Microwave combi confusion!!! Help!

[Sarahjk12]

Ok so new kitchen due to arrive please advise on any personal experiences!
We are getting a built in double oven and above that a microwave but at last min we are wondering wether to switch it for a combi microwave? Any thoughts? Is it worth it ??

[Cindy34]

If the double oven has a grill, which I expect it does I would bother with combi microwave.

I have a combi microwave and I think in the past 7 years the grill bit has been used once. Grill on oven gets used far more.

[Cindy34]

Wouldn't bother - that should have said!

[PigletJohn]

We have a combi with micro/grill/convection.

convection mostly gets used to warm plates. Grill probably never gets used. Occasionally the combi is used when heaps of food are in process, e.g. christmas dinner.

If you have a good double oven you probably don't need one. I would look out for a good-sized micro, some of them are too small for a 30cm dinnerplate.

beware kitchen co's own-brand appliances, which are usually overpriced rubbish (it's where they make their profits).

[RuddyDuck]

We have a combi microwave built in above our oven, as advised by our kitchen designer. I was very dubious as had planned to have a doubke oven and have microwave elsewhere. However, it turned out to be the right decision, mainly because we didn't want the look of the kitchen spoiled by stuff on the work surface. I have used the combi as a second oven lots, but rarely used the grill.

If we hadn't wanted such a streamlined look for our kitchen I would have gone for the double oven plus microwave on the worksurface.

[Sarahjk12]

Thanks everyone the double oven is having a microwave built in above it so we just didn't know whether to have it switched to a combi so the option is there? I'm thinking I will use top of double oven to grill, but didn't know if it was worth extra money to upgrade to a combi.

[PigletJohn]

We have some friends in Canada whose second oven is full-width and is actually a multifunction with microwave combi, halogen grill etc. It is bigger than any separate microwave I have seen and just looks like a built-in, matching, second oven. They have it at eye level, looks ideal to me. I like big things.

[jammietart]

If you can afford a good quality combi with lots of different functions so it acts like an oven and you have space for it (they are usually bigger than standard microwaves) then go for it. I had one with a double oven in my last house and used it loads for things like yorkshire puddings and quickly reheating meals (using a combination of microwave and top/bottom heating) or when you are cooking meals which need very different temperatures. But couldn't manage with one oven even if it was a double. But do watch out for shape aswell as size - my mum's is semi circular inside so you can't put a roasting dish in it!

[RuddyDuck]

PigletJohn our built in microwave is as wide as the main oven, and looks just like a second oven rather than a microwave. It's about half the height, and the door opens from the top to drop down, rather than from the side, as does the main oven.

I seem to remember that one of the reasons we went for it was that it was the biggest internal space for a combi microwave (38l iirc) and the main oven was 75l.

[Cretaceous]

We're just about to opt for a single oven, and above it a combi microwave like RuddyDuck's, the theory being that it's like a double oven, but with the microwave as well. I thought a big single oven would be more useful than a double oven, and the microwave part has the second grill.

If I had a double oven, I'm not sure a combi option would be used much.