I’m on an extended trip visiting friends and family and twice now I’ve stayed in homes with no microwave.
How do those of you who don’t have one heat, say, coffee? Leftovers? You use the oven or stovetop for everything?
I prefer to heat a lot of things on the stove. Some dishes reheat okay in the microwave, if it’s got a lot of sauce or broth. I do not care for anything with meat or poultry reheated in a microwave. I don’t really use the microwave that much I guess - if I need frozen peas or corn cooked or heated up.
Coffee goes in my Yeti so it never needs to be heated 
Reheated coffee or tea is sacrilege. 
Pour it out and make a fresh cup. I have a micro, but many things reheat better on a stove - in a pan or steamed. Of course, in the winter I use our steam oven, but that would not help the OP because steam ovens are not common.
I could easily survive without my microwave. I use a percolator and it keeps the coffee piping hot.
Lots of things reheat just fine in the oven or in a pot on the stove.
My son is a really good cook and foodie…and he does not have a microwave.
I hardly use my microwave for anything. Most everything is reheated on the stove.
I don’t reheat things like coffee. I mostly make hot drinks like tea and coffee one cup at a time. There are a lot of things I prefer cold rather than reheated in a microwave, like pizza.
I didn’t have a microwave for many years. I do like toaster ovens.
I thought I died and went to heaven when I bought my first microwave back in the 80s. I hated leftovers heated stovetop or in the oven because they usually got overdone and too dry. Heating them in the microwave allows for the added convenience of using the same container they were stored in. No need to dirty an extra pot or casserole dish.
It’s interesting to me that all the responses so far are anti microwave. I didn’t know that was a thing. But we stayed at an Airbnb that didn’t have one, and I started to get the sense that this was a new trend.
This thread made me realize that we never run our microwave for longer than 2 minutes. If it takes longer than 2 mins to reheat in the micro, then we’ll use the stove instead. It’s definitely a special-purpose tool for reheating small leftovers in single-serve portions for us. We do use it a lot though - it gets used almost every day.
Don’t these people eat popcorn? I feel like I"m reading a thread from Bizarroland.
I do use the microwave for zapping a cup of coffee that has gotten cold and for popcorn. Once in a while for defrosting, but could easily survive without a microwave
This thread is very timely, since my microwave died a couple of days ago. I haven’t had time to go shopping for one(might just order and have it shipped) and it is incredibly frustrating not having one. So many things I think about having for a quick bite, but can’t because I don’t have a microwave. I have bbq meat in the fridge and would like to have a sandwich but can’t because I have no good way to heat it.
I use the microwave to make oatmeal; reheat coffee on the second day (I live alone, the coffee tastes better if I make a full (small) pot, but I don’t drink a full pot every day); heat liquids for baking (e.g., for bread); and melt chocolate for baking.
My very elderly health foody mother refuses to use a microwave as she used to think it destroyed the nutritional value of food, all my pointing out of evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. At her advanced aged heating everything on the stove is time consuming and at risk of being forgotten and burned. She is a bit to old to learn anything new. How I wish she had learned to use one years ago!!!
No drip coffeemaker here either - I’ve been using a french press but prefer to make 2-3 mugs at a time in it (it’s a larger one), and by the 3rd it could use a little warm up
Reheating leftovers is definitely the main thing I use a micro for at home. A toaster oven works OK too but there isn’t one of those here either. Seems like a waste to turn on the oven just to reheat something for myself, but oh well.
@great lakes mom–She’ll learn if it’s required. My mom was resistant up until the convenience simply outweighed every con she could come up with. Sometimes it just takes a demonstration how fast it can be–including the saved clean-up (which can be huge) Power to the stove is turned off at my dad’s house.
When showing my dad how to use the MW we put a sticker on the express button (heat for 30 seconds) with instructions to just push as many times as needed (most times 2 minutes or so anyway) and a sticker on the Stop/Reset button. Forget all the bells and whistles. Just heat up some food and eat.
Popcorn
Quesadillas
Warm up tortillas for burritos
Water for tea
Warm water for dissolving yeast
Casserole (6 minutes)
Steam vegetables
“Healthy” frozen meals
Frozen tamales
Veggie burger
Used to nuke spuds but current micro doesn’t do a good job
Homemade rhubard crisp
S’mores
I used to not have a micro. In fact for 8 years I only had a wood fired cookstove. I got used to eating things without reheating. Any kind of reheating changes the flavor. I still often eat leftovers without reheating or I will heat just enough to take the chill off. Not a coffee drinker, so coffee not an issue.
I am surprised at educated people who believe microwaves are a health hazard, but to each their own.
I do not like ovens–other than for cooking a turkey. Toaster ovens suffice for everything else that I cook.
Microwave oven is useful for heating & reheating coffee & tea, and for “steaming” frozen vegetables.
I can live without an oven, but not without a microwave.
Back in the day before microwaves, I remember reheating a lot of things in the toaster oven. It took forever, especially if you were really hungry!
I’m grateful for my microwave. I mainly use it to reheat, but also to precook potatoes sometimes, or broccoli, and then finish them off some other way.
Prior to having kids, I didn’t use the microwave often. When my boys were little, though, they both wanted to make some of their own food and they also liked to get up at horrifically early hours. And the microwave seemed like a way they could have some independence with making food but I wouldn’t have to worry about a possible fire from them trying to cook on the stove. So we figured out all sorts of simple things they could make themselves - bean burritos (spread mashed beans and cheese on a tortilla), quesadillas, breakfast sandwiches (put English muffin in toaster, microwave egg in 1 c pyrex dish which happens to be the exact size of the English muffin which seemed to tickle them, put a slice of cheese in there).
Now that they’re older and can use the stove, we all use the stove more often but the microwave is still useful for reheating certain things.
When we did our kitchen remodeling, we got rid of the microwave. We use oven/stove. Oven warmup function and yes it does take longer than 1’ to warmup something but you plan a little bit ahead, then you will get use to it really quickly. As for coffee, fresh new pot here too.
@alooknac
Microwave might not be a health hazard, but it definitely “promotes” unhealthy eating habits imho. And I do associate TV dinners with microwave.