Microwave Combi Oven - any recommendations

KK

I am at the point of replacing my ancient microwave oven after 14 hard years of service - it is interfering with the TV which my hubby says means it's no good anymore (is he kidding me?). I would very much like a combi oven, because I often use the oven just to cook one thing and thought it might be better, plus it means I can cook things at 2 different temperatures. Our one at the moment has a grill but we never use it as it takes too long to heat up! Are they as good as they sound and are they really like an electric oven? Also, I would like someone to recommend a brand they are pleased with, and why the price varies so much.

I have looked at Panasonic, Samsung and Sharp. It needs to be freestanding not built-in and can be quite big. At times like Christmas or a dinner part I simply run out of room in my normal gas oven, so is this going to solve the problem for me?

I know that the cubic capacity varies a lot (I want a fairly big one up to 40 l) and the power of the microwave. I twould make sense to have one I guess that a normal size baking tray would fit into. Any advice would be appreciated. Do they heat up instantly, or do you switch them on a bit in advance like a gas oven? Can you get fan assisted ones for even cooking?

MATH

The one I had was very old when I got it but it was brill while it lasted. Heated up instantly and I used it as a normal oven nearly every day, only ever switching on my big oven if I was cooking two things at the same time. Browned the food very well, much better than those micro/grills which IMO are a bit feeble.
Look out for models which use convection heat and micro simultantiously rather than pulsing from one to the other, and a turntable you can switch off when using square bakeware is useful. Can't advise on any makes cos mine was a 'Belling' and they don't make them now.

Looking for a replacement for my even older ordinary 'Toshiba' micro but can only find up to 1 cu feet capacity. Couldn't believe how small new micros are you couldn't fit a chicken in most of them. I need bigger so am having to source a commercial machine which is big bucks.

If you have any success post back your advice

Mustang

I have had a Panasonic Dimension 4 oven for a couple of years now. I use it pretty much exclusively rather than the main cooker as I find it quicker, easier and more convenient.

It uses lots of buzz-words, such as inverter, chaos defrost, turbo-bake, but ignoring all that, it cooks very well.

It does pretty much everything: microwave, grill, convection, turbo-bake, combination and chaos-defrosting.

Microwave - the 'inverter' reduces the power of the microwave if you ask for reduced power, as I understand it. Most other microwaves cook with 100% microwave power but in bursts to simulate less power which isn't as good.

With the grill, you do not wait for it to warm up ... you put the food in straight away. 3 different heat levels.

Convection - basically a fan oven. Need to pre-heat it first, but doesn't take long at all.

Turbo bake - Convection + grill together

Combination - 3 types:
convection + microwave
grill + microwave
Turbo-bake + microwave
Where in all types, microwave + other cooking mechanism works simultaneouly .. not one at a time. No need to preheat the oven on any of these types.

Chaos-defrosting bombards the food at random bursts which defrosts the food faster and more evenly. And yes it does work rather well.

Comes with good instruction manual and lots of accessories. The outside can get a bit hot with extended normal cooking but that's not surprising. I've got the stainless steel model.

One thing I do is to put a round pizza stone in the bottom of the mircowave on top of the glass tray which means I don't have to keep switching between metal and glass trays when I change between microwave and non-microwave cooking. The pizza stone came from Lakeland IIRC. It fits the glass tray exactly.