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We put 13 microwave ovens to the test, reheating plate after plate of leftovers, zapping family dinners, popping popcorn, and defrosting meats. We compared how evenly and quickly each model heats and assessed how easy each one is to use. In this review, we highlight many options to help you find the one that best suits your home needs and budget.
The microwave that came out in top in our tests was the GE JES1109RRSS. We loved this model for its user-friendliness and great performance with frozen foods and defrosting.
If you're looking for a deal, check out the Panasonic NN-SB458S, which offers respectable performance at an affordable price. Read on to see our other favorite picks.
Expensive, uneven heating, not the best craftsmanship
Not the most convenient to use, heating performance could be better
Display is difficult to read, can't fit a full-size dinner plate
Struggled to defrost the ground turkey
Didn't defrost frozen turkey well
Pricey, lacks some features
Unstable and noisy base, smaller turntable, difficulty heating frozen food
Struggled with some frozen foods, so-so heating results
Expensive, so-so performance
Lacks dedicated preset buttons, too small for most users, lackluster at most things
Bottom Line
A well-rounded and reliable appliance that offers versatile functionality and excels in heating and defrosting
This microwave excelled at heating frozen foods and scored exceptionally across the board throughout our testing
Despite its substantial size, this microwave justifies its footprint with strong performance and an affordable price
This compact, user-friendly model is suitable for individuals with limited space, but its overall performance could be better
This product pairs reasonable testing results with an affordable price, standing out from the competition with great cost-to-value
This compact and inexpensive microwave is a decent option for those with limited space who don't mind longer cook times
This product had mixed results overall, failing to distinguish it all that much from other products
This larger product did decently well but we don't think it quite matches the performance of the top-tier models
If you are looking for a product that will look great, delivering an art-deco flair to your kitchen, you won't be disappointed
This compact and user-friendly model is a suitable choice for individuals with budget or space limitations, but it lacks in build quality and high-level performance
This product failed to impress us too much, ranking close to the bottom of the overall
This pricey product failed to pair a top-notch performance with its premium price tag
This aesthetically pleasing appliance is convenient, but its performance is lackluster
The GE JES1109RRSS delivers exceptional performance across the board, with defrosting being its standout feature. While it falls on the higher end of the price spectrum, we think it justifies its slightly elevated cost. This microwave not only excels in basic functions but also elevates your kitchen with advanced features like air frying and broiling, adding a large degree of versatility. In terms of value for the price, it's challenging to find a superior appliance in this category.
The only minor issue we encountered was the button layout, which could be more challenging to discern in dim lighting due to the lack of contrast on the buttons. Other than that, we found few faults with this great GE model. But if you're looking for something cheaper that can still do a great job defrosting and you don't need the extra powerful functions like broiling and air frying, check out the Panasonic NN-SB458S.
If you're in the market for a more affordable but well-performing microwave across a wide range of tasks, we suggest checking out the Panasonic NN-SB458S. It defrosts meat well without cooking it, which can be a tall order for most microwaves. So, this is an excellent option for those who frequently keep frozen meat on hand. This unit also excelled in our speed heating test, managing to raise the temperature of a cup of water by almost 90 degrees in just 45 seconds, proving that this microwave works fast. This was evident when we heated leftovers, which was a fairly swift process with deliciously warm green beans, potatoes, and sausage.
While this speedy kitchen appliance will warm your dinner up in no time, it fell short in our ease of use assessment (a sore spot found with many microwaves we tested). It includes five quick buttons, which is far fewer than most of the competition, and has a hard time staying in place during use. When pushing buttons or opening and closing the door, this microwave has a tendency to slide around and could benefit from rubber feet. Although we can't fully endorse the NN-SB458S across all aspects, it delivers adequate performance across a wide range of tasks you'd expect from a microwave. If this microwave doesn't feel like a good fit, check out our review of the Magic Chef MC110MB. Its price is slightly higher, but it is exceptional at heating and defrosting frozen food.
