Mostly Flawless Microwave

If you're looking for an attractive, reliable, effective, high power microwave to install in your cabinetry (with the optional escutcheon kit), the Frigidaire GLMB209D family should meet your needs. Note the different model number suffixes indicate the different colors available - we have the Black GLMB209DB.

Over the years we've owned dozens of microwaves. My first was one of the original expensive Radar Ranges back in 1977.

After a lot of research, we bought this model to replace a old, dying built-in microwave and have been happy with our purchase.

Microwave Cooking

In our experience all microwaves do a limited number of cooking tasks well and most, horribly.

You can forget about actually cooking meats unless you like chewy gray food. Reheating meats will also toughen them so we don't recommend that either. Breads and tortillas heated in the microwave come out tough as well.

We use ours mainly to reheat foods, pop corn (using a special oil-free microwave bowl), cook veggies (although we have reduced this use as it's reported to reduce the anti-oxidant content of many green veggies like broccoli), par-cook baked potatoes (we finish them in the oven to get a nice crispy skin) and heat the occasional cup of water for tea.

In a pinch, we'll use our microwave to defrost frozen foods, but we prefer to use other means as we've found this always hurts the quality of the food.

Our Experience using this product

In 6 months of use, we've found this microwave to be a reliable and flawless performer - with only 2 minor annoyances: 1) The timer/clock set is on the same button so it takes extra (non-intuitive) button presses to use the timer and 2) the door sounds kind of tinny when you shut it.

With an interior volume of 2.0 cubic feet (interior dimension in inches of 17 3/8 Wide x 10 1/2 High x 18 5/8 Deep) and 1200 Watts of cooking power - this model should do everything you need.

This microwave provides even heating by rotating your food on it's 16 inch diameter cooking turntable. While this does cut down slightly on the usable interior volume, the turntable is a worthwhile feature as it eliminates the need to manually stop the cooking/defrosting process to turn your food.

Other features include Sensor Cooking - utilizing the moisture that is given off as a food heats (think steaming hot). With one button press you can cook, reheat or keep warm a range of food, including the ever popular popcorn, veggies, meats, chicken breasts, fish and rice. You can also reheat frozen entrees and veggies.

There is also a (in my opinion) misnamed One Touch cooking feature that lets you warm fresh or frozen rolls and beverages. This feature is misnamed as you have to repeat presses of the button for the quantity or amount of food your reheating (e.g. for 4 rolls, you have to press the button 4 times).

This unit does not come with a food probe. Over the years, we've found that they're not needed as you won't end up actually cooking anything in the microwave that they would help with.