Reliable brand of microwave oven.

[jakol]

my whirlpool microwave oven broke after 4 years of service (no power), im shopping for a replacement ,im considering of getting the GE advantium 120 which is popular brand but i have bad issues with GE electronics (ex. phones etc) they are not very reliable i dont know about their microwaves though...any input is greatly appreciated.
im looking for microwave with speedcook technology, and only few brands here in US is offering this. only Whirlpool, KitchenAid and GE is offering this as far as i know. wat do you think guys.

[Goober57]

Sharp's stuff is usually good. (usually)

I have their microwave oven.

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[lordsmurf]

[Goober57]

Smart a**!!! :P :P :P

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[jakol]

hi,
i use to own Sharp microwave too and its still working(i gave it to my bro) they are reliable..but they dont offer the speedcook tech yet for their new microwaves.

[jakol]

that microwave is too powerfull for my use

[Conquest10]

I had a Sharp, was very good. After 7 years, went on the fritz and had to get another. I bought another Sharp but as soon as I plugged it in and turned it on, flames started to come out the back. I'm assuming it was a short. Returned that and got a Panasonic. Its as good as the old Sharp I had and is much, much quieter.

[Goober57]

I had a Sharp, ........flames started to come out the back.

Nothing wrong with flame-broiling! :P :P :P

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[ZAPPER]

I got a Panasonic at least ten years old I am guessing. Hard to keep clean though. Got another that kind of belongs to my brother in storage in the basement. It's an old kenmore (ugly SOB) maybe twenty years old. I have thrown them away at work because nobody wants them off of demo jobs.

If it has no power at all I would tear it apart just to see the problem. Unless it is the mag tube it probally wouldn't be much to fix.

A guy at work has a tiny one that he screwed a strap to and carries his lunch in. He will sit down in the middle of a shopping mall, plug it in and heat his lunch right there at center court and watch the girls go by while he eats.

[888888]

I have had a large Toshiba microwave oven for about 12 years or more. Don't cook with it much so maybe that's why it still works great.

[bunyip]

I've had the same Sharp for over 15 years, it still gets used at least 5 times a day every day - still going strong - it's part of the family now.

[jakol]

thanks forthe replies

anyway i strip the circuits of my broken microwave to find out wats wrong and maybe worth fixing it, changed the line fuse and plug it in the wall as soon as the microwave cycles on pufff..line fuse busted...suspected problems with high voltage components, checked magnetrons=ok, hv transformer =ok, hv diode is ok as well, HV Capacitor is bad(shorted)....google for internet price of HV Cap replacement= $100 half the price of the microwave...i will try our local electronic store tomorrow if they have but i dought it. thats the problem here in US ..parts nowhere to find them...only in rip off internet sites.

[Faustus]

Panasonic, they should be offered somewhere because we have one.

edit: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1075583597174&skuId=6323775&productCategory...8&type=product

[JohnnyCNote]

I have a nice Panasonic that works fine. I also had a Kenmore that lasted many years. In fact, it was still working when I gave it away. I think it said Goldstar on it somewhere.

Sharp makes a microwave with a browning element in it so you can toast food after heating it up. Beyond that, I have a convection oven that cooks chicken really well and fast....

[offline]

Sharp. I've owned two now. Replaced an older but still working
Sharp. I won't touch Sharp for anything else - but
the Sharp branded microwaves work well in my
limited experience.

[lordsmurf]

Kenmore
GE

[Capmaster]

GE at home. Fine unit. We had a Panasonic at work that got used more than a rented donkey. It kept working for years .....good, tough unit.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Not to threadjack but:

got used more than a rented donkey

WTF????????????????????????????????????????

Kevin

(I've seen some strange analogies but this???)

I can't remember the brand of Microwave I have at home - sorry I can't contribute

[Capmaster]

Hello,

Not to threadjack but:

got used more than a rented donkey

WTF????????????????????????????????????????

Kevin

(I've seen some strange analogies but this???)

I can't remember the brand of Microwave I have at home - sorry I can't contribute

Get your mind out of the gutter, boy. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "My boss worked me like a rented donkey"?

[yoda313]

Hello,

heard the phrase "My boss worked me like a rented donkey"?

Nope!

Kevin

[Italic]

My Moulinex SimbioGrill has always worked fine in the last 5 years.
I never figured to find this kind of topic in this site.

