Looking to get a microwave. No main cooker available.

Wondering if its best to get
– standard microwave
– microwave with a grill in it
– one that includes a grill and mini oven

I have only ever used a standard one before, so not sure if the complicated ones are worth the extra money or indeed, if the complex ones are a bit on the rubbish side.

Have to go out now so logging off, thanks for any responses though.

We have a built in microwave/fan oven/grill (as well as a conventional oven/grill).

It’s pretty good and no bigger than a microwave. If it were just me I’d be happy to have it as my only oven.

It’s a 1000w microwave so powerful (which is what we mostly use it for other than complex/large meals needing more oven space) but works well in all three modes.

We have a Microwave with Oven & Grill here at work. The oven feature is pretty much only used, it cooks better than my home oven!

I have a combi one myself, although I do have a normal oven as well it comes in handy for pizzas and things (as I don’t have a split oven so it takes a while + probably costs more getting it up to temp). Grilling is less hassle in a normal oven (quicker + I can never find the tall stands to go into the microwave to use it in grill mode). I would say def worth the extra if you don’t have a normal oven (one with a grill and oven that is).

I’ve got one. I think I’ve used the not-a-microwave side of it about three times.

Parents have had a few combi units over the years.
They like them, i’ve never been impressed.

However if you don’t actually have an oven, then yes, go for a combi.

Granny had one as her only oven for some years. She used to do full roasts in it and spoke highly of it.

Can anyone recommend any brands they have found good for combination ovens?

I had one which I tried to use once to roast a chicken and one more time to make cheese on toast. The results were shit. As a microwave it was good enough. I’d guess if your choice is one of them or no oven/grill, it’s better than nothing

Ours is a Neff built in job so not cheap but it’s been problem free and still looks new inside and out despite heavy family use.

We had one for years as our main oven. Worked fine cooking for 2, only real limitations are (a) a bit on the small size for a christmas turkey and all the trimmings! and (b) power/max temp was slightly weak especially for things like trying to do pizza (which is difficult enough in a proper oven), due to the low thermal capacity and loss of heat on opening the door. Running off 13A it’s always going to be a bit limited.

But other than that it basically worked well for about 20 years. Can’t remember the brand, sorry, but over that time they will have changed a lot anyway. Running the combi oven/microwave is great for things like baked potatoes when you want both types of heating, also re-heating when you want a bit of external heat to stop the soggy microwaved effect.

Mine is a siemens, had it over ten years and it gets a fair bit of use as a microwave and a grill and a bit less as a conventional oven but only because It sits above a bigger oven which gets up to temperature a bit quicker than the combi so that gets used by default. If I had to have one device I’d have the combi.

The best thing about it are fluffy jacket potatoes with crispy skins in 15 minutes, if I only ever used it for that it would be worthwhile.

Got a Panasonic combi.
It’s as good a microwave as any and the oven and grill are great options to have, especially as we’ve only got a single oven.

The combi (convection & microwave) function is also great for JPs etc.

It wasn’t much more than a decent microwave either.

Panasonic combi – use it a lot, great for quick crispy jacket spuds or sweet potatoes.

wwaswas – Member
Ours is a Neff built in job so not cheap but it’s been problem free and still looks new inside and out despite heavy family use.

ours is a neff built in job and has failed twice. first time the magnetron, second time the controller. eye-wateringly expensive to fix

The Panasonic ones seem to get mixed reviews on reliability these days _ I nearly bought one to keep me going during my recent refurb. Seems to be due to them being made in China now rather than Japan…

I have a Miele M6100BM but it a integrated unit and bloody heavy.

Thanks for all the helpful info.

I have one of these in the *tiny* flat in France.
We only had space for a small “oven” in the kitchenette
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4008259

It’s surprisingly good. Take time to balance microwave power and oven/grill power to cook evenly and I’ve had no problems with anything from pasta bakes to pizzas, casseroles and tartiflettes.

I have a DeLonghi one myself (must be at least 5 years old), been faultless apart from the timer dial doesn’t ‘bite’ properly now so gets annoying spinning it around trying to get it to register another minute or something.

I bought the GF a Samsung one a year ago (I’m so romantic…), mostly as it was a reasonable size but it’s been good since (although she rarely uses the oven/grill part).

I’ve got a samsung one and it works very well. Grill is good and oven does work well.
On mine, it’s a fair bit deeper than a normal microwave and it won’t fit easily into a unit as it needs quite a bit of heat escape space around it, certainly wouldn’t do the job stoners is doing above.

that one has got a fair bit of space behind it for heat to escape up and out the top (normally things arent stored on top of it while its running) It rarely gets v hot around it though