The best microwaves will provide evenly cooked and warm food at all times. When investing in one of the best microwaves, it should be easy to use, convenient with useful preset programs to make your life easier. In addition, these will ensure your meals will be cooked to perfection, as you don’t want the center of your dinner to be too cold or too hot.
But with so many different sizes and specifications, it can often be tricky to know which one is suitable for you. Things to consider before you buy include the size and capacity, programs and any special features it has. Do you want one that can do more than just reheat? Some microwaves can bake, grill or even air fry. While others have sensory programs to match the weight of the food with the correct temperature. What’s more, there are smart-enabled models so you can control your microwave at the touch of a button from your device.
To help you decide, we’ve rounded up a great selection of the best microwaves, to ensure tasty mealtimes.
Best microwave overall: Toshiba EM925A5A
There’s a sweet spot for most appliances where the price, performance and features are all in balance. For microwave ovens, you’ll find that’s the case in the inexpensive Toshiba EM925A5A, which heats evenly and quickly and offers preprogrammed settings including ones for popular items like popcorn, “baked” potatoes, and pizza.
You won’t find lots of fancy features here; there’s no voice control and no sensors to determine the setting and time precisely. But there are some nice touches for convenience, such as Express Cook: Press any of the buttons from 1 through 6, and then Start, and you get 1 to 6 minutes of microwaving. Toshiba even includes a mute button to eliminate beeping, so you can nuke a midnight snack without letting anyone know you’re breaking your diet.
Best microwave for those on a budget: Sharp SMC0912BS
On the lookout for a bargain, but don’t want a cheap-looking appliance? The Sharp SMC0912BS is the best budget microwave around. In spite of its great price, it has a sleek, upscale design with a large push button rather than a handle for opening the door.
Although it doesn’t have sensors for cooking or defrosting foods automatically, the Sharp is equipped with preset programs for pizza, beverages, reheats, and defrosting. Need a quick warm up for your cup of coffee? Put it inside the oven and hit the start button for a 30-second zap. Still not hot enough? Hit start again for an additional 30 seconds. And press any of the keys from 1 to 6 to get a corresponding 1 to 6 minutes of heating. What you don’t get at this low price is an interior light to show you when the cheese on your pizza is melted.
A great compact pick: GE JES1072SHSS
The GE JES1072SHSS is a smart pick if you have limited countertop space. You get a good-looking design with a space-saving footprint, but a turntable that’ s just as large as in bigger models. However, it only has 700 watts of cooking power which means you may find cooking times on the long side. This GE is a great choice if you can’t live without a microwave for making a quick cup of tea or heating frozen dinners, but it’s probably not the best pick if you actually use your microwave to make dinner regularly.
In spite of its small size, this oven is stacked with lots of preprogrammed settings for things you’ll probably find yourself doing often, like popping corn, reheating, and defrosting. In addition, you get 6 quick start settings by pressing keys 1 to 6.
Best microwave for cooks: GE Profile JES2251SJ
If you use microwave recipes for everything for things like poached salmon or tamale pie, you need a bigger model. The GE Profile JES2251SJ can hold a large baking dish for a ziti or enchilada casserole on its humongous 16-inch turntable. At the holidays, you’ll find its large size handy for zapping a platter of roasted vegetables or turkey slices to warm them up. According to reviewers, this oven heats evenly as well as quickly thanks to 1,200 watts of power.
The GE is equipped with a sensor that detects when foods are done. If you like your veggies a little crisper or more tender than the sensor “thinks” is done, you can use the more or less button. On this oven, there’s a unique warm setting for holding a dish at serving temperature while you’re waiting for everyone to come to the table.
As you would expect, this oven’s size and technology increase the price. At about $300, this microwave is more than double the cost of our smaller picks.
Best over-the-range microwave: Whirlpool WMH53521H
The Whirlpool WMH53521H is an over-the-range microwave with a 14-inch turntable that’s large enough to hold a baking dish filled with mac ‘n cheese or apple crisp. If you should find your lasagna is too large to rotate on the turntable, you can turn the turntable off. Reviewers rave about this oven’s fast and even cooking.
With sensors and preprogrammed pads for everything from cooking bacon for breakfast to softening ice cream after dinner, the Whirlpool eliminates much of the guesswork involved in microwave heating. A wire rack comes with the oven that makes it possible to reheat two dinner plates at once. Inside, there’s a nonstick finish so you don’t have to work too hard to wipe off splatters. And of course, you’re also getting a vent hood to clear your kitchen of odors from broiling salmon or smoke from searing a steak.
