Microwave oven buying guide

Microwave oven types

Most important decision during microwave oven selection is which microwave oven type to buy. There are three types of microwave ovens are available in the market.

• Solo microwave oven
  Solo microwave ovens are entry level models in microwave oven category for simple cooking. Best fit: for Reheat, simple cooking


• Grill microwave oven
  Grill Microwave ovens are provided with additional grilling accessories. They are best suitable to grill meat or vegetables like Paneer.


• Convection microwave oven
  Convection microwave ovens use a fan and a heating element to create air flow patterns inside the microwave oven. Best for grilling and baking. For example, IFB 20SC2 convection microwave is most popular convection microwave oven.

The decision is based on what you cuisine you want to cook. Based on the cuisine you can choose the right type of microwave oven from the below table.

You can check best Solo microwave ovens, Grill microwave ovens, Convection microwave ovens links to know more about best solo, grill and convection microwave ovens. Read more on microwave oven types.

Microwave oven capacity guide

The capacity of the microwave oven is measured in liters. It is the indicator for how much food you can cook at one go. As said above, Microwave capacity depends on your family size and usage. Follow above section on microwave oven usage and corresponding microwave type mapping. Below we are listing a table to calculate the capacity.

Ideal capacity of microwave oven depends on the family size and usage

Someone famous in oven selection ;-)

Essentially it says for a small family, for Solo type micro oven, 15-20 liters is enough, But for the same small family, for Grill or Convection type 21-30 liters is sufficient. The large family it requires 25-30 liters for Solo type For other types, it would be 32 liters and above. Read more on microwave capacity guide.

Microwave technology

Microwaves are electromagnetic radiations, the combination of electrical and magnetic waves. Microwave wavelengths ranges from one meter to one millimeter. These waves are generated inside the oven by electron tube called Magnetron. Thats why Magnetron is core components of microwave oven. When you turn on the microwave this Magnetron releases microwaves inside the oven compartment. Microwaves have particular property due to which water molecules in the food vibrate and generate the heat. This is the microwave oven principle and the way food is cooked in microwave. This is the reason it is difficult to cook completely dry items in the microwave oven.

Microwave hazards and safety

• Do not put metal substances or metal utensils inside the microwave oven
• Use only microwave-safe plastic utensils
• Make sure glass utensils are microwave safe
• Do not put baby milk bottles in the microwave oven.
• Use microwave oven gloves while baking as convection microwave oven. The microwave oven inside will be very hot during the baking process.
• Internet is full of rumors that microwave ovens contaminate food with radiation. Please see Food and Drug association of America (FDA) published on their website that microwave ovens do not contaminate food. There is no health risk in eating microwave cooked food.

Microwave oven features

Here the some of common words, phrases that are used in microwave description while online purchasing. To know the meaning of each microwave descriptive words, you can refer below list.

Child lock

If you have children in your home, they may accidentally put their hand in the microwave.So these features provide a child lock facility. Generally this child lock is facilitated with the help of code which act like a password to unlock. Convection microwave oven interiors get very hot when you bake and child lock is must feature in that case.

Auto cook

In case you want to simplify the cooking, this option will do the need. Economic or low-end microwaves won't have this feature. You don't need to set time, and power configuration, all you have to do is to specify the dish type, that's it.

Power consumption

Apart from that there is power setting, Higher the voltage, it will be more efficient and quicker. If you like to cook heavy food items or bulk quantities for a large family, consider a more powerful microwave. If you cook food only for one or two people, then a less powerful microwave is enough. The same feature is called as 'Power Levels' as well.

Defrost

It is a microwave operation specialized in heating the frozen food. Say you want to heat the yesterday curry from the refrigerator this is the right option to use.

Preheat

Before you start cooking and follow the recipes the oven needs to reach certain temperature. So you need to turn on the microwave oven and wait for some time till it is hot or reached the required temperature. The above process is called as preheating. Look for the preheating time required for the microwave oven in the specifications before you make purchase.

Auto Cook Menu

Auto cook makes the cooking with microwave is cakewalk, surprisingly very simple. In fact auto cook menu feature is crux of 'quick microwave recipes'. When you cook in microwave oven you need to specify few settings like power wattage and cooking duration, which can be difficult for beginners. But with this auto cook menu feature all you need to do is to simple specify dish type you want to cook, depending on the food weight microwave will auto adjust the power wattage and time. For example to make popcorn all you need to do is to press pop corn button, thats it.

