Combination microwaves?

[remingtonmaa]

Our old microwave died. We have moved into a house with a big monstrous beast of a gas oven which seems to cost a great deal to use. Does anyone use the conventional part of a combination microwave ? For baking stuff like cottage pie etc. I don't know it it's worth paying the difference between the cost of a cheap as chips ordinary microwave and a combination one.

Any recommendations?

I've combination microwave with a grill convection and it's awesome. It was a pricey investment but well worth the money. If you would like to look at it you can view it here

We've always had a combi microwave over the last 20 years.
..think the 2 we've had were both Sharp. The first was very expensive at £350/400 (or seemed expensive at the time!) but the second was about half, if not less

The dual cook function is great as it means the oven part doesn't need to be in for as long so saves money

We don't cook big meals so it's never really worth putting the main oven on

We probably use the dual cook/oven side more than the microwave side

I've had a built in combi microwave for many years, and wouldn't be without it. I use it as a small oven a lot - big one doesn't get used much any more - and particularly like it for baked potatoes - microwave and oven on at the same time, done quickly with crispy skins.
I don't have a big kitchen and it saves having to have a separate microwave as well as a double oven.

I'm on my third. The first two were Panasonic, they sang, danced and would probably have done the ironing if I'd read that far ahead in the manual. With the recent one I went for something cheaper because I decided in my wisdom that I didn't use the fancy features enough. This was a seriously bad move that I am regretting on a daily basis. The new one has a lower maximum oven temperature and is too small to grill two slices of cheese on toast at the same time. The manual was written by a Martian and the controls aren't intuitive at all. I've had about five years use out of them but this one might not last that long as I might replace it earlier with a Panasonic.

I have a flatbed Panasonic combi microwave and have mixed feelings.

I love the flatbed, it is roomy enough to cook a whole chicken and a much more suitable size for me than my Neff single oven.

On the downside, I find it hard to clean, it sometimes makes an annoying buzzing noise while in standby and occasionally when it starts cooking it makes a few popping/cracking noises which is bit scary as I worry it is about to explode or catch fire.

On the whole I would recommend a microwave combi and I would buy another, but maybe not the model I have ATM.

We have a microwave and a separate halogen oven. The halogen oven heats up almost instantly and can be used to make very cheep to cook roast dinners and the like. We hardly use the proper over now!

I have a big range cooker with a huge oven, so on a daily basis we tend to use the oven in the combo microwave. I wouldn't be without one, it's great. Mine is a Panasonic.

We're thinking about this too. Wondering about a sharp r959 but it's quite large! Just under 200 but we'd use it as a main grill/microwave and oven. Not sure if this took big.

Oh 53cm deep!! No room for that then!!