Best smart microwave: GE JES1097SMSS Smart Countertop Microwave Oven
With the GE JES1097SMSS you can give orders either through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, using an Amazon Echo or Google Home speaker to control it. With 900 watts of power, it’s faster at getting your soup hot than the Amazon Basics smart microwave, making it just as smart but noticeably more powerful.
This microwave can also be controlled through the GE Appliances Kitchen app, which some reviewers found a little difficult to set up. With the app installed and connected, you can use a neat feature called Scan-to-Cook. Scan the barcode of a supported microwavable food and the app detects the code and programs the oven appropriately. Reviewers found that the feature worked well, but at the present time the list of scannable foods isn’t that long.
Best budget smart microwave: AmazonBasics Microwave
Need more Jetsons in your life? The AmazonBasics Microwave comes with voice control — well, sort of: Press the Alexa button on the microwave, and a nearby Amazon Alexa device (such as an Echo Dot) hears your instructions. That means you have to have an Alexa device in your kitchen in order to tell it to “microwave for 60 seconds,” “reheat a cup of coffee” or “defrost a pound bag of peas” and have the oven oblige. Reviewers found that the voice-control feature worked well, with the built-in Amazon Alexa assistant understanding and following instructions clearly.
One interesting feature is Auto Popcorn Replenishment. The microwave keeps a tab of how many bags of popcorn you have microwaved and automatically orders more — from Amazon, of course — when you run low.
However, there are a few gotchas to this microwave: CNet found that the presets didn’t work well with multiple quantities. While the oven microwaved a single potato just fine, when it tried three spuds at once, they came out hard in the center. With only 700 watts of power, it’s a slow-heating microwave. The AmazonBasics is the best budget smart microwave, and a great pick for an office or dorm room to heat up ramen noodles or make a cup of cocoa. But if you rely on your microwave for made from scratch cooking, opt for a larger, more powerful model.
Best microwave convection oven: Samsung MC11K7035CG
You can’t beat the Samsung MC11K7035CG/AA for versatility. In addition to microwaving, it can bake, broil, toast, and air fry. That means you can buy back countertop space by getting rid of your toaster and your air fryer. You can even combine microwaves and convection or grilling to get both speed and browning. While you may sacrifice some browning and crisping in combi mode, it might be worth it when the kids are asking, “When’s dinner going to be ready?” And at the holidays, you have a second oven to heat up the dinner rolls or a casserole while your number one oven is occupied by a turkey or ham.
For microwaving you have the benefit of sensors and preprogrammed settings. The oven cavity has a scratch resistant ceramic enamel finish that’s designed to make it easy to clean, which you’ll really appreciate if you roast foods like chicken that are likely to splatter.
A microwave that broils: Panasonic NN-GN68KS
The Panasonic NN-GN68KS is the best microwave if you’re looking for the speed of a microwave combined with the browning and crisping you get from a broiler. You can use both functions simultaneously which is ideal for dishes like macaroni and cheese that you want moist and creamy inside but crunchy on top. It’s also equipped with lots of preprogrammed microwave cooking settings for cooking, reheating, and defrosting.
Unlike most microwaves, this one has a keep warm setting that can hold a dish at serving temperature for up to 30 minutes. That way, If the family’s late to the table, you don’t have to reheat or serve a cold casserole. While this model is more expensive than typical countertop microwaves, it’s beautifully finished and you can even buy a trim kit if you want to build it into a wall and free up workspace in your kitchen.
The best microwave for popcorn lovers: Sharp SMC1442CS
You’ll get the best popcorn results with the Sharp SMC1442CS and Orville Redenbacher popcorn. The oven’s popcorn button has been tested and programmed using Orville microwave popcorn and certified by the company to give the best taste, aroma and yield. However, even if you never munch on popcorn, this is a great microwave to consider. It has sensor and preset pads to give you ideal results with all kinds of foods from a “baked” potato to a frozen lasagna.
And if you hate multistep programming you can hit one of the pads from 1 to 6 to get a corresponding amount of cooking time. It has a large turntable that can rotate a modestly sized baking dish. This stainless steel Sharp is very reasonably priced but has a handsome streamlined look.
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