Current good Microwaves?

[jp10558]

My older microwave is starting to seem like it might give up the ghost. Then again, it's been doing that for a few years now rumbling a bit when running and heating a little slower. I've been mostly upgrading my kitchen equipment - what's a good brand / model to look for? I'm not scared of higher prices for better equipment, but I'm not really interested in paying more just for glitz or brand recognition.

 

[dartman]

I think the Panasonic's have a lot of nice features and high wattage so things heat very quickly so might want to look at them.
I'm still using my large, old, and cheap Emerson 800 watt 1.4 cf garage sale special. It refuses to die and it's hard to find bigger cubic foot units anymore.
I keep watching for sales on the high wattage pannys but haven't got one yet.
I'm sure others will jump in with good suggestions.
My mom gave us one but it's all rusted inside somehow so never used it. Mine is about 88 vintage and no rust anywhere.
Good luck with the search.

 

[sudsmaster]

Seems to me modern microwaves are all pretty good, even the low end ones.

 

I have a Panasonic Genius  "Prestige" with real push buttons, as well as a Kenmore Elite. Both are about 10 years old now. Both are about 2 cu ft. The Kenmore is taller, the Panasonic wider and lower.

 

The Panasonic is nice and the inverter technology I think is more energy efficient than older magnetic transformer technology. I've noticed the Kenmore, although of the same wattage rating as the Panasonic, tends to heat food slower. On the other hand, the Panasonic has an annoying tendency to direct most of its heat to the bottom of foods, whereas the Kenmore tends to heat more evenly, albeit slower. Part of this may be that the Kenmore has a big wave diverter "fan" on the side of the cooking cavity, which seems to distribute the microwaves more evenly. The fan cover is also amber plastic, which is nicer and easier to clean than the usual mica covers, which can get kind of funky after a while. But plastic magnetron covers seem to be more the exception than the rule.

 

The Panasonic inverter defrost is nice as well, and I often use it to reheat things like pizza slices.

 

The Kenmore does great on popcorn. Best I've ever seen on a microwave.

 

My advice: get the size microwave you think you'll need, and then focus on the controls. If they are not intuitive perhaps another brand will be better on that. I've seen a number of low end microwaves at work sites that are positively demonic in thwarting simple timed cooking.

 

 

 

[psych101]

Panasonic fan here

I have a relatively new Panasonic 'Genius', 1100 watt inverter model. It's about 3 years old now and by far the best Microwave I've ever had in terms of functionality and effectiveness. The inverter system allows you to more accurately vary the power level of the oven - in older microwaves, adjusting the power level down just meant that the magnetron ran at 100% for a period of time, and cycled off and on again depending on the power level selected. With the inverter, the magnetron can run at anywhere between 10% and 100% power all the time depending on what you select, meaning that meat or frozen food is much more evenly defrosted. I believe the model I purchased is still available here in Australia.

There is an equivalent Sharp Carousel model which also seems quite good if you prefer Sharp. They are all made in China these days and not a patch on older ovens for quality but these seemed to be the most solid and robust when I was buying a new microwave.

 

[sudsmaster]

At some point somewhere I read that the Panasonic inverter only has three power levels, with settings in between being the result of power cycling. Maybe the on/off with the inverter is quieter than with the magnetic transformers in older designs? I don't know...

 

Update: I found a panasonic training manual. It explains that the power supply for the inverter microwave does power waveform modulation. I'm assuming that it is able to rapidly switch the power off and on and thus provide the magnetron with the voltage needed to operate while at the same time reducing average power according to the power selection.

 

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">Power (%) “On” time (mS) Duty Cycle (%) Cycle</span>
<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">10 1.5 / 1.1 33 / 25 4s on / 18s off</span>
<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">20 1.5 / 1.1 33 / 25 11s on / 11s off</span>
<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">30 1.5 / 1.1 33 / 25 18s on / 4s off</span>
<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">40 1.5 / 1.1 33 / 25 Continuous</span>
<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">50 1.5 33 Continuous</span>

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">60 1.8 40 Continuous
70 2.5 55 Continuous
80 2.8 62 Continuous
90 3.1 69 Continuous
100 3.4 75 Continuous</span>

 

<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">This shows that at 30% and lower settings, the power cycles off and on. At higher settings the power is continuous, but millisecond "on" time and the duty cycle changes to provide the higher power settings.</span>

 

PS-The Kenmore manual describes the magnetron fan as the "Windmill"...

 

[this post was last edited: 3/19/2016-21:22]

 

[tolivac]

As the name "inverter" implies-the Panasonic Inverter circuit runs the magnetron power supply at a higher-variable frequency.This makes it more efficient over a regular transformer running at 60 hz.Some electronics experimenters take the inverter cicuits out of scrap Panasonic ovens for experiments with HF high voltage or as a variable voltage HV supply.It is VERY dangerous to do this-the output voltage of the inverter supply is LETHAL.Experiment carefully at at your risk!The device has a transformer-but it is smaller and lighter than a 60 cycle one.The Panasonic circuit rectifies the incoming line voltage-converts it to a higher and variable frequency-then feeds it to a HF magnetron HV transformer.There are some YouTube videos of experimenters using these Panasonic oven supplies.Kinda interesting.

 

[joeypete]

I agree that most new microwaves should be good. I've never had one die on me. My ex bought a Sharp microwave in 1998. Shortly after the display quit working but the microwave operated fine. I continued to use it up until 2011 when I moved. It was still working but I didn't need it anymore.

I have a Samsung stainless model in my condo. It's over the stove. Works great!

