4 Best Microwave To Buy
1. Sage by Heston Blumenthal The Quick Touch Crisp review - Lives up to its celebrity billing
Despite its gastronomic patronage, The Quick Touch Crisp is simple and straightforward to use, plus it's highly effective
If you’re as fatigued with celebrity endorsements as I am, then it’s very easy to roll your eyes and sigh at Sage’s Quick Touch Crisp microwave co-branded with the name and image of celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal. If you can keep an open mind though, as I did, then you’ll find a lot to like in this combination microwave. It's worth noting now that there are two versions of this device, The Quick Touch and the The Quick Touch Crisp, here we're looking at the latter, the combi-microwave version, but much of this review applies to the cheaper microwave-only model too, which costs around £260.
One of the most remarkable things about the Quick Touch Crisp is how easy it is to use. The push dials and buttons are all clearly labelled, relying on words rather than indecipherable squiggly icons. With some modes, the dials are also used to navigate the simple menu system displayed on the huge screen just above the controls. Rather than complicating matters, it’s a real boon making it a snap to understand what options you’ve selected. This is by far the easiest to use microwave I’ve ever seen.
While this microwave bears Heston Blumenthal’s name, it’s all about everyday cooking rather than the more precise and intricate ‘molecular gastronomy’ that the famed chef is known for. It certainly had no trouble with the mundane task of defrosting a 125g chicken breast. It blitzed through the task in just two and a half minutes, yet the breast was perfectly defrosted with not an icy patch to be seen. It was a bit overdone around the edges, but that's not unusual.
The Quick Touch Crisp also fared well at grilling a chicken breast. The combination grill-microwave program was based not only on weight, but also on food type. It thoroughly cooked through our test breast in six and a half minutes - one of the shortest times we’ve seen so far in this benchmark. The end result wasn’t browned in any way, but it was moist and evenly cooked.
I'm not really surprised by the Quick Touch Crisp’s spot-on performance as it managed to maintain a very even output wattage. It started our power output testing with a reading of 400W, climbed to 450W and stayed there for the third iteration giving an average of 433W.
Although the Quick Touch Crisp took a lengthy nine and a half minutes to brown a slice of medium thickness white bread, the results were almost flawless. The almost perfectly even golden colour was only spoilt by a few spots of darkness. Plus, it accomplished this without making a racket. Noise levels stayed at a fairly constant 59-62dB.
A 250g jacket potato was cooked through with a piping hot centre of 98.7 degrees celsius. Temperatures throughout the rest of the potato didn’t dip too radically, measuring 88.1 and 86 degrees on the left and right-hand sides respectively.
Sage’s Quick Touch Crisp will be out of reach for many due to its high price, it's significantly more expensive than any counter-top microwave we've seen, but if you have money to spare then this is the combi microwave to get. I promise you won’t regret it.
Find Here To Learn More About Sage by Heston Blumenthal the Quick Touch Crisp Microwave, 25 L, 1000 W
2. Daewoo KOC9Q1T Combination Microwave Oven review
The controls could be clearer but the Daewoo KOC9Q1T delivered a good all-round performance at a low price
Daewoo used to be a massive conglomerate making everything from ships to cars, but the original Daewoo has since fractured into many independent successor companies all bearing the Daewoo name. One of them, Daewoo Electronics, makes the KOC9Q1T. It’s cheap for a combi at £79 from Amazon and is available in white or stainless steel finishes. Build quality is merely okay with the top panel flexing under pressure easily, but I can forgive this small flaw given the low price.
Amusingly, there’s a QR code printed on the flaps of the microwave’s box. Scanning it with your smartphone takes you to a YouTube video showing you how to unpack and set up your microwave. The video isn’t really necessary as there’s very little effort involved in setting up the KOC9Q1T, but it’s the thought that counts. The maximum timer setting of 60 minutes is shorter than other microwaves, but it should still be enough for the vast majority of microwave recipes.
Although the KOC9Q1T’s buttons are labelled in plain English, some have two separate functions depending on the program you’ve chosen which can lead to momentary befuddlement. It’s not too difficult to figure out, especially with the help of the reasonably well written and laid out manual (which sadly isn’t as charming as the separate manga-style set up and safety leaflet), but we’ve seen better-conceived microwave controls.
The KOC9Q1T’s weight-based auto defrost program oddly has a minimum weight of 200g, so I had to manually set the timer to defrost a 125g chicken breast. It did a good job, evenly defrosting the fillet with only modest overcooking at the thinnest edges. It maintained a very even power output with an average figure of 407W, so it was no surprise that the jacket potato showed very little variation in temperature across the board.
This microwave isn’t the fastest we’ve seen at combi cooking, taking a lengthy 16 minutes to cook through a chicken breast. The results were generally moist though, with only minor dryness and overcooking around the edges.
The KOC9Q1T took a leisurely nine minutes to brown a slice of bread, but even then it only managed a very light level of browning. I suspect the surprisingly short and stubby metal grill is at fault - a taller one may have resulted in shorter cooking times and a deeper, more attractive level of browning.
I had no complaints about noise though. Starting out at 55dB and reaching a high of 61dB, the KOC9Q1T isn’t any noisier than average.
Overall, the Daewoo KOC9Q1T is a good microwave. Its controls and accessories could be better designed, while cooking times could be shorter. In every other respect though, it performed very well and doesn’t cost a lot of money either, making it a good choice if you’re on a tight budget.
