high tech housewarming

[mountain_laurel]

thanks to a couple of generous housewarming gifts via PayPal (thanks, 2wanda, ronebofh, and yong_mi!), i can afford to buy a microwave for my new place. before i do that (which i won't do till next week anyway), i figured i'd see if anyone had any recommendations, because i know a lot of y'all are the kind of people who do obsessive product research before buying anything. i might as well reap the benefit of your experience, yes?

so anyway, i've got a budget of $80. obviously i'm not talking about an expensive unit here, but i'd like to find one that's big enough to hold a full size dinner plate. anyone have any experience with cheap microwaves lately?

Comments

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

I like my GE microwave a lot. Mine is a spacesaver, but here's a countertop model that has a $78 price tag (well, between $78 and $149, according to pricegrabber.com), and it looks like it has the same controls mine has. 1.1 cubic feet is plenty big enough.

Happy shopping!

[merde.livejournal.com]

holy crap, that's one of the exact ones i was looking at -- Best Buy has it on sale for $75.99.

on the other hand, i'm kind of coveting this one, because hey! it's red! it's less powerful, but it does have a turntable. and did i mention it's red?

i'm kind of fetishizing red appliances at the moment, because i picked up an antique countertop juicer at a secondhand store a few weeks ago for $13. it's obviously been repainted at least once; it's currently white and chipped, and literally everyone i've mentioned painting it to has said "it should be red." so i've been planning to paint it red. and then i see red kitchen appliances, and i think, "ooh! red!"

i'm not sure how stupid this makes me. GE is certainly a more respectable brand, and the microwave is obviously a more powerful and somewhat larger one... but it isn't RED.

yeah. i'm being stupid here. how stupid? i guess we'll find out whether i buy something recommended by a friend, or go for the RED one.

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

It is awfully pretty. I don't know anything about Emerson products, but I'd be tempted too.

[merde.livejournal.com]

well, the non-red version has gotten some pretty harsh reviews, so i'm feeling a bit wary of it. i'm not a form-over-function kind of girl. i think i'll probably end up going with the GE one that 2wanda recommended, but i'm not actually going to buy anything till i've moved into the place anyway, and then i'll have had a chance to measure, and contemplate the color scheme a bit longer, and can decide just how fussy i'm willing to get.

on the one hand, i can't afford to spend a lot of money furnishing the new place. on the other, this is the first time i've gotten to furnish a place from the ground up, so i'm very reluctant to buy anything that i don't really love -- i'm willing to have the place be pretty sparse for a long time, if that's what it takes to find objects i'll be happy to have around.

(although i've already got all my living room furniture picked out at Ikea, seating and bookshelves and all, down to the curtains and throw pillows.)

i hear the pickings near the UT campus when school lets out can be pretty choice. with a couple of native guides on hand, i may be able to find some good stuff to use in the interim.

[yong-mi.livejournal.com]

Target simplifies things for you (http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_iw_r_2_1/602-8931076-9304624?node=10832311).
Emerson's a pretty respectable brand, actually.

[yong-mi.livejournal.com]

I am still using my compact Sharp microwave I got back in 1999. It has a 11 5/8" turntable and it's been big enough for our uses while not taking up a lot of space. Sharp currently has a model with similar specs, the R-220HW (http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1107,00.html), which appears to be retailing in the $60 to $70 range. (Huh, I just checked and my 8-year old microwave is the R-220BW)

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

If you had about twice the budget, I'd say go for the Panasonic inverter microwave line. Since the power
supply is small, an oven that doesn't take up too much space can have plenty of room inside. Plus various
swoopy inverter features. I almost bought myself one about a week ago, but I can't really convince myself
to buy an appliance to replace one that's working fine.