Replacement microwave sought - advice/experience/opinion sought

[slope]

10? years ago I bought a £29.99 analogue Tesco microwave. At the time, mainly to heat milk for morning coffee and defrost excess fud I'd previously cooked + par cooking baked tatws/tatties/spuds.

It's now manky, rank and rusting. And I never did like the analogue timer cos it was so hit and mostly miss.

So wanna 'upgrade' a bit.

Nothing fancy - basic and small is good

Any suggestions - less than a ton in price?

[rafletcher]

I’d probably look for something from LG or other South Korean manufacturer, as they’ll make the innards of most brands including so-called high end ones like AEG.

[Kim]

The best microwave is the late-80s one you inherited from Grandma.

When that finally became unrepairable, I went to the local microwave shop and investigated the control ergonomics of their various options.  Barakta needs right-handed controls with buttons rather than turny knobs, and a door open button that doesn't require too much force.

What I failed to account for was the hinge:  Grandma's had a door that would open the full 180 degrees, and I thought nothing of it.  The replacement's stopped at 90 degrees, which meant it was where barakta's left elbow needs to be in order to put her hand at a useful plate-grasping angle.  It's also mildly annoying for me, given the space it occupies is constrained on the other side.

So yeah, that's something to check.

[slope]

What I failed to account for was the hinge . . .

So yeah, that's something to check.

Good point indeed Kim - the manky, rank and rusting cheapo Tesco door opens 90º to the left only and it's been a real pain with regard to the limited layout of Snowdon Towers' kitchen

[Kim]

Speaking of rust, we're waiting for ours to fail from it so we can get one with a better door.  The 80s Sharp had minor cosmetic rust when scrapped in the mid-noughteens.  The replacement is now riddled with the stuff, outside^[1] and in.

It also has the least accurate digital clock I've encountered in the wild.


_{[1] Mainly though probably not exclusively due to being within splash radius of the sink.}

[hellymedic]

My microwave sounds similar to the one you wish to replace but I'm happy enough with it.
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/microwaves/essentials-c17mw20-solo-microwave-white-10203547-pdt.html
Dixon's/Curry's/PCWorld basic 700W analogue. First was ~£35, replaced with similar when it died a decade later for twice as much.
ETA I see the price has dropped now.

[ElyDave]

I'd look at John Lewis, we had a Samsung (I think) that died, and then replaced it with the upgraded model (identical but a few newer features) with JL branding. JL have longer warranty in many cases, and are very good on customer service

[jsabine]

We've got a £50ish-five-years-ago one from Tesco - supposedly a combi, but with a wholly inadequate grill - that's perfectly satisfactory, and might even be largely Barakta-friendly by the criteria Kim sets out above (buttons on the right, door pull rather than button, only about 100° opening though).

That said, my understanding of the controls and settings is limited to jabbing repeatedly at the 30sec quick start, and resetting the clock when it's drifted too far out of sync with the oven clock to be tolerable.

[grams]

I have a Russell Hobbs one I bought solely because it has a numeric keypad, because I like to microwave things for exactly 18 seconds. Or sometimes 22 seconds. I'm a grown up and I can do what I like.

Years into ownership I discovered it (a) has an oven function and (b) that it's bloody useful because it gets up to temperature in about 3 minutes, which the proper oven certainly doesn't.

[slope]

I have a Russell Hobbs one I bought solely because it has a numeric keypad, because I like to microwave things for exactly 18 seconds. Or sometimes 22 seconds. I'm a grown up and I can do what I like.

You sound like my kinda/particular grown up

What model?

[andrewc]

My 30 year old Toshiba is sitting outside in the rain , waiting for me to take it to the tip, as I rarely used it & the platter wouldn't rotate. 


It's just occurred to me that I've now no means of heating up a "wheat bag" type heat pad,  so the next time I need to apply topical heat I may need to buy a hot water bottle 

[Canardly]

Been looking at these myself recently as our existing  LG combi is getting on a bit. I will not be buying any more LG products. Probably go for a flat bed combi next time as more roomy and technology has moved on a bit in terms of zapping all areas of the food etc. The Sharp drop down door model ( Ref no escapes me atm) is supposed to be good if not a little noisy and excellent value.

