Has anyone ditched the microwave?

[BlueRidgeMountain]

Thrilling chat for a Sunday morning I know, but I’ve been thinking about getting rid of ours for a while. It takes up so much of our limited worktop space, and yes we do use it a bit, but we have an air fryer that can reheat so we’d really just be losing the defrost function, and ability to cook a microwave meal (not necessarily a bad thing?!)
So, has anyone got rid of theirs, was it not even missed or will we be making a big mistake?

Love my microwave very efficient way of cooking and great for steaming veg in the dish they’re going to the table in, head start for baked potatoes (before crisping in oven), turning cut up wraps/ tortillas into tortilla chips, reheating leftovers, scrambling eggs with no added fat and no messy pan to wash up, just a mug. But I don’t have an air fryer so maybe if you have one you don’t need a microwave as well.

How else would i reheat my cold tea/coffee i’ve left stewing

could wall mounting it be a solution? @BlueRidgeMountain

We use ours loads as we do a lot of batch cooking and therefore use it for defrosting/reheating. Also for steaming veg and cooking rice when we're short on hob space or doing small quantities (e.g. one portion of veg in a mug, rather than a saucepan). But we don't have an air fryer so maybe it's an either/or thing?

We never use ours but as soon as American family arrive it is on constantly! I bought another one during their stay as I was embarrassed of the inside which had gone rusty unknown to me

No, I need it to half cook potatoes before throwing them in the oven.

Without Jacket Potatoes, I would pretty much starve 😂

When the last one died I did without a microwave for 3or4 months.
I eventually replaced it because it's useful for

• defrosting stuff
• making hot drinks
• reheating stuff for lunch eg soup, left overs
• it's safe for the children to use & they can't forget to turn it off like a hob

We warm them in frying pan on hob

Still got it but it's banished to the utility room, not on show in the kitchen anymore as we only really use it for beans and the odd bowl of porridge

We’ve never had a microwave (or air fryer which seems to be the norm for most).

We got rid of one we rarely used in order to free up space about 18 years ago. I haven’t missed it or felt inclined to get another, even though we have since moved house.

I haven't had one for about 30 years and I don't miss it in the least. There's something about them that just doesn't feel right.

I'm just like you @SpecduckularlyQuackers . Batch cook loads, no air fryer and use microwave lots. I would hate having to use a pan on the hob when it's one stop in the microwave. Home made soup out of the freezer, into my massive mug, into the microwave and you're good to go. 😊

I don't get one when I moved to a new apartment 12 months ago (I had to fully furnish it). Am thinking of getting an air fryer soon, but managing fine without the microwave, just with oven and induction hob.

Sounds ridiculous but there’s literally no wall space I could mount it on - I’d end up knocking myself out on it! We also don’t have a utility to put it in. The kitchen isn’t exactly tiny, but it has 2 doors (to hall and living room) and a dining space so the worktop space is severely lacking. We have a coffee machine with milk frother/heater so can make our hot chocolate etc with that. I feel we don’t have jacket potatoes enough for that to be a bigger priority than having the extra space (not sure but think I could do them in the air fryer anyway?)
putting it away and having a trial run without it is an excellent suggestion @EliflurtleAndTheInfiniteMadness so we’ll give that a go!

Nope. Ours is used several times daily.

Porridge. Reheating soup for lunch. Cooking rice. Steaming veg to go with dinner. Reheating mugs of tea that I've left too long. Part cooking baked spuds and potato wedges. Reheating wraps. Cooking poppadums.

Ours broke on Christmas eve and it's such an essential piece of kit that we braved the crowds in Argos to buy another.

We don't have an airfryer. I do have an instant pot and that's just as essential as the microwave.

I love mine, I use it all the time. Quickly heat up frozen vegetables, leftovers, cheaper and quicker than an air fryer, I couldn't live without it.

My DH made a hanging bracket, so it suspends exactly below the corner wall cupboard, across the corner, thus freeing up workspace. He welded it from bits of metal he had, and sprayed it matt black. You'd never imagine it wasn't installed with the kitchen.
I believe you can buy similar for suspending below to free up worktop, but I think he made ours (years ago) because they did not do corner ones at the time.
Ours is a combi microwave, so does chips etc in a similar time to air fryer, really don't want to lose worktop space to an airfryer. I wouldn't bother with a microwave only.
What would be good is a combi microwave that incorporates airfryer somehow?

I couldn’t be without mine I do rice, porridge, the pets warm bottles.
I would consider an air fryer / microwave combo though.

We put ours in the garage after renovating the kitchen and deciding we couldn't justify the counter space any more, it gets used maybe once every couple of months now (carry a covered dish out there and back). We never did use it that much though. No air-fryer, but our cooker is an Everhot (like an Aga) so ovens and hotplates always on and huge ovens so we steam things like rice and veg in the oven. Heat soup in a pan, it's easier than in the microwave as you can stir without having to stop/start and open/close the door.

If the microwave broke now we wouldn't replace it.

We didn't bother replacing ours after it broke a few years ago - by accident, really. We realised we just didn't miss it and the things we had to do to replace its functions were easy enough with an air fryer and oven. Much prefer the counter space.

Our Combi microwave has a jacket potato setting, so crisps them up nicely at same time as cooking. Does 4 in just over 20 minutes.

I think it really depends on your eating habits. We use ours all the time for heating things up (not ready made meals - but e.g. a single serve of soup) and cooking individual portions of vegetables.

on the other hand, I tried out an air fryer and had no use for it. We use our oven for things like pizza and large trays of roasted vegetables - which an air fryer is just too small for.

I had looked at doing similar, but our cupboards are on one straight bit of wall, at one end is the boiler and no room underneath for a microwave, and the other end is next to the fridge and tbh even if I did suspend it on the wall under that, it would barely clear the worktop so I wouldn’t be able to really use the space anyway (not sure if the wall cupboards are just ridiculously low down)

Yes we moved house and ours was too big. The only thing I did in it was porridge which I've mastered in a pan