A microwave that does double duty

Author's Rating:

Pros: Good looks, even cooking, many cooking features, many safety features.

Cons: A bit complex due to its many features. Probably too complex for a child

The Bottom Line: 
I recommend this unit if you like the idea that you are getting two ovens rather than one. Many microwave features, vent fan, and convection cooking make it very versatile.

Author's Review
I've had this microwave for several years and I just realized that I never did a review. Since I personally appreciate as many reviews on a product as I can find when I am shopping, I figured it is better late than never.

When I was updating my kitchen, I decided that it was time to replace my 25-year-old microwave. It had outlived its usefulness for sure and was taking up an entire counter. I knew I wanted to install a microwave over my range and since I don't have venting to the outside, I also wanted a microhood. And finally, since I was replacing my one-over-one oven (I may have the name of this wrong, but it's one unit with two ovens), I was concerned that I was giving up much-needed oven capacity. So when I saw that I could have a microwave unit that also performs as a convection unit, I was sold.

This GE Spacemaker has a lot of features and it's important to read the manual before doing anything. The control panel is also confusing at first and takes some getting used to.

The most surprising difference between this oven and my old one is that there is no digital pad. You can't put something in to heat for 10 seconds. The minimum amount is 15 seconds and this is set using the Time Cook button on the control panel. I've found that this is not a problem but it sure was odd at first.

The main cooking features of the oven are Microwave, Convection, and Fast Bake. After all this time, I have only used Microwave and Convection cooking. I find the microwave to be powerful enough for all of my needs since it's so much faster than the one I used for so long. I've used the convection cooking sparingly, but I've been pleased with the results. My brownies came out as good or better than they do in the regular oven. Frozen french fries are crisp and evenly cooked. When I was cooking for a crowd on a holiday, I was grateful to have the convection feature.

I know I can't do justice to the review of the fast bake feature since I have not used it. My main use of the unit is microwaving and secondary use is convection baking, and for those, I am very satisfied.

Other features that are available on this unit are:
Time Cook - you select the amount of time you want to cook something
Micro Express Cook - you put an item in to cook for 30, 60, etc seconds
Time Defrost - you defrost an item for an amount of time you select
Auto Defrost - you tell the oven the weight of the item and it determines how long to defrost
Fast defrost - same as auto defrost in my opinion
Reheat - reheats one plate of food but I find the food gets much too hot
Beverage reheat - reheats a glass of liquid but it also seems too hot for me.
Popcorn - turns the kitchen into a movie theatre.

One feature that I use every day is Auto Cook. You put in potatoes, canned veggies, frozen veggies, fresh veggies, a piece of chicken, piece of fish, or ground meat and the unit determines how long to cook. This is a great feature that I use for all veggies and the results are perfect every time. I don't use this oven for the meat or chicken since I still prefer my regular oven for these things.

The unit has a clock that shows the time when the unit is not in use. It has a light that shines on the burners which is helpful. There is a fan that can be used to capture smells which is the microhood feature that I needed. This fan is very loud which is something I don't like but it does do its job. Be aware that this fan goes on if the cooking surface below gets very hot. This will happen at times when all the burners are on. I consider it a safety feature so I put up with the noise.

Cleaning is reasonably easy. The entire inside is stainless steel. The turntable comes out for cleaning.

Overall, I do like this appliance. There are a lot of safety warnings that a new user should read about and of course, it takes a few reads to understand how to use all the features. When there are a lot of features, there has to be more complexity but none of this is too hard to figure out once you do it a few times.

I don't think this is a good oven for kid use. It just has too many options and young kids might not be able to navigate the control panel well.

I hope I've done a reasonable job here. There's so much going on with this unit, it's hard to write it all down.


Update on November 7, 2006

It's time for an update. After almost 4 years of use, the door to this unit started screaching when opening and closing. Not a pleasant sound. It was easy to determine that the door wasn't properly aligned, but it was impossible to figure out how to fix it.

Using an online form, I asked GE for help. I got back an email saying they'd contact me and it included a phone number. I decided to make the call and was pleased to speak to a person. I explained that I didn't want to pay someone to come out since I wanted to fix the door myself. Could they point me to something that would show me how to do this.

Instead she suggested they would waive the fee to come into the house. If they did any repairs, I'd pay for parts and labor. Well, that sounded good to me but I didn't ask enough questions. It turned out that there was no easy way for the consumer to adjust the door. The GE service man was very nice and knowledgeable. He had to remove a front piece and then he could get the door off.

There are no screw adjustments. The door just hangs on two brackets. He had to bend the brackets which I found disconcerting. He said I have to be careful how I pull open the door since I may be pulling on the lower part which was pulling the door out of alignment. I do believe he is right.

This door is just hanging on two brackets.If you pull too much on either the bottom or the top part of the handle you may pull the door out of alignment. It's important to pull in the middle of the handle. With such an expensive item, you'd think it would be more sturdy. But I guess nothing is made that well these days.

Then came the bill. The fee to give an estimate is $79. That is the fee they 'waived'. The fee to do any work is $169! I did react to that. He said he'd subtract the $79 from the $159 so I'd only owe $80 plus tax. It took 10 minutes and no parts were needed.

I know I could not have figured out how to fix the door but I was still shell shocked about the cost of this repair. Just fair warning to anyone who needs service. Ask a lot of questions so you can be aware of what you are going to pay.