Edit. Sharp 900W Combination Flatbed Microwave R861 - Silver £160.

[Basil]

Rusting microwave?  You should always leave the door open for ten minutes after use.
Simples.
30 year old microwave here.
It's crap, mind.

[ian]

I second this, I'm sure we had ours since we first bought a house. The bulb has gone inside (hey, it's too dark to replace it) but otherwise it seems to work. That said, we hardly ever use it, other than when I got through my Ready Brek phases.

[Basil]

Not sure we use ours, other than for warming dinner plates, more than once a week.

Warm plates.  Brilliant.  45 seconds warms two plates just nicely.

[citoyen]

We had to replace our microwave not so long ago because the old one had been possessed by Zuul. (That thing where microwaves fire out bolts of lightning when you put metal objects in them? It was doing that even with no metal objects inside it.)

Not sure I can offer any useful advice to the OP because we have a fitted microwave, which sits above the fitted oven. The door only opens 90 degrees, but it opens downwards rather than left/right, so no issues with handedness and accessibility. And you just pull the handle to open it, rather than pushing a button (it does lock itself while in use though).

I would second the recommendation for John Lewis - though recommending John Lewis is hardly groundbreaking insight when it comes to kitchen appliances. We found them very helpful when shopping for replacements last year, but in the end we went with Ikea because it was the easiest way to get models we liked that fitted our existing cabinets. (Standards? What standards?)

[ian]

I think ours came from JL. I remember spoffing my (small) bonus on fancy new kitchen appliances when we first bought a house. It's rebadged something else, of course, but that toaster, microwave and kettle are still going strong the better part of twenty years later. The Cuisinart coffee machine died after about decade or so (probably was repairable by someone cleverer than me, but I checked and I'm still me, so I bought a new one).

Still, I'm not sure what people do with microwaves these days. My wife used to nuke her readymeals when I was away (oh, those halcyon days of absence making the heart fonder) because she definitively doesn't cook.

[rafletcher]

I'd look at John Lewis, we had a Samsung (I think) that died, and then replaced it with the upgraded model (identical but a few newer features) with JL branding. JL have longer warranty in many cases, and are very good on customer service

I fear your JL experience is well out of date, their "warranty" being no more than laws require, and their customer service being in meltdown.

I'd suggest AO myself.

[Kim]

Rusting microwave?  You should always leave the door open for ten minutes after use.
Simples.
30 year old microwave here.

I'd suggest the lack of rust is more to do with it being 30 years old than your door-opening habits.  Our rubbish modern one is rusting quite happily on the outside, as well as in.

I note some modern ones overrun the fan after they finish cooking to clear the moisture, which is eminently sensible, if somewhat confusing for the visitor who hasn't encountered this before and thinks it's still cooking.

[Jurek]

..... possessed by Zuul. ...

 
Pop an incandescent lightbulb into one, and hit the 'On' button.
The microwave will growl like an angry god, and cause the bulb to flicker in violet.

[ElyDave]

I'd look at John Lewis, we had a Samsung (I think) that died, and then replaced it with the upgraded model (identical but a few newer features) with JL branding. JL have longer warranty in many cases, and are very good on customer service

I fear your JL experience is well out of date, their "warranty" being no more than laws require, and their customer service being in meltdown.

I'd suggest AO myself.

No, my JL experience is not well out of date. It's within a month in terms of buying replacement fondleslab.

The microwave was a couple of years ago.

[Genosse Brymbo]

I note some modern ones overrun the fan after they finish cooking to clear the moisture, which is eminently sensible, if somewhat confusing for the visitor who hasn't encountered this before and thinks it's still cooking.

Our 20-year-old Panasonic NN-T220M has fan overrun, so not exclusively a modern feature.  It's the only microwave we've had and is in use daily.  No sign of rust.  Highly recommended if you can find one 

[ian]

Indeed, our ancient microwave happily runs the fan post-use.

[orienteer]

On our third Panasonic microwave in 40 plus years. Latest has flat floor (no turntable), drop down door, plus grill, oven and steaming options, though never used the latter. Last two were certainly from JL, can't remember where the first was from. Used several times a day.

[ian]

Our microwave has all kinds of settings and combo oven grill modes. I have used precisely one: nuke, full power.