WARM RECEPTION
Whether you’re melting butter or making an oven-free feast for one, these microwaves will do the job, says Kate Hilpern
While some people are content with using microwaves for occasional tasks such as reheating a cup of tea that’s gone cold or melting butter, others depend on them for everything from baking cakes to cooking complex dinners. Whatever your needs, the good news is there’ll be a microwave to suit you.
Standard microwaves, which are the cheapest, are great for the simple stuff like reheating and defrosting. They don’t take up much room and are the easiest to use. But if you want something more whizzy, consider a microwave grill, which also has a heating element, or a combi which can heat, roast, crisp and brown just like a normal oven.
Remember more watts mean faster cooking and think about capacity too, bearing in mind that anything less than 20l can feel cramped for larger households. Consider the latest tech, such as a drop-down door and flatbed design to fit awkward and bigger shaped dishes inside. You may also want features such as autoreheat, auto-defrost and steam.
When testing microwaves, our criteria included all this tech, as well as size, capacity, cooking time, ease of use and cleaning, aesthetics, usefulness, efficiency of features and value for money.
Beko MOC20200C Reto Style freestanding microwave oven: £68, Amazon
The four-step programming is the stand-out point with this great value 800W microwave – it means you can set it to automatically carry out four different cooking stages in a row while you get on with other things, making it a fabulous time saver. Also worth a special mention is the steaming function, as well as the setting for reheating hot beverages. Despite the low price tag, it keeps food moist and cooks evenly, with none of those rubbery edges that are so common with microwaved food. The vintage aesthetics look smart and it’s available in four different colours – red, black, cream and blue. The only downside is that it’s quite noisy.
Panasonic NN-SF464MBPQ silver microwave: £154, John Lewis & Partners
The innovative flatbed design of this microwave means there’s more room inside than with traditional turntable ones and you can fit odd-shaped dishes in it too – sometimes even two. An added bonus is that food doesn’t spill because the dishes don’t move around. It all combines to make this a great microwave for
larger families or people who enjoy entertaining. The 1000W machine has five power settings and 18 autocook functions, as well as the opportunity to set your own. And if all this sounds too complicated, it isn’t – the intuitively designed touch controls and excellent instructions mean it’s surprisingly quick to get your head around, and it’s quick and quiet too, with no cold spots. But there’s no combi cooking or grill, despite the high price tag.
Hotpoint Curve solo microwave: £109, Amazon
This has been designed to squeeze into worktop corners, although don’t feel you have to – it sits nicely enough anywhere. And despite being so compact, it still has a decent sized turntable at 28cm. It can cook at five power levels and although it’s only 700W, and therefore slower than some, it manages to defrost surprisingly quickly. Not a machine if you want lots of wow-factor features, but it has all the basics plus timer, clock and child-safety lock and it’s so simple to use that you probably won’t even need to refer to the instructions. On the downside, it does a lot of bleeping so won’t suit those that get easily irritated by unnecessary kitchen sounds and the light stays on until you manually press the stop button.
Swan SM22036GRYN Nordic microwave: £99.95, Amazon
This is a handsome microwave if ever we saw one, with the mirrored door, curved edges and wood-effect handle and trim around the control dial all making for a chic, Nordic finish, which is available in either grey or white. Performance wise, there’s good news too as this 800W microwave cooks quickly and evenly. The auto-cook programmes save time and hassle, with the three auto-defrost settings ensuring that meat,
poultry or fish don’t start cooking before the time’s up. You can warm up hot drinks on a special setting and it steams to perfection. Forget it if you have extra-large plates though – the inside is rather on the small side. The mirrored door is prone to fingerprints too, although it wipes clean easily enough.
Cookworks 700W standard microwave P70B: £54.99, Argos
This vibrant red 700W microwave is a steal for a cooker that gives even results despite being used by everyone else in the household before you get a turn! It’s easy to use, with the digital display offering plenty of versatility – 10 power levels and two defrost programmes, plus the option to cook in two steps. There’s plenty of room inside too. And unlike others in this price bracket, it’s nice and quiet (unless you count the beeps that go off whenever you press a button) and a doddle to keep clean. But, as you might expect at this price, it’s somewhat slow, so you will need a bit of extra patience – and the turntable is prone to rattling too.
