Do you love your microwave?

[java]

Ours died last night and in googling I see that what happened to ours it standard- so no more Panasonic for me.

Anyone have advice on a good microwave- we are a family of 6. Don't really use it for other than baked potatoes and bacon and popcorn- just easy heating up stuff kind of things.

 

[sksjasams]

Our microwave died two years ago. I searched and searched before I decided on one. We had had a kenmore for almost 10 years that I loved, but when I looked at the new kenmores, they were cheaply made and not the high quality I was used to.

I had a very specific criteria - white, counter-top model, pop open door, recessed turn table.

We ended up with this whirlpool model:

http://www.whirlpool.com/catalog/product.jsp?src=MICROWAVES&cat=90&prod=1360

We love it! It has all the features I wanted, plus sensor cooking. It is a lot more powerful than our old one. It cooks a bag of microwave popcorn in 1 min 15 sec!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Carlyzmom]

Well, I WOULD NOT recommend a GE. I got a fancy stainless steel GE when I remodeled my kitchen. I hate it. It heats fine, but won't pop my popcorn!! It ends up burning before it pops! I did Google it, and read to put the popcorn on an upside down pie plate. This does help, but REALLY? It should pop it correctly without that!

 

[luvmyeor]

I just replaced ours last week. (My mother decided to turn the old one on with nothing inside it! There was a nice little fire inside it by the time I realized what she had done.)

I searched for a week before I found one I liked. I found one at HH Gregg. My criteria was : at least 1000 watts and less than $100. The GE model had bad reviews online - the door doesn't open when you push the button. I tried it several times and it never opened when I pushed the button.

I bought a Sharp Carousel. It is 1100 watts. The shelf price was $92.49 plus there was a $10 rebate. When the salesman rang it up he said the shelf price was wrong. The price was only $79.99 and no rebate. Walmart.com has the same one for $119!

As an added bonus I discovered that this microwave has a child-safe lock on the keypad. I don't have to worry about mom trying to burn the house down again.

 

[DawnM]

We just get Kenmore and haven't had any issues with them so far, but they are the $75 or so models so nothing too fancy.

Dawn

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I have no idea how old ours is...I just know it is old. It was in the house when we moved in. We use it quite a bit. I hope it doesn't tear up soon because it looks expensive, and the exhaust fan for the stove goes through the microwave and all, like the buttons for the exhaust fan are actually on the microwave keypad.

 

[bdcp]

I have a Panasonic Inverter that works great after 7 years. It was only $99 when I bought it in Nov 2003. What is the "standard" thing that happened to yours? Microwaves are so inexpensive now. My first one, bought in 1982 was a JC Penney that cost almost $500 and weighed about 60 lbs. They've come a long way.

BTW, you do realize any appliance you google is going to bring up "standard, known problems", right? Nothing is perfect and while some appliances are worse than others, none are failure proof.

How long have you had the microwave? The average life of household appliances is around 7 years.

 

[java]

The microwave was less than 2 years old. It is an H98 failure. I have been looking today but none wowed me. Still looking.

 

[Dismom55]

I had a Panasonic lasted 23 yrs before it died, replaced it with a Kenmore (top of the line), within the first year it had to be serviced. Had I not bought the repair plan we would have been sunk, would have cost enough to just replace it. I would not get another Kenmore, the thing about Whirlpool is they make Kenmore, but I have never had a lick of problems with my other Whirlpool appliances, the rest of the kitchen and laundry are whirlpool, so I would give them a try next time.