most beautiful microwave ever
Pros:
utterly gorgeous
Cons:
it's quiet, but I've had quieter microwaves
The Bottom Line:
This is a great microwave and I love it. Only four stars because it's not extraordinarily quiet. But it is quiet.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I've had the Sharp R-1514 microwave oven for 2 1/2 years now. I use it almost every day and I never have regretted my purchase.
Why did I buy this particular model?
I bought this microwave oven simply because it was the most beautiful microwave oven I have ever seen. It has wonderful clean lines and the controls are hidden behind the door. At first, the cheapest price I could find was $399, nearly double of most reputable over-the-counter ovens. I debated whether I could in good conscience pay so much extra for aesthetics. Also, I had a fully functional, and fairly new, yet ugly white oven already installed.
However, I found the oven for $269 on etronics PLUS a $50 rebate. I was sold!
Features
This microwave has the usual features--defrost, sensor reheat, plus settings for cooking vegetables, potatoes and heating up water. I use the reheat setting all the time. It is great because it uses multiple sensors to determine how hot various parts of your food are getting and it adjusts its power to heat your food evenly. It's incredible!
The water heating, however, seems rather useless. Not nearly hot enough for tea, and really not sufficient for dissolving boullion in water.
Another nice simple feature is the "add a minute" option. While your food is cooking you can add an extra minute cooking time, or, you can put your food in, close the door, and push the add-a-minute button to start heating your food without punching in numbers. Multiple pushes of the button add more minutes. In this way you could probably avoid using the inside control panel entirely, if you wanted to keep things super-simple.
Performance
The microwave is quiet and powerful. It isn't the quietest microwave I've had (I've had amazingly quiet ones), but it's decent.
Heating time corresponds well to directions on packages of TV dinners, etc. No surprise still-frozen centers, no "molten lava" overheated foods. Overall, even heating.
Is the microwave oven easy to work?
It's pretty easy to work. It's a bit strange because you set the time, defrost function, etc. inside the door, then close the door and push the Start button. Sometimes I forget to set something, shut the door, then realize I need to open the door to change something. It's a slight pain, but having all those cluttery controls hidden away is worth it.
Installation:
Having never installed an over-the-counter microwave in my kitchen, I was intimidated by the process. However, I was cheap and determined to try it myself. I discovered that the process is easy--the instructions included several templates for drilling holes. One person can do everything except for the actual insertion of the microwave into the holding rack--for that, unless you are seriously strong, you will need two people. Probably two women could do it. That part only takes five minutes, and it's just a simple sliding motion.
About the melting problem another reviewer experienced:
I've had the microwave installed for six months and the handle is fine. The handle is even over the Power Burner on the stove (the most intensely hot burner on the stove). However my microwave is 16 inches above the cooktop and the other reviewer's is 14, so maybe that is critical mass for the handle--I'm not sure.
How's the customer service?
I don't know. I've never had a problem with the microwave so I've never needed to contact them. If I do, however I'll add my exerience to the review.
Durability
I've had the microwave for 2 1/2 years now and it's working fine. However about six months ago, some of the leds that display the time stopped working for no apparent reason. So now it's hard to tell how many seconds are left. Kind of annoying, but i'm certainly not tempted to replace it just for that.