In today's market, finding a streamlined product tailored to a specific user can be challenging. However, we believe this appliance fills a role for those not overly concerned with high-end features. If your microwaving needs are somewhat simple and you're short on cash (and space), the Comfee EM720CPL-PMB is an excellent choice. It's a small but mighty appliance capable of reheating leftovers evenly and quickly, all while providing every preset button you might need.
While it excels in a few key areas, this model falls short when it comes to quickly heating frozen food and overall build quality. Although we appreciate the considerate design of the preset buttons, this model has a tendency to rock back and forth due to its unstable base when using said buttons. If you're willing to spend a bit more, the Toshiba EM925A5A scored just a bit more overall, is still fairly affordable, and managed better results in our frozen food tests — though don't count on it to defrost anything quickly.
The Magic Chef MC110MB managed to heat up some of the best frozen food we've ever tasted. Not only that, but it managed to defrost our frozen ground meat quickly without accidentally cooking it. For those who use their microwave often for frozen food heating, this unit should be on your short list. We found that all of the frozen foods we heated while testing the MC110MB brought it up to the recommended temperature or higher, and the heating was consistent and even throughout each. This microwave also offers a plethora of quick button functions, and overall, we found it to be user-friendly. If this microwave is in your budget, it's hard to beat.
This microwave did quite well in most of our testing, but we identified a hot spot in the center of the microwave in our heat map test. This test often exposes some level of uneven heating in every microwave, and in this case, we found a hot spot in the center. This result would suggest that heating may occur unevenly in some heating scenarios, but data from our further testing suggests that this hot spot didn't stop the Magic Chef from adequately heating various different types of frozen foods and a plate of leftovers. If you're looking for even more features, like broiling and air frying, and budget isn't a problem, the GE JES1109RRSS might be the best fit for you.
During our assessment, we found that the Magic Chef excels and heating frozen foods.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Compare Products
We've tested dozens of microwaves and put them through hundreds of tests to help you find your perfect match.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
How We Tested Microwaves
We've purchased and tested over 30 different microwaves since 2017. To test microwaves, we conducted extensive head-to-head tests and had a group of judges evaluate the quality of the heated food. We compared how efficiently each appliance heated the different items by measuring the temperatures across food and liquids with multiple digital thermometers and a laser infrared thermometer. We used the products in our office and personal kitchens over the course of a few months to see how they perform over a longer period of time and how well they function in real-world circumstances.
We conducted 162 individual tests on this group of microwaves to evaluate their performance. The most heavily weighted scores come from the heating tests, which account for 40% of each product's total score. We broke that metric down even further into five more specific tests that evaluate each microwave's performance in heating leftovers, pizza, and soup, as well as creating a heat map and testing heating speed. Additionally, we placed significant scoring weight on how well each microwave could heat frozen foods.
Our microwave testing is divided into four rating metrics:
Heating tests (40% of overall score weighting)
Frozen Foods tests (30% weighting)
Defrosting tests (20% weighting)
Ease of Use tests (10% weighting)
Our popcorn test was just one of 162 individual performance tests we conducted on each microwave. Scores were based on the number of unpopped kernels remaining and whether any were burned.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Why Trust GearLab
Our testing team of Lesley Robinson, Austin Palmer, and David Wise has extensive experience with kitchen appliances, including testing more than 500 products for GearLab ranging from blenders to ice cream makers. Lesley has a B.S. degree in Food Science from Calpoly and has worked in quality control for a chocolate company as a professional baker. Austin has a Bachelor of Science Degree and has developed nearly 100 test plans and tested nearly 1,000 products for GearLab. David has used his B.S. in Robotics Engineering from MIT to develop many of the more technical tests at GearLab. Tests to measure temperature accuracy and heating consistency were particularly important for developing the most objective microwave testing possible for this review. Throughout the testing process, Austin, David, and the rest of the GearLab team became frozen food connoisseurs, consuming far more Hot Pockets, mini-lasagnas, and frozen burritos than anyone perhaps should.
We pulled out all the stops when it came to testing microwaves.
