58 out of 58 people found this review helpful.
GE Makes Cheap Pieces of Garbage? Not!
Date of Review: Dec 17, 2002
The Bottom Line: I think for a great little microwave, this model is outstanding
To tell you the truth, I think I was prejudiced against General Electric products. For some reason, I always thought they were the low-end models to buy. I must admit at this point that I should be flogged, stoned and sent to microwave penitentiary. These things rock.
I had a GE Microwave that was basically the same model for about 10 years. The thing finally gave a final spark of its life and kicked the proverbial bucket and sent me out to look for a replacement. I have a small kitchen and thought I would conserve some space and replace my old microwave with a unit and range hood combination. Let me caution you here. Go to the appliance shop with a tape measure and the total space allowance from the range to the top of your cabinets. I assumed this was a standard measurement and all these units would conform to the standard space allowed. Wrong! My cabinets were custom made. After lugging home a huge combination unit that weighed a ton and gave my husband a hernia, the unit needed to go back. There was not enough clearance space.
So now I was left with what can I do here. I came up with this Microwave called the Spacemaker II from General Electric. I chose the JEM 25 GY model.
Advantages:
1. First and most important. This unit cannot only sit on your countertop, but also can be bought with a mounting hook to mount the unit right under your existing counter cabinets. This is done from inside the cabinets. It looks precarious hanging there-but it works.
2. The style is sleek and modern looking. It comes in the standard black or white.
3. The digital readout is plain and simple to read. This is essential to a microwave. You need to find the dials fast and don't want to whip out reading glasses every time you go to use one.
4. General Electric made a phenomenal microwave. My last one held up for ten years and I have had this one for the last year and it has preformed well without a spark or hiccup. It is made well.
5. It comes with a removable glass tray on the bottom, which makes clean up a snap. You can even put the tray in the dishwasher and your good to go. The rest of the microwave cleans up easily due to the fact that all the controls are in a flat panel. There is nothing to catch dirt or grime. It is a wash and go affair.
6. It has all the standard controls. I do like the separate button for popcorn. My son is popaholic. He lives on popcorn. It is a one-button click and the bag is popped in no time. No more figuring out proper time for each brand. It pops the corn beautifully each time.
7. I like the fact that the machine seems to heat up your foods promptly with only minimal turning of the food to get an even distribution of heat.
8. It has Auto Defrost which I use every night. I do not like to leave food defrosting outside my freezer. This can breed bacteria and is very dangerous. The auto defrost is simple to get the dinner from freezer to oven in just a few minutes. It is efficient and works well.
9. I like the fact that you can mount it under your cabinets which gives you more counter space in your kitchen. I can never have enough of it.
10. I found mine at a local small appliance shop, but the ease of finding a General Ectric product at a fair price is nice too.
Cons
1. The thing I do not like about this microwave is the fan device that keeps running even when it is time to turn the food. Although there is a bell device that rings when to turn, I find the humming of the motor misleading and often think the oven is still working when in reality it has turned off and the motor fan is humming away as if it is still performing its tasks.
2. I find the button to reheat your leftovers a waste of time. You need to whip out the book to determine what food type you are sticking in the oven to reheat before the reheat button can be properly activated. Frankly, if I am doing leftovers, I don't have time to go looking through a manual to determine just what I am putting in. By that time I could have been preparing the meal from scratch.
My Conclusion
The General Electric Microwaves are essentially wonderful machines. They will last the duration and for the most part work like you want them too. Heck, General Electric should work on making husbands the way they make Microwaves. LOL
P.C. Richard & Son