Timer

Allow you to configure the cooking duration. You can specify how long the microwave to operate from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Depending on the panel type either with knob or with LCD touch you can specify the duration of cooking.

Panel Types

There are three types of control panel types, namely Mechanical, Tact Dial Type, Feather Touch. Mechanical, Tact Dial usually comes in low-end models and can handle rough usage. Feather Touch panels add the design of your microwave. It can sense your fingers, just like a touch-screen phone. Feather Touch usually comes in a high-end models.

Microwave oven accessories

Online stores are full with various microwave accessories including microwave oven gloves, microwave safe cookware, utensils, bowls, vessels, microwave stand to mount on to the wall in case you do not have enough space on kitchen dashboard. Microwave oven cover is also helpful to cover if microwave is used rarely.

Rotisserie

Rotisserie accessory is a special grilling accessory. It is a steel base bar that works on motor system to ensure perfect grilling. Grilling of chicken, mutton, paneer can be easily done by rotisserie bar. But rotisserie grilling accessory that comes along with only few Microwave Ovens and microwave ovens with rotisserie accessory costs one to two thousand rupees extra. Once again there are two variants in rotisserie - horizontal rotisserie bar and vertical rotisserie bar. Relatively horizontal rotisserie has better heat distribution. IFB 30BRC2 microwave is the most popular rotisserie convection microwave oven.

Microwave oven price

• The solo microwave oven price ranges from Rs. 5,000 to 7,000.
  depending on the capacity of the microwave oven.
• Grill microwave oven price is in between Rs. 8,000 to 10,000.
• The Convection microwave oven price varies from Rs. 12,000 to 18,000.

Microwave oven vs oven Toaster and Griller (OTG)

Oven Toaster and Griller (OTG) is well known kitchen appliance exclusively to bake, grill and toast. It is little confusing which one to buy - microwave oven, OTG or both!!! Convection microwave oven is best fit for reheat, defrost and baking for beginners. Where as OTG is most suitable for professional bakers who want top class baking. Do read Microwave oven vs OTG guide to know more.

Is the microwave safe for pregnant women?

There is not enough research to prove that microwave radiation can affect the human body. According to US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, it's safe to use a microwave oven if it is properly used. Make sure that the microwave oven won't operate when its door is open. In the case that it is able to operate with the door open, electromagnetic radiation can be intensive and adversely affect the human body. Ensure that the microwave oven door is fully closed without any gaps and that there are no broken glass doors or hinges. As a precaution for pregnant women, while using the microwave oven, set the temperature and timer, then step away from it, such as moving to the living room. You can read more information on this topic in our post Is the Microwave Safe for Pregnant Women?

Microwave oven recipes

Microwave work on the principle of heating water molecule. So to begin cooking any thing in microwave there should be some water there. Apart from that neither you can peak into the dish while the dish is cooking as it is inside the microwave, nor you can stir the contents with spoon (Kadai). Due to these difference cooking in microwave slightly differs. Microwave quick recipes are popular and basically deals with marination methods, microwave heating time duration and cooking methods without stir and minimal interventions while heating in the microwave.

Microwave oven brands

There are multiple brands available in the market, out of which we have found LG microwave oven is the best, based on the customer reviews on Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal. LG microwave oven product quality is good and their customer service is awesome. After LG microwave oven, we suggest IFB Microwave oven and Electrolux microwave oven , Kenstar, Morphy Richards, Bajaj, Godrej.

LG Microwave ovens

The LG brands products are here to make our life good. They have pioneered the microwave technology at the same time they are successful in providing the world-class customer service. LG microwave oven prices vary from 5,000 Rs to 20,000 Rs. LG customer care service is considered as one of the best. You can reach them at 1800 315 9999 or 1800 180 9999. They are available 24 hrs, 7 days a week, except national holidays. You can visit their site for more information - LG official site

IFB Microwave ovens

IFB known for three decades of excellence, cutting-edge technology. IFB customer care service is well and they take care of any issues happens after the purchase of microwave oven. The customer care numbers are 1860 425 5678 and for BSNL & MTNL subscribers 1800 3000 5678.

Electrolux Microwave ovens

Electrolux is one of the global leader in home appliances. Electrolux customer care service is nice. You can contact Electrolux Customer Care Hotline at 1860 200 12 12 for service and you can email Electrolux at electrolux.care@pemail.in.

Where to buy microwave oven online

You can buy online from Amazon, Flipkart and SnapDeal.

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