Best microwave oven buying guide(2020)

A microwave is a kitchen essential. Buy the right one and you’ll be able to reheat, grill, bake cook meals defrost food in no time.

Microwave ovens are ideal for cooking several recipes and food items, such as popcorn, chicken grills, kebabs, pizzas, muffins, even reheat the frozen food. It cooks in minutes, saving time and energy.

Thinking about buying the best microwave oven but don’t have a clue where to start? We’re here to help you in this article “Best microwave oven buying guide”

The most challenging part of buying a microwave oven is to make the choice about which microwave oven to buy.

There are three types of microwave ovens are available in the market. Those 3 types are Solo, Grill & Convection microwave oven.

Best microwave oven buying guide

Types of microwaves:

• Solo microwave oven

A solo microwave oven is a basic or entry-level model. These are smaller and simpler to operate. It’s mostly used for reheating, defrosting and for some basic cooking recipes. You cannot bake or grill in this type of microwave. Solo microwave ovens are cheaper when compared to other microwave models, like grill or convection.

• Grill microwave oven

Grill microwave ovens are provided with additional grilling accessories. The microwave and grill functions can run simultaneously to make delicious grills in minutes. The grill microwave has heating coils that help in grilling, toasting or roasting.

• Convection microwave oven

Convection microwave ovens have a heating element and a fan that circulates heatwaves efficiently so that food can be cooked or baked faster and uniformly. it can bake, grill, cook and many more which you might have never knew of. Using this microwave, you can make all the daily eatable items.

Capacity

Food item vs Types of Microwave Oven

Family size vs Capacity

Features to look for in a Microwave

Power rating:

Check out the power rating. Microwave ovens come in the range of 600 to 1,500 watts. Higher the voltage, it will be more efficient, quicker and faster cooking as it generates higher heat and in less time

Auto Cook Menu

The Auto Cook Menu feature has preset programs to simplify the preparation of a variety of recipes. Once the type of dish (code) is selected, along with its weight, the oven will automatically set the power and cooking time.

Child safety lock:

 This is another important feature that should be considered while buying a microwave oven, especially for families having kids. This electric lock system prevents the happening of any misuse of the oven, thus avoiding accidents. Convection microwave oven interiors get very hot when you bake and child lock is must feature in that case.

Automatic sensor:

 Ovens having an automatic sensor shuts down automatically when the sensor feels that the food is perfectly cooked. It prevents the overheating of food. These humidity-sensing sensors determine the humidity in the food item you are about to cook in the microwave and accordingly determine the cooking time. You should look for this feature while buying your microwave.

Defrost

This is one of the useful features. Use the defrost function to unfreeze food quickly. Using auto defrost is easy: input the frozen food’s weight and the oven will set the best program. You can also program this mode manually by setting the power level and time, based on the food’s weight.

Timer

Set the timer to automatically end a heating or cooking program after a specified duration. A bell rings to indicate the program’s end.

Pre-heat

Usually, this function is important. If you want to cook some dish that requires the oven to be at a certain temperature then, preheating is required. So you need to turn on the microwave oven and wait for some time till it is hot or reached the required temperature. The above process is called as preheating

Rotisserie

This grilling accessory comes with a few microwave ovens. It is useful for grilling and barbecuing vegetables, paneer, meat, and poultry. It is a steel base bar that works on the motor system to ensure perfect grilling.

Handy Shortcut Keys

Having shortcut keys on your microwave oven will make your life easier as common food items like popcorn and noodles require a fixed cooking time. You can cook these items by just pressing the keys from the auto-cook menu.

Panel Types

There are three types of control panel types, namely Mechanical, Tact Dial Type, Feather Touch. Mechanical, Tact Dial usually comes in low-end models and can handle rough usage. Feather Touch panels add the design of your microwave. It can sense your fingers, just like a touch-screen phone. Feather Touch usually comes in high-end models.

It is better to buy a microwave having a mechanical or a combination of both mechanical and touch control panel. Touch control panels have to be handled carefully and are prone to failures. Most companies nowadays have started providing mechanical control panels for their high-end products.

Multistage cooking:

 This feature is very good for Indian cooking style as our food is cooked at various temperatures depending on the amount of time. Some food items need to be cooked at high temperature initially and then moved to low temperature after a certain time. Multistage cooking will help you to automate this process by setting time intervals and temperatures to be used while cooking the food.

Microwave oven accessories

Online stores are full of various microwave accessories including microwave oven gloves, microwave-safe cookware, utensils, bowls, vessels, microwave stand to mount on to the wall in case you do not have enough space on kitchen dashboard. Microwave oven cover is also helpful to cover if a microwave is used rarely.

Final words

Going through the above blog “Best microwave oven buying guide” would have given you a sufficient amount of information to help you purchase the Best microwave oven. We have also listed the important features.

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