good jack of all trades kitchen tool
Pros:
Does a good job, both baking and microwaving
Cons:
a bit small for serious bakers
The Bottom Line:
Definately a good product - especially if you have a small kitchen and need both a microwave and an oven
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Limited kitchen space requires that products in my kitchen be small, efficient and hopefully do double duty. This oven does just that.
It replaces a microwave, an oven, and a toaster.
I purchased my unit over one year ago. I read several reviews for this product, and I do understand that some people have had problems with their unit. Mine has worked fine since I took it out of the box.
I use it daily for cooking breakfast, dinner, and even lunches when I'm home at noon. It's used a minimum of three times/day and has done nothing but work perfectly. It can do everything from make toast (I use the grill setting), to microwave, to bake, broil, grill. and roast.
The unit is easy to keep clean, and the instructions are clear and easy to understand.
The unit has several pre-programmed cook settings: and even a help function built into the unit. I do keep the manual handy in a nearby drawer as some of the pre-programmed cook functions are hard to remember. You can set it to cook, defrost, bake, grill etc based on manual setup (e.g. 30 minutes at 350 degrees) or using the presets (a 1.5 pound roast, a 2pound chicken... etc - the setting are based on the type of food and it's weight).
I will confess I don't use the grill feature very often because I don't like having to clean the rack and pan - I prefer to use my outdoor grill. But - it does grill.
The only thing I really wish it would do is multiple functions at once. For example - I had a convection/microwave several years ago that I could microwave and bake at the same time. This was great for baked potatoes quickly. This one will do it in the same amount of time, but I have to microwave the potatoes first, then finish them by baking, I can't combine the two features.
The other adjustment I had to make - and this wasn't a problem, just an adjustment, was that I love to bake. I had to shop around a bit to find cake pans that would fit this unit. I have had good luck using smaller pizza pans as baking pans for items like cookies and biscuits. You can bake a small cake (jiffy sized mix or a single layer cake) but do check fit of the pan before you start baking - just to be on the safe side.
In all, this has been a great little workhorse. It does a good job as a microwave and as an oven. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this unit
Rainbow Appliance