 

[whatsername]

I love my Panasonic Inverter. It's the 1250 W Genius. The turbo defrost is hands down the best feature--the Whirlpool OTR microwave I had at my old apartment would cook the outside of chicken while leaving the inside frozen solid. The Panasonic does a great job defrosting. The Sensor Reheat function works really well too.

 

[perc-o-prince]

the output voltage of the inverter supply is LETHAL

When we're trained, we have a special course and test just for the HV side of the microwave. We also need to complete a paper test that's put into our file. Yeah, I'm sure it's a liability thing- "we trained him to discharge the capacitor and warned him about lethal voltage" so that when some tech gets zapped/killed because the bleed resistor wasn't working, the lawyers/insurance has something to throw in someone's face.

Aren't many microwaves made by Sharp these days, despite the branding?

Chuck

p.s.- "fan," "windmill..." funny! I know we call it a stirrer blade, IIRC.

 

[lordkenmore]

Given the vintage interest on this site, I am surprised that with a quick skimming of this thread, there are A) people saying new microwaves can be good, and B) there are no "If it's not a microwave from the Carter years or before, it's not worth having!"

 

[lordkenmore]

My own experience is severely limited. Both with microwaves in general and also newer microwaves. I have spent about half of my life without having one. When I have had one, it's usually been either A) something that's there (e.g., what a roommate owned before I came along), or in the cases I've bought one, it what the thrift store had that roughly met my needs.

All this babbling to one side... The last microwave was IIRC 1980s Sanyo. When it died, it got replacd with a 90s Goldstar. The Goldstar feels really cheap and chintzy compared to the previous Sanyo. I honestly wondered about that...but it A) fit my rough needs and B) was dirt cheap. After a few months of service, it seems to be holding up. And it does seem to work better--heating more even, and faster. Although this could simply be an issue of wear and tear and aging on the Sanyo.

As much as I often prefer vintage, I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't buy newer microwaves in the future, even brand new ones. I appeciate the quality of some older microwaves, but--at this point--I'm not in love to the point of wanting one. And I find myself liking smaller microwaves. I don't need huge capacity, but saving a bit of counter space is always nice.

 

[sudsmaster]

Perhaps part of the reason for a lack of vintage microwaves is that the key component, the magnetron, has a finite lifespan. When it goes, I understand it's usually not cost-efficient to repair, assuming one could still get the parts needed. I may be wrong, but as far as I know unless it's a very high end mwave, it's cheaper just to toss it and get a new one.

 

However I suppose my Kenmore Elite might qualify as vintage... it was manufactured in 1998. I use it sparingly so the magnetron probably has many years left on it. It replaced a smallish .7 cu ft 800 watt Amana, no turntable. Which worked OK but definitely taught me that chicken "baked" in a microwave might as well be steamed.

 

 

[tolivac]

Yes,I am trained in HV equipment,too-the transmitters at our site.The voltages and power levels in these make a microwave supply small-but careful with both.since I am the shift super-have to make sure techs in my shift follow the safety rules.If its RISKY---DON'T!!!Here we disconnect power-ground all capacitors and HV supply connections.Even if the Tx has grounding switches you have to activate before opening the Tx doors-use the grounding hook as well.

 

[lordkenmore]

>Perhaps part of the reason for a lack of vintage microwaves is that the key component, the magnetron, has a finite lifespan. When it goes, I understand it's usually not cost-efficient to repair, assuming one could still get the parts needed. I may be wrong, but as far as I know unless it's a very high end mwave, it's cheaper just to toss it and get a new one.

This is the impression I've gotten over the years, too. I certainly recall talks about how expensive magnetron tubes were, and "one might as well just replace" back in the mid/late 1980s. Probably about the point many people who'd bought a first microwave in the 1970s were faced with magnetron issues...

 

[sudsmaster]

I remember tinkering with my little Amana microwave when it failed shortly after I moved it from the rental house to my "new" owner occupied home. I recall replacing the fuse, thinking that this would fix it. It didn't. The control panel would light up but as soon as I tried to nuke anything, the fuse would blow. That's as far as I got. I knew better than to mess with capacitors and power supplies and such.

 

I wound up at Sears and got the Kenmore Elite because it was discounted. It's a pretty good unit. Its main drawback, and the probably reason why it was discounted, is that the oven cavity is rather square, with a smallish 12 inch turntable. The Panasonic cavity is more horizontal. But I suspect the square cavities tend to distribute the microwaves better than the more flattened one. In any case, the relatively small size of the Kenmore cavity has never been a problem  for me.

 

I'm guessing they call the "stirrer" a "Windmill" because it's positioned on the side of the cabinet, like a windmill. Behind a very cleanable amber plastic cover. You can see it moving when the oven is running.

 

[johnb300m]

I've been a big GE microwave fan for a long time. I like their layouts and features the best. Plus they're one of the few that have a true humidity "sensor" cooking function. The vast majority, even expensive built in units, seem to have the more dumb "pre-programmed" guessing game menu controls.
I think they're virtually all made by the same 2 or 3 Asian microwave companies left in the world.
So brand hardly matters anymore.

 

[petek]

You're right about those GE's... we had one for years.. it was truly "auto" cook, roast, reheat.. had the probe as well..  I wasn't sure if the new ones like the Panasonic Genius' actually have a humidity sensor or not.. 

 

[sudsmaster]

The Panasonic Genius does indeed have a humidity sensor.

 

Some such sensors appear to work better than others.

 

And I've yet to find one that is 100% fool proof.

 

And most such sensors, since they detect water vapor which in turn is created by boiling water, may not be suitable for dry or high fat dishes, or when one wants a gentle warming.

 

 

 

 

 

[tolivac]

Some microwave oven stirrers are air driven from the air from the magnetron blower-Guess this could be why the term "windmill"