Microwave Oven - Help choosing a model

[buzz88]

Planning to buy a Microwave on Prime day.

I am mostly fixed on LG as my prior experience with the brand has been excellent.
My 7-8 year old LG fridge has never needed to be repaired. LG AC has 5-6 years and normal yearly service is all needed.

But there are so many models ranging from 10K to 25K and features are not that different.
How do you choose a model? Planning to get the best available, but not necessarily the most expensive if the price difference doesn't justify itself.

Other details: Either 32L or 28L will suit our home. We already have an OTG, so Convection microwave is also final.
My old microwave was 20L solo and went kaput a few weeks ago. So need bigger and better.
Budget is not an issue as I think we will use it for next 5-10 years or however long it can last.

Also, can anyone tell me how to check the manufacturing year / model launched year?
I think some models are old like 2018-17 and still being sold along side the newer models.
Is it worth getting an old model like that if the yearly revisions are only cosmetic/marketing?

 

[salian]

We already have an OTG, so Convection microwave is also final.

I'm not sure I follow. A convection microwave replicates the OTG function. If you already have an OTG you could save by getting a regular microwave.

Pure microwave ovens haven't really changed in around twenty years, apart from various timer features (including defrost, cleaning and cooking various foods; are all just timer features in my book). In any event I just use the start and off buttons only.

Even if you have say an 800W microwave, it is often better to run it at a lower power setting for a longer duration, to get even heating across the food. Basically even peak power spec is not much of an advantage for real foods unless you're boiling plain water.

So I'm a fan of not going for the most expensive microwave in the shop. Old models are fine.

 

[buzz88]

I'm not sure I follow. A convection microwave replicates the OTG function. If you already have an OTG you could save by getting a regular microwave.

Pure microwave ovens haven't really changed in around twenty years, apart from various timer features (including defrost, cleaning and cooking various foods; are all just timer features in my book). In any event I just use the start and off buttons only.

Even if you have say an 800W microwave, it is often better to run it at a lower power setting for a longer duration, to get even heating across the food. Basically even peak power spec is not much of an advantage for real foods unless you're boiling plain water.

So I'm a fan of not going for the most expensive microwave in the shop. Old models are fine.

I should have been more clearer, I have an OTG and didn't use it much and kept using the older Microwave for everyday use.
So I guess if I can get something that the OTG becomes completely redundant, that would be better and I can just get rid of it/give it to a friend/family.

In short, I need something that works in all/most scenarios.

 

[nsas02]

I'm in the same boat as you. My 6 year LG went kaput and checked for service, they say I need to change the PCB, which costs 7k. So now planning to get a new Oven with Convection so that I can dispose off my OTG as well, thereby saving some kitchen space. I'm also looking at LG, let me know if you finalize one.

 

[john1911]

I have been using LG MC2846 for around 2 years now and it works as expected.

There are multiple colour options available in this, like MC2846SL, MC2846BG, MC2846BL, MC2846BR. They have very different prices on Amazon, vary by upto 3000. Basically they are the same machine with different colours and different accessories. The cheapest is around 11.5k and costliest around 14.5k. But machine is the same in both.

 

[salian]

I should have been more clearer, I have an OTG and didn't use it much and kept using the older Microwave for everyday use.
So I guess if I can get something that the OTG becomes completely redundant, that would be better and I can just get rid of it/give it to a friend/family.

In short, I need something that works in all/most scenarios.

My personal experience has been that these multi-in-one machines can't take the serious long heat of actual baking.

They are great for crisping up the occasional croissant or reheating leftover pizza. But if you want to bake a cake or make bread from scratch then they tend to fail pretty fast. This happened twice to me, once during the lockdown, so I'm not going that route again for a while.

Finally I got a mdf+metal rack from amazon to save space, and now stack a basic microwave along with a proper oven.

Maybe my experience was an outlier and other members might share their experiences.