We evaluated how evenly heated our leftovers were.
We measured how much weight was actually thawed after using the defrost feature on each microwave.
Analysis and Test Results
For the microwaves we tested, we split our suite of testing assessments into four weighted metrics: heating, frozen foods, defrosting, and ease of use. Each metric includes a variety of different tests, with the performance of each product detailed in the sections below. Remember to consider what you typically use a microwave for and which performance aspects matter most to you as you read through our metrics and scores.
What's the Best Value?
When you pay more for a microwave, you'll often get a more powerful unit that heats food quickly and has more convenient (AKA more specific) functions. If you're on a budget, one product stands out well above the rest: the Panasonic NN-SB458S. It is substantially more affordable than many of the other top contenders yet still holds its own when it comes to heating frozen food and defrosting. Even more affordable, albeit slightly less capable, is the Comfee EM720CPL-PMB. If you don't need all the bells and whistles and seek a straightforward appliance for simple tasks like heating leftovers, it's a worthy consideration.
The Toshiba is one of the best-performing models that won't break the bank.
Credit: Laura Casner
Heating Performance
Heating performance is of fundamental importance to your day-to-day use of, and satisfaction with, a microwave. So, it is no surprise that we gave heating 40% of the overall score weighting. To rate microwaves on heating, we challenged each product with five different tests:
Heating Map test (35% of Heating score weighting)
Heating Speed test (20% weighting)
Leftover Heating test (15% weighting)
Soup Heating test (15% weighting)
Pizza Heating test (15% weighting)
The standout performer in our heating metric is the GE JES1109RRSS, which led the way in the bulk of our heating assessments. The Toshiba EM925A5A and the Panasonic NN-SB458S also delivered strong heating performance, but neither was above average when it came to even heating.
Heating Map Test
Our heating map test rates the consistency of heating across a wide area of the microwave. To perform this test, we spread an even layer of Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow creme on parchment paper, cut out a disk the size of the turntable, and then heated it on high for 2 minutes. We scored each product based on the consistency of temperature and browning. The best products created an even amount of heating across the entire disk of marshmallow fluff. Poor performers had hot and cold spots, which are visually evident on the marshmallow creme surface. We also looked at the underside of the disk, which was visible through the parchment paper.
The top scorer in our heat map test was the GE JES1109RRSS. We found minimal marshmallow temperature variation, no distinct hot spot, and even browning.
Even tone throughout, if not a tad pale in the center.
The GE heated the marshmallow fluff evenly throughout. The top is shown on the left, with the bottom shown through the parchment paper on the right.
Poor performers in the heat map test include the Nostalgia, which left the inner ring hardly cooked at all, while the outer ring was nearly burnt. Similarly, the lower-cost Toshiba model, the Toshiba EM121A5C, had a super-heated center compared to the rest of the disk. The worst by far was the Galanz Retro, which created a burnt center.
The Galanz burnt the center of the marshmallow fluff.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
Heating Speed Test
To test heating speed, we put a 125 mL beaker of water in the center of the oven and then heated it on high for 45 seconds. This allowed us to measure the temperature rise, from the starting temp (room temperature) to the temperature after 45 seconds of heating.
The high-end Magic Chef MC110MB managed to raise the water temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, a full 25% higher than almost any other oven. The Breville also heated our water by an impressive 95 degrees.
The Magic Chef increased the temperature of our water by a whopping 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Leftover Heating
The Panasonic NN-SB458S and the Galanz Retro did the best with the mixed plate of leftovers, heating all three types of food evenly, an admittedly difficult task for a microwave. The Toshiba EM925A5A and GE JES1109RRSS produced tasty TV dinners and hot soup, but pizza somehow came out unevenly heated for the Toshiba.
