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Combi microwave oven? gimmick?


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Does anyone have a combi microwave oven? are they any good?

 

I guess if you have a single oven, you could have a combi microwave oven it above which would give you a bit more room to bake if you are doing a bigger meal.

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I have one, a Panasonic NN-CD87KS

 

Not had decent toast for over a year now.

 

It is alright, but is noisy and slow.  Works fine as a conventional fan oven, microwave is a slow considering the power, and the grill is just rubbish, but then most electric grills are.

 

And way to many built in options.

 

Plus side is that it does not take up too much space, which is good.

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Yes I have a combi microwave.  It is only used as a microwave and very occasionally as a grill.

 

The reason we have it, is we wanted a built in single fan oven and a built in microwave, but almost all the built in microwaves did not properly match the design of the oven, and were little more than a free standing microwave with a cover plate to make it look just a little but like it was built in, and to me just looked rubbish.

 

So just to get the built in microwave that properly matched the style of the fan oven, we got the combi.

 

BIG criticism, it does not have a turntable.

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We have a Samsung chef collection combi thing. Bloody brilliant. We have use it daily to microwave stuff and probably twice a week to cook things that need an accurate and specific temperature that the aga won’t manage. Also means it’s easier to cook in the summer when the aga is off. 

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7 minutes ago, ProDave said:

BIG criticism, it does not have a turntable.

Interesting, I would see that as a plus.  It is the turntable that makes the noise, and the fan.

The turntableless (just microwave) ones at work are great, quiet, quick and easy to clean.

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1 minute ago, SteamyTea said:

Interesting, I would see that as a plus.  It is the turntable that makes the noise, and the fan.

The turntableless (just microwave) ones at work are great, quiet, quick and easy to clean.

agreed. it's much nicer not having a turntable.

 

we have a Panasonic combi with a steam function which is great for steaming Bao buns and gyoza. it also has a great feature that Panasonic marketing call 'Panacrunch'. basically it's a low level microwave function with a grill as well. so it will heat the item and also crunch up the top.

 

my only criticism is that it takes a long time for the oven to get up to temperature.

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6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Interesting, I would see that as a plus.  It is the turntable that makes the noise, and the fan.

The turntableless (just microwave) ones at work are great, quiet, quick and easy to clean.

But the turntable compensates for the fact the microwave energy is not even inside the oven, so without it you have to keep stopping and stirring what you are heating to avoid cold spots or local boiling.

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1 minute ago, ProDave said:

But the turntable compensates for the fact the microwave energy is not even inside the oven, so without it you have to keep stopping and stirring what you are heating to avoid cold spots or local boiling.

nowhere in the MI does it say you have to stop and stir. it just works. ain't technology great?

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23 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

nowhere in the MI does it say you have to stop and stir. it just works. ain't technology great?

But practical use says you do.  That's why turntables are put inmost microwaves.

 

To be honest, what I really wanted was just a decent microwave with a turntable, that properly matched the fan oven that sits below it in the kitchen unit,. but nobody makes one, you have to buy a combi to get that.

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1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Interesting, I would see that as a plus.  It is the turntable that makes the noise, and the fan.

The turntableless (just microwave) ones at work are great, quiet, quick and easy to clean.

 

@ProDave , @SteamyTea I had a Philips microwave that had a slowly rotating metal 'fan' below a microwave transparent floor which distributed the microwaves instead of a turntable

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1 hour ago, ProDave said:

But practical use says you do.  That's why turntables are put inmost microwaves.

 

No turntable in our microwave combi. Works fine - I don't recall having any issue with hot/cold spots.

 

To be fair, we don't use the combi function that often. Great for baked potatoes, but we don't use it for much else.

 

If I were considering a combi, I think for our usage patterns we'd have had more value out of a conventional/steam combi with a separate microwave.

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We've a turntable-less Panasonic inverter combi- micro/grill/ fan oven, NNCF760. Superb bit of kit- grills and microwaves evenly, and the programs do a great job for pizza and jacket spuds. Warms up quick as an oven too...

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Hi @Trillip

 

If I was renting a building out I would not supply a combi microwave/oven. I think people could not be bothered to take on board how to use it properly.

 

Yes we've had one a few years ago and it all seemed like to much messing about, which is why we ended up rearly using it as an oven. 

 

Perhaps things have changed. 

I would want to read the instruction manual before buying....

 

M

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3 hours ago, ProDave said:

BIG criticism, it does not have a turntable.

Some manage the microwaves so you don't need a TT.. Our combi (Neff) does everything pretty much, it is slow to heat as an oven, but you can put spoons into the reheat requiring coffee and no sparks and it matches the Neff oven beneath it perfectly. 

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4 hours ago, PeterW said:

Combi what ..? A lot of the built in ones are grill microwave not oven microwave. Are you considering using as a second oven ..?

 

I was thinking of something that microwaves + bakes like an oven

 

Thanks for all the responses!

 

It seems like

  • plenty of you like them
  • there are some dud models out there which don't microwave so well
  • the interfaces can be complicated as they can do more things / bad design

 

We rent at the moment and I'm renovating a place for rental to someone else (its too fancy for us!).

 

We've become so used to our dodgy rented kitchen that I don't know what's normal anymore!  Doesn't everyone want a freestanding solid plate electric cooker with gaps where all the bits of food fall down the side :D?

 

s-l1000.thumb.jpg.9e4e4602e5916de5e18127ebe4f6e7d8.jpg

 

I like the idea of a big single oven and separate microwave integrated into a tall unit to save on countertop space and so you don't have to bend down.

 

I wondered, for higher end place, if more oven space would be expected hence my interest the microwave + grill / bake option. I guess it would be fine with a normal microwave if the overall kitchen is done nicely.

 

 

Edited by Trillip
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1 hour ago, Marvin said:

Hi @Trillip

 

If I was renting a building out I would not supply a combi microwave/oven. I think people could not be bothered to take on board how to use it properly.

 

Yes we've had one a few years ago and it all seemed like to much messing about, which is why we ended up rearly using it as an oven. 

 

Perhaps things have changed. 

I would want to read the instruction manual before buying....

 

M

I bet I'll end up putting one in and find out it never gets used! ^_^

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We have ordered a built in main oven and a combi oven because we did not want a microwave sitting out and the double oven looks quite fancy.

 

Then you realise the combi is shorter than the main oven but have no fear, your can also buy a warming drawer to make up the space for another £500!

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31 minutes ago, Ralph said:

We have ordered a built in main oven and a combi oven because we did not want a microwave sitting out and the double oven looks quite fancy.

 

Then you realise the combi is shorter than the main oven but have no fear, your can also buy a warming drawer to make up the space for another £500!

Or your kitchen designer just supplies a unit with the correct size gaps and correct size cupboards above and below.

kitchen_1.thumb.jpg.b6f8c5654894bb82c7ff62c6ef8c31d2.jpg

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3 hours ago, Trillip said:

I bet I'll end up putting one in and find out it never gets used! ^_^

As long as they take the metal bits out before using the microwave. (Assuming metal racking etc is still used)

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