new microwave (only a horrible cheap timer one - doesn't even do seconds!), but I'm surprised at how compact they have become. That said, the interior was quite a bit smaller than the old one, I guess it's because the one we have now is microwave only whereas our old one was a microwave/grill.

Jon

 

[kenmore1978]

Microwave sizes

Microwaves haven't really become smaller, they just started offering smaller sizes. You can still buy a huge monster microwave if you want one. They seem to come in 4 sizes now, full size, medium, compact, & itsy-bitsy, about the size of a toaster oven.

I hate the current cheapie microwaves that have manual timers. The original manual timers had the dial spread from 0 to 1 minute in such a way that one could set time les than a minute fairly accurately. The new ones crowd the dial so it's virtually impossible to set time for less than a minute, and setting is more critical now than then because microwaves are more powerful now and a few seconds can make quite a difference.