<p>My 16-year old Sharp countertop microwave is in its twilight years. I am looking for a replacement. I don’t use it much, just to defrost a bagel, to nuke an occasional frozen veggie, to melt butter or chocolate. You get the idea. I want a small cavity, no more than 1.1 cubic feet, and wattage of between 800 and 1000. Any recommendations for me?Thanks for any advice. I have not seen any models online with positive reviews.</p>
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That’s because almost the only ones who go out of their way to post online are doing so because they have a complaint. The majority who have no issues don’t usually bother to post. Don’t put too much stock in the reviews unless they have a specific point that makes sense to you.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ve ever had a microwave actually break. I usually have gotten rid of them when redoing the kitchen or something. </p>
<p>My current one is a GE Profile over-the-stove type as was my last one. Both are working fine, even the old one which is now at a friend’s house.</p>
<p>I’ve also had small countertop Panasonic and others and have never had an issue.</p>
<p>I’d just look for one that fits your size, style, and budget but would limit my search to a major brand name that you’ve heard of before and stay away from the no-name ones. Even the brand name ones are pretty cheap so it’s not worth worrying about too much.</p>
<p>I paid $79 for my current microwave (a small LG). It was on sale at Best Buy. It’s fine. I don’t expect a lot for $79, to be honest, but it’s now 2.5 years old, it’s easy to clean, it runs fine. I’ve paid more than $79 for a new stock pot!</p>
<p>I’d suggest an appliance store rather than buying from a general merchandise department store. But of course, the department stores sell the major brands.</p>
<p>I have a feeling it doesn’t matter too much, although I’m sitting here looking at the Hotpoint I got from my parents that must be > 20 years old–I got it from them when my GE built-in quit. FWIW, Consumer Reports likes Kenmore and Whirlpool.</p>
<p>I like the Sharp brand- consider sticking with it for reliability. Higher wattage is nice. Don’t bother with the larger ones- way back when they sold the idea of making full family meals- never happens. Wattage, however makes a difference. Left behind a 1200 watt Sharp in our old house (there was a microwave over the stove here and we took the dual with convection- great for frozen pizzas and pies although only 900 watts made a difference) that was great. I learned that spending money on fancy features for the everyday oven wasn’t worth it- a Panasonic with “inverter technology” malfunctioned under warranty and the replacement Sharp was better and cheaper. I do miss the potato feature of our first Sharp-current models no longer do a potato to doneness, merely ask how many…</p>
<p>Short answer- Sharp is the best I know of.</p>
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<p>I think most people know this trick by now, but if you’re looking to really shorten the time to make a baked potato take a nice, long galvanized nail (or otherwise rustproof big piece of metal) and stab it to the center of the potato. The heat will conduct through the nail and into the center of the potato, helping it cook from the center out. Used this trick on the grill last night with a little salt, pepper, and oil on the skin and they were delicious.</p>
<p>I thought metal in the m-wave was a no-no. Even buried in a potato… But hey, if it works, then maybe I will have to give it a go. Want to hear others’ experiences first though…call me a skeptic ;-)</p>
<p>If you have an Amex card, buy it with that. Our cheap countertop GE microwave died 7 months after purchase – used about like yours, from the sounds of it. The replacement one keeled over about a year after that. We’re back to another GE one, which is so far about 7 months old.
(And my parents’ late 1960s Amana Radarange was still working when we gave it away a couple of years ago. Weighed a ton, but that sucker was totally reliable, unlike the plastic junk sold now.)</p>
<p>My KitchenAid toaster had a small piece of the front plastic – in the middle of the unit – just pop out. Nothing damaged it, but apparently the heat stress eventually caused a failure at that point. Junque.</p>
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<p>Whoops, didn’t mean to imply you do this in the microwave. This is good for ovens, toaster ovens, etc. ;)</p>
<p>You can put metal in the microwave, though! Take a brown lunch bag, fill the bottom with popcorn kernels (I think it’s something like 1/4 cup), fold the top over twice and staple shut. Homemade microwave popcorn for pennies!</p>
<p>Costco would be my first choice of where to buy, but I didn’t see any microwave ovens on their website. WalMart has an Emerson 1.1 cu.ft. w/ 1000 watts for $79 at the store near us. I’d buy that w/ my AmEx.</p>
<p>We buy cheap microwaves from Target or Best Buy. My requirements are limited - turntable with 900/1000 watt power that fit in the opening in my kitchen designed for it. (depth is generally my limiting factor) I think I’ve always had Sharps. We stuck with the last one for a while even though the middle row (vertical) of numbers didn’t work I told the family to suck it up for over a year. (you want 2 minutes…hit 1 min, 61 seconds - same thing!). The final straw what when the turntable cracked in half and would cost $50+ to replacement. Looked around on-line and got a new microwave for <$90 delivered all-in. </p>
<p>PS - put the old one at the curb w a Craigs list post including all the problems. It was gone in <12 hours.</p>
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<p>I can’t believe this …
We bought a Panasonic with the inverter technology (theory: when you lower the power setting, it actually emits less power rather than zapping at full power and shutting off in cycles to give the lower average power) from Sams Club. It was the first microwave we ever had that failed within a year and the repair shop wasn’t able to fix it so we got a refund check. Writing this off as an outlier, went back and bought the same model - this one failed within 6 weeks. Will never buy a Panasonic again.</p>
<p>We spluge on over-the-stove models. We on our third since we built the house in 1993. (LOL - we are only on our 2nd fridge, first stove, first DW, and washer/dryer from the old house). We use our microwave A LOT, and we’d be lost without it. The stove is smooth top, and it makes a great landing zone things coming out to the mic.</p>
<p>We had (just moved) a vent fan over the stove- those vent better than the ones with microwave ovens. Plus, counter height is so much easier to use than reaching, slide onto counter…</p>
<p>FYI Was looking at Costco just the other day for this, they have two different models, both $69. Didn’t pay much more attention than that because, really, it’s a microwave, and anything can be returned to Costco if needed.</p>
<p>I’m short, and I still love the over-the-stove arrangement. It makes it very easy to viww and test the food. But I do understand why some would prefer counter height. </p>
<p>What seems awkward to me are the under-counter ones I see on fancy kitchen remodels on TV. Do they have a pull-out shelf or something?</p>