Black Microwaves

Most shoppers come in thinking they need more power than they do. A solo black microwave handles 90% of kitchen jobs: reheating, defrosting, melting, steaming veg, warming porridge or soup. Add a grill model and you can brown a toastie, crisp a gratin top or finish a jacket potato without firing up the main oven. A black combination microwave goes further, baking and roasting with a convection fan, which earns its keep in smaller kitchens or second homes where a full oven would be overkill. Read More...

If you mainly reheat and defrost, a solo model in 800 W or 900 W is plenty and saves you paying for features you won't touch. If you cook for a family and want to brown toppings, the grill option is the sensible step up. Treat combination models as a true second oven: they're worth the spend if your main oven is small, slow to preheat or already booked solid on a Sunday.

A black integrated microwave slots flush with your units for a calm, joined-up look, and pairs especially well with a matching oven. You'll need to confirm cut-out dimensions, ventilation clearances and whether a trim kit ships in the box or sells separately. A freestanding black microwave is faster to set up: leave airflow around the sides and rear, keep the top clear, and you're sorted. A small black microwave is the right call for tight worktops, studio flats and caravans.

Wattage drives speed and evenness. 700 W suits compact models and gentler reheating, 800 W is the everyday workhorse, 900 W shaves real time off family-size portions, and 1000 W is where combination models tend to live. Capacity should track your usual dishes more than your household size: 17 to 20 L is fine for ready meals and mugs, 23 to 25 L swallows a dinner plate without clipping the corners, and 28 L and up takes casserole dishes and roasting trays. Check the usable internal space, not just the litre figure. A black flatbed microwave loses the central spindle, so you can use wider, squarer dishes and wipe the base clean in seconds. Turntable models are more common and tend to cost less.

Sensor cooking adjusts time and power based on steam and weight, which takes the guesswork out of rice, jacket potatoes and frozen ready meals. Inverter technology holds steadier low power, so chocolate doesn't seize, fish doesn't rubberise, and rice doesn't dry out at the edges. Auto defrost by weight beats a timed defrost every time. A child lock matters in busy households. Look at the interior too: enamel wipes clean easily, while stainless steel linings hold up better to long-term scrubbing. Removable turntables, splash covers and a clear interior light all save you minutes every week.

Matte black microwave finishes hide fingerprints and read modern, which is why they sit so well next to dark hobs and handleless kitchens. Gloss black photographs beautifully but shows every smudge, so it suits shoppers who don't mind a quick daily wipe. Black stainless steel sits between the two, with a brushed metallic tone that lines up neatly with matching ovens and hobs. Brands you'll typically see include Samsung, Bosch, Panasonic, Russell Hobbs, Hisense, AEG, Swan, Tower, CDA, Beko, Sharp, Hotpoint and Daewoo, so matching a black microwave to existing appliances is rarely the hard part.

Before clicking through, match the model code to the retailer's listing and the product box, confirm external dimensions and door swing (side-hinged or drop-down changes how it lives on a worktop), and verify wattage and litres against your usual portions. Check whether a trim kit, crisp plate or low rack is included or sold separately. Most freestanding models run on a standard 13 A plug, but built-in installs sometimes need a dedicated supply, so read the manual before you commit.