[yoda313]

My Moulinex SimbioGrill has always worked fine in the last 5 years.
I never figured to find this kind of topic in this site.

Hello,

New to off topic huh???

Kevin

[bazooka]

My goldstar microwave has been very dependable.

[zzyzzx]

I'm still using my vintage 1989 Tappan. I use it a lot, since I do ~99% of my cooking in it or my toaster oven. My microwave is large, heavy, and made in USA. I doubt that you could buy one as good as mine today.

[northcat_8]

We have only had Kenmore (sears). Only had 2 in 16 years, and the old one worked just fine, it was just too big (or so my wife said).

[Roundabout]

I've owned a couple of Sharp units - standalones, that work fine after several years. No complaints at all about them. The most recent one I bought was called a "half-pint", and it is about half the size of a normal countertop micro. Everyone thinks it looks "cute". It's all blue, with a blue clear plastic door. I haven't needed to use it much since I bought the new home, which came with a new over-the-range micro made by Whirlpool.

Which brings me to my other recommendation: don't buy a Whirlpool. Ours is almost new, just over year old, and recently it started making grinding noises. I had to remove it from the cabinet and take it apart to determine the cause of the noise - turns out the stirrer motor was bad. The gears inside the sealed motor were making a bad grinding noise all the time you cook.

Turns out a new motor costs $65 - $75 depending on which website had it listed. Since it was almost new, I found other ways of obtaining one (I won't go into that here, he he). All I can say is, don't buy a Whirlpool. They don't use quality components, and the motor was made in Korea, not even Chinese quality!

Got it all back together and it works fine now, but I wonder how long the replacement motor will last? If it goes out again, I'm just gonna replace the entire unit with another brand. It'll probably be a Sharp...

[jakol]

hi,
ur right roundabout, mine is a whirlpool too the over the range model, it sucks bad...after just 4 years it broke i hardly even use it. its components are all made in korea...magnetron, capacitor, motors etc...

i wonder how did u get a replacement for the stirrer motor? i shopped all the local electronic store here in our area...no hv cap. anyway im buying a new one..im leaning on getting the GE advantium.....and the old microwave i will sell it for parts..he he he...if ur stirrer motor breaks again ill sell u one for a reasonable price:

thanks for the replies guys..

[Roundabout]

hi,
ur right roundabout, mine is a whirlpool too the over the range model, it sucks bad...after just 4 years it broke i hardly even use it. its components are all made in korea...magnetron, capacitor, motors etc...

i wonder how did u get a replacement for the stirrer motor? i shopped all the local electronic store here in our area...no hv cap. anyway im buying a new one..im leaning on getting the GE advantium.....and the old microwave i will sell it for parts..he he he...if ur stirrer motor breaks again ill sell u one for a reasonable price:

thanks for the replies guys..

Lots of places sell these parts. One of them is www.partselect.com and another is www.amiparts.com - and many more than these two. Here's a picture of the stirrer motor that was in my unit, apparently used in dozens of models:



At least yours lasted 4 years, mine was barely over a year old when the junk stirrer motor went bad. I have no idea why, because the micro gets very lite usage and there is no "load" on the motor. What I mean is, it just turns a fan on the motor shaft at a very slow rate (I think it was less than 35 RPM). No reason for it to go bad at all.

They use such junk parts in these micros, and this unit cost us about $400 to have it installed as part of our new home package. I was very angry when I saw how much a new motor costs - as you can see, about $65 plus shipping. So, let's just say I um...borrowed one from another unit that came my way temporarily.

IMO, they should cover parts and labor on something like a microwave for over a year, especially one marketed as Whirlpool "GOLD", their higher end product. So I just took care of it myself and made sure that Whirlpool will wind up paying for the part anyway. I'm not suggesting anyone do something unethical, mind you...

Thx for the offer of the stirrer motor on your old unit, but if this damn thing dies again, it's going out in the trash, and I've bought my last Whirlpool appliance for this lifetime. It won't be a coincidence if it happens to go out again, then it's definitely defective design and/or manufacturing.

All those years at Sony taught me a few things about people's expectations of reliability, and they were usually right. Many times I made sure the customer didn't have to pay for things that were designed improperly, even if the unit was out of warranty. I wasn't always successful, but at least I tried to help people out when I could. Higher end products should last longer than a year. Simple as that.

I've heard some good things about the GE unit you mentioned, if you buy one, post back later and let us know of your opinion. Then, if my micro dies, I might just replace it with one of those too.