Sharp 900W combination flatbed microwave R861: £149.99, Argos
This 900W combi grill microwave has a pull-down door, which makes for easy loading and unloading. And as with the Panasonic NN-SF464MBPQ, the flatbed design replaces a traditional turntable, allowing you to fit in more unusually shaped dishes, as well as the wire rack and baking tray it comes with. There are six automatic functions for the likes of jacket potato, rice, pizza, roast chicken, oven chips and cake, with another seven for auto-reheat, beverages, veg, soup, grilled bacon, grilled fish and roast lamb or fish. With this long list, it’s hard to think of anything they’ve missed, although we think it could be better at grilling. We couldn’t fault the evenness of cooking, it’s easy to work and it’s great value too, though it is quite noisy
and bulky.
Sage Quick Touch crisp microwave: £289, John Lewis & Partners
Sage has become the go-to brand for kitchen electricals with special functions for foodies. Backed by Heston Blumenthal, this 25l and 1000W microwave-grill combi is no exception, with a row of extra buttons just inside the door for everything from melting chocolate to softening butter (making it a particularly good choice for keen bakers). At 31cm, the large interior means the turntable is good for big plates – brilliant for entertaining. It’s quick, intuitive, quiet and looks good. And if you’re not sure how to make the most of your new toy, check out the vast range of menus – from entire dishes to toasting nuts on its crisper pan. But it doesn’t come cheap.
Panasonic NN-E28JBMBPQ compact solo microwave: £74, John Lewis & Partners
If your primary use for a microwave is to reheat takeaways, then look no further. This 800W machine has auto-programmes for reheating Chinese food, curry and pasta that means you can practically get dinner on the table with your eyes closed. It’s also great at reheating healthier options such as vegetables and fish, as well as defrosting. And all in record time, with no sign of food drying out. There are five power levels and nine auto-programmes, so everything is covered, and the intuitive touch controls, delayed start and multistep programming are all genuinely useful, especially in busy households. But it’s on the small side, so forget it for larger families, and we didn’t think it was much cop at steaming.
Hotpoint MWH 27321B Ultimate Collection microwave: £124.97, Appliances Direct This sleek-looking 800W microwave won us over with its comprehensive list of genuinely useful features, as well as being incredibly user friendly and big enough for large families (25l). Not only does it have a decent grill, crisp function (great for pizzas) and defrosts to perfection, but it triggers you to stir, add or turn when needed and even pauses cooking so you can do it. Unusually, you can turn off the rotating feature of the turntable – handy for oblong or very large dishes. Be warned it’s heavy and big, though, so might dominate smaller kitchens.
De’Longhi Vintage 700W standard microwave: £69.99, Argos
If you’re up for compact retro looks, this 700W machine with its curved corners and vintage-style buttons and dial will make an attractive addition to your kitchen appliances. Smaller than most, it’s great for one or two person households and is easy to use and cooks well, keeping everything moist. It has seven automatic programmes to speed things up and you can run one after the other, for instance to defrost meat then cook it. But the inside is a no-go area for big plates and it’s not the fastest at cooking, although we have certainly seen slower. Available in blue or cream.
Russell Hobbs RHMM703S: £45, Asda
This microwave from the budget end of the market is the cheapest in our roundup. Like the Cookworks machine, it couldn’t be easier to use if it tried and it’s versatile, as well as cooking food evenly and keeping it moist. But we think this one has the edge when it comes to steaming and defrosting and it’s also better for smaller families and/or kitchens as it’s more compact (be warned, plates bigger than 27cm won’t fit in). There are no automatic programmes and no assistance with cooking or defrosting, but that’s what helps keep things simple, and also be warned: the mirrored door is a magnet for fingerprints.
The verdict
Besides being a bit on the noisy side, we found it hard to fault the Beko MOC20200C, which performs extremely well at pretty much everything and whose star feature is the four-step programming – a boon for the time-poor. For a microwave-grill combi, the Sage Quick Touch did us proud – it’s intuitive and as comprehensive as they come, although as we said it’s certainly not cheap.