Panasonic Cyclonic Wave 1.6 Cu. Ft. Countertop Microwave (NN-SE785S)

I bought this because it got good reviews regarding it ability to cook food evenly. It does a great job of making baked potatoes and thawing meats using the preprogrammed functions. Frozen meat comes out perfectly thawed with no cooked spots which is remarkable. I cook bacon to a very crispy texture with no burns using a level 8 temperature setting and paper towels to catch grease. Bacon cooking requires setting the timer unlike most cooking chores which are preprogrammed. So far I have used the potato setting and the reheat settings with great success. Here is the rub, there is no number pad to set time. You can set a cook time and power setting but it is done by swiping the controls with a finger or touching one of the buttons multiple times. While this is somewhat cumbersome, I found that the system is really designed to cook using the preprogrammed functions. These functions use an internal sensor to tell when food is ready instead of forcing the operator to guess at a time and power level to cook. The good news is the preprogrammed functions work quite well, the bad news is it is a completely foreign paradigm for us old folks and it takes some getting used to. Is this reason to pass on the oven, NO WAY. I love the performance of the oven, just keep the manual nearby to know which function number to choose when cooking.

Functionality is adequate. Entering cook time is cumbersome as I use the 30 second button the most for that. I bought this microwave for the dimensions it had. The dimensions should also be better defined as I used the microwave as a built-in to an existing oven-microwave oven combo utilizing the existing trim piece and the height dimension was off for the enclosure - it included the extra height of the feet creating a gap of an extra inch causing me to have to build an extra fill-in panel to hide that gap.

OK... So, the interface is completely alien, like something from the way far off future and that takes getting used to, BUT...This is THE best microwave I've ever owned. It's covered in what seem like marketing terms, GENIUS SENSOR, CYCLONIC WAVE, INVERTER TECHNLOGY.... But after reading up a lot about the technology I wanted a unit that has all three. Truth is, Panasonic only makes like 2 units with this combo and this is one of them. Sadly... Cyclonic wave eliminates the cold spots, inverter heats the entire time at various power levels which means less cooking time overall, and the genius sensor bit basically senses how hot and humid the inside of your microwave is, so it knows when your food is ready.BUT WHAT DOES THAT ALL MEAN???? What it means is the weird alien control panel is actually way easier for you to get better results (if not to use) than the old style poke, time, poke start, cross fingers, method.... Cold pizza you want to reheat? Normally would never do that in a microwave yeah? Hit the upside wifi looking button (sensor heat) hit your up down slider till you get to pizza, press the flashing button... wait... receive pizza. It is that easy. Each function you select will darken out any of the irrelevant keys, just walking you through what you do next.. The only thing to remember is what the initial buttons are which honestly only took me a couple of days. I don't think Panasonic promotes this interface because people generally fear change. people also don't generally read instruction manuals, but do yourself a favor and at least go to the page that explains what the buttons are.That said, this microwave is very big inside, just as big as my monster over the range unit, but without all the over the range bloat. To put it in perspective, I can put two large Pho bowls, side by side on the turntable and they do not hit the walls! What?? And again with the sensor bit, I just hit sensor cook > soup > start. Heck, you can even just do sensor cook > reheat > start... Gone are the days of guessing and being disappointed. I eve test with an infrared thermometer. Before I had pizza where it is nearly 200 degrees on the outer edges and maybe body temp on the inside, now there is maybe a 20 degree difference. Edges will always be a bit hotter because theres nothing to the side absorbing the heat, but gone is the let it sit for several minutes then reheat and end up with inedible concrete crust...Ok enough before (too late you say?) this turns into a rant. I love this microwave and wished I had made the switch earlier.