Combi microwaves - any good? And any recommendations?

[EmeraldIce]

My normal microwave oven has given up after just over 2 years. Not too impressed about that I must say! I'm wondering whether to go for another solo microwave or spend a little extra and get a combination with convection oven and grill. The oven we have doesn't cook very well and I especially long to make cakes and bread and do some roasted joints of meat. Would also love to quickly grill crumpets or vegetables etc and know they're cooked through without just burning. (We can't replace the cooker.)

So, would a combi microwave be any good for these things as well as usual microwave heating and defrosting options?

And have any of you used ones that you'd especially recommend please?

I used to have a Panasonic combination microwave, to be honest the only times I used it for cooking other than normal heating up was to cook jacket potatoes and roast chicken.
The jacket potatoes were the best and so was the roast chicken although it was a nightmare to clean after cooking the chicken.
I am in the process of having a new kitchen fitted and am having another combination microwave fitted although this time a NEFF one so that it goes with the oven underneath.

I choose to have a combination one again as I will only have a single main oven and wanted to have the option of an extra oven if needed.

We have one with a grill, which I thought was a great idea when we bought it. Three years later....have never used the grill once.

Admittedly ours is 20 years old now (Panasonic), but it was absolutely crap as a grill / combi, I haven't tried anything except microwaving for at least 19 years now, so I don't remember in any detail and obviously technology will have moved on but I'm not going to be buying another one, that's for sure.

we've got a built in one and it's mainly used as a microwave but comes in handy for roast dinners. they are quite complicated to use and I wouldn't use it for anything that makes a lot of mess.

I have a combi, got the biggest I could find, and the extra functions are hardly used. Warming plates, and keeping things hot when doing a complex roast dinner.

I had a Panasonic Dimension 4 for over 20 years, never had a problem with it. I decided to buy a new one 4 years ago, and got another Panasonic - Inverter with flatbed, so no turntable. As I live alone, it's ideal for my needs, as I don't have to use my main oven, and can use the combi for heating up meals or for jacket pots etc. I have never used the grill, so can't comment on that, but I wouldn't be without it.

We have a Siemens oven/microwave and I can't rate it highly enough, one of the best appliances we own and used several times a day. Its defrost option is fantastic -defrosts meat without cooking it. It was v expensive though!

Thanks everyone for your responses. Hmm, seems quite mixed then. LL12 & Mrsladybirdface - are they much harder to clean than solo microwave ovens? How do they compare to normal ovens? What lining (stainless steel or something else?) do you have in yours? Sorry for all the questions and thanks again.

Ours is pyrolytic so cleans itself (see why I love it?)

sounds amazing george but probably costs a lot more than I'm willing to spend

I recommend a halogen oven, seems to be what you're after. Great at cooking meat and washes itself. We use ours everyday. They are about the same price as a Microwave. We only use our microwave to defrost or warm up liquids.

Mine was stainless steel inside (not painted), it was just a pain to clean when I cooked a chicken inside as it splattered with fat everywhere.
The taste of the chicken made up for it though, it cooked like a rottesarie chicken.