Panasonic - 1.2 Cu. Ft. 1200 Watt SN68KS Microwave with Inverter and Genius Sensor - Stainless Steel

After doing without a microwave for a few days, it is great to be able to cook my microwave breakfasts again.

Our 25 year old Samsung 800watt microwave finally gave out so I was excited to get a new one that would heat a can of soup in less than 2.5 minutes! I shopped and read dozens of reviews narrowing the choices to this one and (I think) a magic chef. I actually liked the other a bit more, mostly for its looks, but several of the reviews downgraded it because it was noisy. Our Best Buy didn’t have this one in black in stock, so we ordered one and got it a few days later. We love the way it performs. 90 seconds for my soup :), 45 seconds for a cup of boiling water, etc. but when I first turned it on my wife thought a 747 was flying just over our roof! Ok, that’s a BIt of an exaggeration, but I did double check to ensure I hadn’t missed a film or tape or something that was obstructing the exhaust. We still chuckle when we use it thinking that if the magic chef was louder that we’d need to use ear protection when using it.

Not impressed with the sensor reheat option. The picture was taken after it exploded and we had to manually stop it.

We liked the machine (Panasonic - 1.2 Cu. Ft. 1200 Watt NN-SN65KW) a lot, til it stopped working 32 days after purchase. On Day 1 out of the box the Start button began misbehaving. By Day 32 the light wouldn't go out & the machine stopped altogether. A shame, because the interior size, the power, the inside light that stays on while cooking & whilst door is open, the soft door close vs the usual jarring mini-bang, the quick 30sec button, option to turn off beeps, & of course the overall design were all nice. (However some of us found it a bit loud.) Strongly recommend getting a BestBuy protection plan (e.g. Geek Squad for $25). Panasonic product support was impossible to contact. We called the Best Buy Geek guys & were able to return it to a store for a full credit.

When I first saw this, the one thing that came to mind was, it's gonna be too big. Compared to the microwave I already have/had. But no. This little behemoth is small on the outside and super spacious on the inside ( Dr Who anyone?) It has a bunch of cool settling to get you going quickly and can pretty much defrost Elsa( kidding) but the defrost is top notch. It does what it says. With that being said, $200 is a lot of scratch for it. But hey, it does it's job. So if you've have the cash and are looking for a very good microwave, this should not disappoint.

Grey lettering on a black background makes it difficult to read touchpad. Also, method of selecting Power Level (i.e. repetitive pushing of Power Level pad to select power level) is cumbersome. Power level is not shown in display when cooking. Need to hold a button to recall power level in display. Power Levels less than full run hotter than other 1200 watt units-probably need o drop 10% from asked recipe value.

Now that it’s been a while since I purchased this microwave, I can offer an accurate review of the product. The appearance is nice. I haven’t had any mechanical issues. I am, however, completely baffled by the “inverter” technology, as it does not appear to operate any differently than every other microwave I have owned over the past three decades that didn’t have such technology. It is simply not true that it heats food evenly. I still deal with a reheated plate of food being cold in the center and burning hot around the edges. I paid literally three times what I normally would have specifically to avoid this issue. I read hundreds of reviews. I was willing to pay the price for “even heating”. Too bad I wasted my time and money. Don’t believe the hype.

Pretty pleased with this easy-to-like product, which replaces a 13 year old microwave with a deteriorating gel pad. Puzzled so far only in that food (soups, stew, rice) seems fairly unaffected for minutes at a time, while the dishes become very hot indeed. We have had to use multiple short bursts to get the temps to the eatable level, so in that respect there must be a learning curve. Glass bowls are just the same as ceramic, so it must be the new oven is on a "new wavelength?"

I purchased this to replace my 10 year old Kenmore. I made the choice based on the reviews and also on its size and weight. I wanted something as close as I could get to the same size and wattage as my old one. It's compact... has a larger 13" turntable but a smaller footprint. And the weight is a big plus...easy to pick up in the store, unbox and set on my counter. I haven't explored all the features yet, just using mainly the power and time functions, but I do love the "coffee" button!! I also love the door release button...opens easily and quietly. Good to note: be sure to read the operations setup instructions first. The weight system and beeper on/off can only be set when you first plug it in, before doing anything else.