Kitchen - Does a combination oven microwave as well as a microwave-grill

[Rachael007]

We currently have a microwave-grill, which is great as a microwave, grill function not so great. For our new kitchen, we can either have a combination oven with grill and microwave, stacked with oven, or as now, a microwave and grill built in (insufficient countertop space for freestanding m/w, all 3 too expensive and ott).

Do any of you use a combi oven for microwave only? With energy costs so high, it is tempting to have one to save money and time from oven only. But it doesn't replace an oven altogether, and does it perform as well in microwave only mode? Thanks for advice and comments.

We have a combi and a separate oven. It's fine for microwave and handy as an extra oven/grill when needed.

Thanks MuggleMe. Does your combi have a turntable or metal shelves like an oven? Some time ago, we had a free-standing Panasonic combi, which was okay. But the built-in ones seem to have metal shelves - great for combi baking but I can't work out how you heat up say cups of coffee on metal shelves. Or what am I missing?

Our combi gets used as a microwave and oven. It's good. Ours is a Bosch. It has a metal stand that you can leave in when you're using it as a microwave. I don't understand why it doesn't spark but it doesn't.

We have a combi oven microwave. It is primarily an oven - as it doesn’t have a turntable as such for microwaving. I would say the microwave is ok but not as good as a stand alone microwave. However we don’t use it for full meals - mostly for reheating - and for that it is fine. Previously we had a range cooker so wanted to keep two ovens and this gave us what we wanted in the space available.

I have a combj and it's great. Use it to reheat meals in micro mode and the oven is handy - I need to remember every time that it's not a fan oven and it needs to be at 200 not 180

Neff combi alongside oven. We use it as a microwave and a normal oven. Combi does the most fantastic jacket potatoes. Oven shelves rather than turntable.

We’ve got a neff combi oven. Great little oven and grill. You leave the shelf in for microwaving (it’s got microwave on it so I know which one to put back if borrowed it for other oven).

it’s not the best microwave, our previous standalone one was better, but taking a minute longer to reheat soup isn’t a big deal. I’ve never used the combi function…so that might be better.

We’ve had a Neff combi micro for so long I can’t remember what a normal micro is like, but the Neff one is fab. Great oven, energy saving compared to the big one, good for cakes too as is a fan oven, and I use it for proving bread. Micro gets used most days, the no turntable freaked me out at first but isn’t a huge issue. I tend not to put things right in the middle as I assume that the microwave has dead spots (just like a regular one) but don’t have issues heating things in it.

We have a Siemens combi and it’s a bit useless as a microwave tbh - it’s only 600w so underpowered compared to modern ones. We use it as an extra oven and grill, but we have our old microwave in the utility which does the heating/defrosting stuff.

We had a Neff one in our old house. So expensive to buy and I found it annoying to use as a microwave. I wouldn't have one again
We're about to fit our new kitchen and I've gone for 2 single ovens and a cheap microwave in a cupboard.

Thanks for all the interesting feedback. There seems to be no uniform view on the microwave only function - it goes from 'a bit useless' to 'fab'. I agree @BarrelOfOtters taking a minute extra to heat the soup is no big deal. I'm still undecided about going for a turntable and metal stand or oven shelves. Reheating with a pyrex mug on oven shelf still freaks me out. I get reheating with plates or oven dishes@Tonsiltrouble, just not mugs, but then again oven shelves are more useful for combi cooking.

Oh if something is a bit precarious, like a mug, I would just stand it on a plate 🤷‍♀️

I think the bigger issue is the possibility of hot spots, especially in liquids, so it’s sensible to stir things part way (which you should anyway), and again at the end. And leave to stand.

I've just replaced my octogenarian mother's - third combi oven in the last 20 years. I'm frequently at hers to cook for her and we're both very happy with it. Don't think there's a difference at all when using the microwave - it IS weaker when using the combi mode but that's a different story altogether.

Re setup, I don't know about integrated microwaves. With stand-alones the vast majority are turntable systems but the one I've got her is a 40l Sharp one set up like a small oven. Its great as an oven, much quicker and much more energy efficient if all you've got is a couple of frozen breakfast rolls or a pizza. The combi mode is useful in cooking, for example I'll use it for squashes - bung them in for 10-15 min on oven plus microwave to soften them up prior to stuffing or sautéing. With some of the newer smaller machines you can also get steam and air frying functions built in but not sure how well those work- reviews seem to be good overall.