Buying a Microwave

[cabletech94]

the kid put his hand through the microwave door (don't ask). so i gotta buy a new one. i can install it, i am somewhat a smrt person (zing). went to home depot, because it was open, and im an impulse buy type of guy.

they had too many to choose from. i mean, way too many to choose from. please someone tell me why i need a convection microwave please. i don't understand the concept of a metal grill in the middle of a microwave. isn't that kind of a death warrant. why do i need sensor cooking controls?

i'll hold off on the purchase because it started storming and it sounded like the metal roof was caving in. midwest pop up storms and all.

thanks in advance and sorry if a Q.

[MTG#10]

Convection microwaves use forced air to circulate around your food heating from within...they basically bake your food. They retain "crispiness" and flavor much better than a standard microwave. My new house came with one and I love it.

[Baby Lee]

Plus one for convection microwave.

But there's two ways to go here. Microwaves have been developed to where there's two distinct tracks. They have really cheap ones that you can buy, use and throw away almost without thinking about it, some down to $30 or so in the right sale. Then there's still high quality, durable microwaves that do a lot more and do so more reliably, that are more of an investment.

I got a GREAT deal on a Kenmore Elite [Cargo Largo]. At Sears' MSRP of $330, it would have been a tough sell. But I've had it for years, and it's proven well worth it if I had paid full price.

The big thing, outside if it's convection or not, is that I'd ALWAYS pony up for a stainless steel interior. Anything else is going to wear out the interior finish even with meticulous cleaning. There's only so much hot food and food odors you can wash out of them over the years, unless you have stainless steel to clean.

https://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/i/spin/10169941/prod_20661071712?hei=1000&wid=1000&op_sharpen=1

EDIT: I missed the 'why' question on convection.
Integrating convection and microwave gives you a much better vehicle for cooking, particularly cooking things that don't fare well in microwaves.
Microwaves heat water, . . . mostly. Technically, they energize particles in whatever is in the box. That energy generates heat. Water is the most stable and reliable recepticle for that energy [metal energizes faster, but it's unstable. It can vaporize some parts while others remain untouched. That's why forks and such spark in a microwave, concentrated energy].
So the only way microwaves cook things is to make the water in them hot. This is kind of like boiling, which isn't a great way to get the results you like when you roast or bake.
Convection uses the movement of heated air to cook things. This is much more like perfect roasting or baking. Plus you still have the microwave heating the water content speeding up the cooking process.
So with a combo, you can straight microwave. Perfect is you're heating soup or coffee, or even things like rice or pasta where the heat in the water is what cooking is generally considered 'cooking.' Or you can straight convection cook, where hot air swirls around your food and heats it up crispy and browned. Or you can combo-cook, where the convection crisps the outside while the microwave heats the inside, perfect for something like a baked potato, or toasted things like fries, wings, bread, garlic toast, etc., . . . where you want the moisture inside heated like you boiled or steamed it and the outside is crispy and browned.

As for sensor controls, it just gives you more 'intelligence' in the distribution of the heating energy. For a basic microwave, they toss the energy into the box and whatever it hits, it hits. So you can have a lump of food that is scalding in one area and still cold in another, just by chance where the energy hits [actually a function of the wave propagating in the chamber]. The sensors figure out where your food is and how evenly it is heating up, then adjusts the energy beam [via the wave guide] accordingly. That way temperature is more likely to rise evenly throughout the food and you're less likely to have something overcooked and undercooked at the same time.

Regarding metal in the chamber, such as the convection heating element, or racks. Although metal takes that energy and quickly turns it into heat [the sparking fork], it needs a nucleation point. That is a sharp edge where the energy bunches up without dissipation. That's why everything inside a microwave is smooth, and why smooth metal elements like the heating element can be in there as well. The smooth metal doesn't trap the energy in a corner where it generates excessive heat, particularly when it's placed carefully to coincide with energy troughs.

Here's a primer on the principles

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[vailpass]

I bought a new GE microwave half a year ago or so. Big one, 1200 watt. Used regularly by my three teenage boys. Not convection. It’s worked great so far.

This might sound strange but one feature that’s really nice is the rounded corners in the back, makes it so much easier to clean.

[Bugeater]

DO NOT buy GE. Total junk.

[Bugeater]

I bought a new GE microwave half a year ago or so. Big one, 1200 watt. Used regularly by my three teenage boys. Not convection. It’s worked great so far.

This might sound strange but one feature that’s really nice is the rounded corners in the back, makes it so much easier to clean.

OH HAI

[cabletech94]

ROFLOH HAI

[vailpass]

OH HAI

LMAO

[Buzz]

Cheap azz hot point over the stove has served me well over the last 15 years. Proly paid less than 200 for it. I don't buy high end appliance. They seem to wear out the same and I don't give 2 shits about brand or what it looks like.

[SAUTO]

We don't have a micro wave. We used to. It broke and everything tasted better heated up a different way. So we shitcanned it. Our nurses and my mom hate it.