Stainless Steel Microwaves

A solo microwave heats, defrosts and reheats. That's the whole job. If you're warming leftovers, melting butter and reheating soup, a solo unit at 700W to 900W does the work and keeps the worktop tidy. Read More...

A solo microwave with grill adds a top element, so you can finish cheese on toast, brown a jacket potato or crisp the top of a pasta bake. It's the cheapest way to add a second cooking mode without committing to a combi.

A combination microwave adds proper convection-style oven heat plus grill, so it can bake, roast small joints and cook from frozen as a backup oven. Combis cost more, draw more power and take more space, but if you're in a flat without a full oven, or you want a second oven for Christmas, a combi earns its keep.

Built-in microwaves drop into a tower housing alongside an oven, sit flush, and look like part of the kitchen. They need an exact aperture (most around 38cm tall, 56cm wide, 32cm or so deep) and proper ventilation. Once installed they free worktop space and keep the run looking joined-up.

Freestanding microwaves plug in and go. They're cheaper, easier to replace, and you can take them when you move. The trade-off is worktop footprint and cables on show.

Capacity is measured in litres and roughly tracks turntable diameter. 17L to 20L suits one or two people and small plates. 23L to 25L is the family sweet spot, a dinner plate fits without skimming the walls. 27L to 32L handles a casserole dish or pyrex roaster. 40L plus is combination territory, where the cavity also has to fit a small chicken or a baking tray.

Wattage decides reheat time and how evenly things cook. 700W is fine for ready meals if you can spare an extra minute. 800W to 900W is the realistic everyday baseline. 1000W reheats fast and gives combination models the headroom to brown without drying things out. Worth checking the back-of-pack instructions on ready meals, they're written for 800W and 900W.

A stainless steel exterior wipes clean and resists fingerprints better than gloss black. A stainless steel interior is a different feature: it shrugs off curry stains, takes a damp cloth without scratching, and tends to be the choice on combination and grill models because painted enamel discolours under repeated grill heat. If you cook anything tomato-based weekly, the steel interior pays off.

Brands you'll typically see across this finish include Panasonic, Sharp, Bosch, Neff, AEG, Samsung, Hotpoint, Indesit, Beko, Zanussi, Russell Hobbs, Toshiba, CDA, Candy, Hoover and Haden. Panasonic and Sharp dominate the freestanding side, Bosch, Neff, AEG, Hotpoint and Indesit own most of the built-in tower-fit units.