Read More About Daewoo KOC9Q1T Combination Microwave Oven 28 L, 900 W - White Click Here
3. Sharp R82STMA microwave review
Easy to use with even results but it's a tad slow; still a good buy but there are slightly better options around
Sharp is one of the biggest names in white goods and home electronics, but the Japanese giant’s microwave range in the UK are actually rebranded versions of models made and sold by Turkish titan Vestel. None of this should put you off though as the R82STMA is a good combi microwave oven.
You’d be partially forgiven for thinking that a Japanese-Turkish microwave would be a convoluted mess to use, but the R82STMA is less complicated than much of the competition. The clearly worded labels on the buttons make this a straightforward appliance to configure and use.
The R82STMA took a patience-sapping 15 minutes on the recommended program to defrost a chicken breast. While this is one of the longest times I’ve seen, the results were beyond reproach. It was evenly defrosted with not a single icy patch in sight, putting to shame other microwaves that cost three times as much and yet achieve worse results.
The R82STMA took a leisurely eight minutes to grill a slice of bread in our browning test. The results were generally even and pleasing to the eye, with only a dark patch in one corner letting the side down.
Sharp’s combi was similarly impressive when cooking a chicken breast using a combi grill-microwave program. Although the chicken was only minimally browned at best, the breast was moist throughout with no overcooked dry spots.
THe chicken did take a sedate 15 minutes to do so though which is twice as long as most other combis I’ve seen and almost three times as long as the very fastest microwave that still produced similarly superb results. At least it didn’t make a din while cooking - noise levels stayed at a consistent 59dB throughout the cooking process.
The R82STMA was uneven in our power output test, seesawing its way to an average wattage of 500W. Even so, it still cooked a jacket potato with only mild differences in temperature across the spud. The centre was unsurprisingly the hottest spot at 93 degrees centigrade, while the left and right hand sides were on an even keel at 82 and 83 degrees respectively.
If you’re fussy about the look of your kitchen appliances, then you’ll be disappointed by the finish in the R82STMA. The metal casing looks flawless to the casual observer, but closer inspection reveals that some of the seams don’t quite line up. The top panel also flexes under pressure, but you shouldn’t be storing anything obstructive on top of any standalone microwave anyway.
As expected for a combi microwave at this price, there’s not much in the way of extras. A grill rack is all you get, while the warranty only lasts for a year. Some might be saddened by the lack of a microwave recipe cookbook, which were a staple of microwaves in the 1980s, but I’m glad to see the back of them.
The Sharp R82STMA is a great value microwave that’s easy to use and cooks evenly to a high standard. Only its lengthy cook times, so-so build quality and the availability of even better value budget combi microwaves, such as the Russell Hobbs RHM2361GCG, stop it getting top marks.
Find Here To Learn More About Sharp R82STMA Combi Microwave Oven with 1 Year Warranty, 25 Litre, 900 Watt, Silver
4. Hotpoint Ultimate Collection MWH33343B microwave review
A big microwave, inside and out, with some good results but defrosting was slow and the controls are a bit fiddly
The only thing bigger than the name ‘Hotpoint Ultimate Collection MWH 33343B combination’ is the microwave itself. Weighing in a hefty 31kg, this beast is heavy enough that you might need help getting it out of its box and onto your worktop.
You might need to make some extra room for it on your kitchen counter too - at 545mm, it’s easily the deepest microwave I’ve seen. On the other hand, Hotpoint has kept the door sensibly short. With the door open, the total depth of 755mm isn’t much longer than most other microwaves. It’s suitably capacious on the inside, measuring a cavernous 209x392x365mm (HxWxD).
The door is hinged at the bottom, instead of the more common left hand side. Personally I prefer this arrangement as you can get things in and out without the door getting in the way of your left elbow.
The controls aren't so thoughtful though - consisting of a series of touch sensitive buttons and a dial. The buttons are cryptically labelled with hard to decipher icons that had me frequently referring to the manual to check which button did what. This makes it one of the fiddliest microwaves I’ve used to date.
Defrosting appears sophisticated at first. The weight-based auto defrost program prompted me to flip over my chicken breast via a prompt on a small LED display adjacent to the controls. The results were highly unimpressive, though. After the first attempt, 10 minutes in length, a frozen lump approximately 3cm in length was clearly evident just underneath the surface of the chicken breast. It was only fully defrosted after another attempt, for a lengthy 20 minute wait in total.
Cooking performance was thankfully better than the patchy defrosting. The MWH 33343B detected the presence of the included grill rack when placed on the turntable and automatically selected the grill combi option - a neat touch. A fresh chicken breast was cooked through in a short five minutes with only a tinge of dryness around the edges.
A jacket potato was cooked with only minor variations in temperature across the board. The MWH 33343B grilled a slice of bread in four minutes, producing a broadly even level of browning with only a dark patch in a corner spoiling the effect. Noise levels were noticeably loud though, starting off at 65dB and peaking at a riotous 72dB. It's not the best choice then if you live open plan or even like to have a chat while cooking.
One neat touch was the range of included accessories. Two grill racks of differing heights are included, as well as a metal browning pan, there was also a handy plastic gripping handle for removing said grills and pan when hot. I found it particularly handy after absentmindedly misplacing my oven gloves for the umpteenth time.
The MWH 33343B is by no means a bad microwave, but its fussy controls and lengthy defrosting times are disappointing flaws for a microwave at this price. If the price drops then it might be worth considering
See More About Hotpoint MWH33343B Microwave Oven, 33.0 Litre, Black Click Here.
