Buying a microwave

MrsStepford

I'm a college-trained former chef. My husband is the son of a Royal Navy chef. Since we moved in together, we have always cooked from scratch. My parents gave us a cast-off microwave and it was only used for hot chocolate and heating up cold coffee, so we got rid of it. 

Now that my husband has been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, I am thinking about buying a microwave. I want to be able to reheat frozen casseroles, cook vegetables, have a go at making sauces e.g. Béarnaise and defrost pheasants. We won't be hearing ready meals. Don't want anything tiny nor some huge thing with a grill. Definitely don't want anything which suffers from peeling paint. Or a microwave which is mostly plastic.  

Any ideas or recommendations please ? 

sarah1972

MrsStepford said:

I'm a college-trained former chef. My husband is the son of a Royal Navy chef. Since we moved in together, we have always cooked from scratch. My parents gave us a cast-off microwave and it was only used for hot chocolate and heating up cold coffee, so we got rid of it. 

Now that my husband has been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, I am thinking about buying a microwave. I want to be able to reheat frozen casseroles, cook vegetables, have a go at making sauces e.g. Béarnaise and defrost pheasants. We won't be hearing ready meals. Don't want anything tiny nor some huge thing with a grill. Definitely don't want anything which suffers from peeling paint. Or a microwave which is mostly plastic.  

Any ideas or recommendations please ? 

Personally I would reheat casseroles on the hob, steam veg and only ever make sauces in a pan and I would never defrost meat in one as I have heard too many stories of it starting to cook the meat but that’s just me,  but you didn’t ask that and to answer your question I would go for Miele as it is such a good long lasting brand. 

gwynlas

Most off the shelf cheap ones are fine for the basics such as cooking veg. I have never used a defrost function but have reheated previously frozen dishes both in domestic and commercial microwaves. For up to date reviews you are probably best looking on line for sites eg the big river etc and some coking mags eg Good Housekeeping. If required local libraries generally offer access to Which otherwise you need to subscribe.

mebu60

Take a plate and casserole dish with you when looking to check they will fit!

Murphybear

gwynlas said:

Most off the shelf cheap ones are fine for the basics such as cooking veg. I have never used a defrost function but have reheated previously frozen dishes both in domestic and commercial microwaves. For up to date reviews you are probably best looking on line for sites eg the big river etc and some coking mags eg Good Housekeeping. If required local libraries generally offer access to Which otherwise you need to subscribe.

Here is some information from Which.  According to them the best 3 brands are Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba.  We bought a Panasonic combi 5 years ago and it is very good.  However we don’t actually use the extra functions very much so we might just as well bought a simpler one.  The defrost function works well, the food doesn’t end up “patchy”.  

Get to know your microwave

How many cooking options you have will depend on the type of microwave you own. There are three main types: 

• Microwave only These models tend to be quite basic and are designed for heating and defrosting foods. They’re the cheapest option you can go for, so they're ideal if you’re on a budget, and usually less bulky than other models.
• Combi microwave These have extra convection cooking and grill functions, so you can cook in the same way as a conventional oven, as well as microwaving. They’re the most expensive type of microwave you can choose, but offer more flexibility and usually more cooking space too.
• Microwave with grill These have a grill function that can be used to brown food.