What am I Going to Use my Microwave Oven for?

What am I Going to Use my Microwave Oven for?
The first question is the most important for narrowing down whether you should consider standard microwave ovens or models with additional features. Most people only use their microwave to heat up food rather than actually cooking whole meals from scratch. For this, standard microwave ovens are definitely sufficient. If you were planning on using it for more diverse tasks you might want to look at combination microwave ovens which can also function like a normal convection oven.

This question will also help you to narrow down the microwave choice further by helping you think about the size of microwave you are going to need. If you live alone then a small microwave will probably be fine, but if you intend to cook for a whole family then you will probably want to look at bigger models.

What Type of Features Would I Find Useful?
Most models of microwave will come with a list of features, and for some the list can seem pretty immense. This doesn't necessarily mean that those with more features will be better for you though. Extra features are only worth paying for if you think they will be useful to you. One of the first you should think about is the auto-program functions which are available. If you are quite lazy then it may be quite appealing to get one where you can just press one button to automatically set the time and the power level. As well as saving a few seconds, this feature is also really useful if you are a novice with the microwave and you aren't really sure how long and at what power things should be cooked - it can save quite a lot of extra time that you would spend looking these things up.

An extra feature that many microwave ovens have is an auto-defrost feature. This lets you key in the weight and the microwave calculates the power and time needed for defrosting - again a handy time-saving device which saves you looking it up.

If you have a slightly higher budget you might want to consider a model which has sensors which will stop the microwave oven when they sense the food is cooked. Again, this is probably especially useful for all those novice microwave cooks out there.

Am I Getting the Best Value for Money
Finally, there are just a couple of things which you should know to make sure that you get the best microwave in your price range. Most microwaves come with removable plates and turntables as standard, but this is definitely something that will make your life easier, so choose one with removable parts over one with a fixed turntable if possible.

The power of the microwave (e.g. 700W/800W/1000W and so on) is an indicator of how fast it cooks. Make sure that you pick the highest power microwave you can within your budget, as even 100W extra can make a big difference in cooking times.

And Then You Are Left With...
So if you follow all of these tips then you should be able to narrow down the list of microwaves which are right for you. The only thing left to do then is choose the one which you find most visually appealing and that will fit in your kitchen.

UK author who is meeting a need for website reviews of the best kitchen and cooking equipment by publishing several sites including Combination Microwave and Stainless Steel Microwave