In our leftover tests, we used potatoes, green beans, and sausage to see how evenly heated these were after one minute.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Soup Heating
This test assessed the ability to heat a bowl of canned soup with a thermometer, ensuring consistent temperature throughout. While many microwaves performed well in this metric, the Toshiba EM925A5A and Black+Decker EM720CB7 ovens, along with our budget pick, the Comfee EM720CPL-PMB, created evenly heated and hot soup, whereas most other microwaves needed to be heated and stirred multiple times to get the right consistent temperature.
It's not just about having a hot soup, it's about having the right temperature and not burning your tastebuds. Some microwaves with too much heating power include the Cuisinart CMW-100, Toshiba EM131A5C, and Breville models.
We filled our bowl to the brim to see how effectively each microwave was able to heat our soup. The Toshiba EM131A5C made our soup a little too hot for our poor tastebuds.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Pizza
We heated two slices of leftover pizza in each microwave according to its specific wattage, checking which models could heat them evenly and thoroughly. This test accounted for 15% of the Heating metric.
If you love pizza, keep the GE JES1109RRSS at the top of your list. It performed the best in the pizza reheating tests. Conversely, the Panasonic NN-SB458S performed the worst in the pizza test, unevenly heating the slices, with one being nowhere near hot enough to eat and the other exhibiting hot and cold spots.
Checking for even temperature during our pizza reheating tests.
Credit: Laura Casner
Frozen Foods
Our next series of tests focused on how well each contender could heat premade frozen food items, such as Hot Pockets, mini-lasagnas, or frozen burritos. We followed the manufacturers' instructions for reheating based on individual wattage, adjusting each model's power level when necessary. We used a grid of instant-read kitchen thermometers to compare how evenly heated each piece of food was to determine the scores.
Frozen Food
Product
Frozen Burrito
Lasagna
Hot Pocket
Magic Chef MC110MB
9
8
9
GE JES1109RRSS
8
8
9
Toshiba EM925A5A
10
4
10
Toshiba EM131A5C
10
4
10
Black+Decker EM031MB11
9
5
8
Nostalgia RMO4AQ
10
1
9
Panasonic NN-SB458S
10
2
8
Breville the Compact Wave
1
8
9
Cuisinart CMW-100
9
5
4
Galanz Retro
5
2
7
COMFEE EM720CPL-PMB
2
3
8
Farberware 700W
4
3
6
Black+Decker EM720CB7
1
1
10
The Toshiba EM925A5A and GE JES1109RRSS scored quite well with frozen foods. These appliances delivered near-perfect results with the Hot Pockets and heated our burritos evenly. However, the Toshiba showed a bit more of a temperature spread with the mini-lasagna, which left an average temperature difference of 23 degrees Fahrenheit, while the GE continued to impress across all the frozen foods.
Each mini lasagna got stuck with six thermometers to determine evenness of heating. The GE microwave pictured here scored well in this metric.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The bulk of our test suite — the Black+Decker EM031MB11, Nostalgia RMO4AQ, Panasonic NN-SB458S, and the Toshiba EM131A5C — all lagged behind the top performers. These underperformers all did decently well with the Hot Pocket and the frozen burrito but average or below with the lasagna.
The chart above displays our measured temperature difference found after heating frozen lasagna.
The Breville and Galanz Retro did decently well with the Hot Pocket and the individual lasagna but struggled with the frozen burrito, all failing to heat it sufficiently to serve based on the manufacturer's direction. The Comfee EM720CPL-PMB did extremely well with the hot pocket but failed miserably with frozen lasagna and burritos.
Of these products, the Nostalgia RMO4AQ was the least impressive, showing an average temperature variation of 43 degrees Fahrenheit between zones. The rest of the group ranged between 15 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
The roll of turkey, ready to be defrosted in the Toshiba EM925A5A.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Defrosting
Our defrosting metric is based on the results of a single test: defrosting a one-pound block of frozen ground turkey. We ran a defrosting cycle for the weight of food based on the instructions for each model, then based scores on the amount of turkey that was successfully defrosted after testing, noting if any was prematurely cooked.
The GE JES1109RRSSC reigns supreme, even over the nearly flawless Toshiba EM131A5C, perfectly defrosting the entire block of meat without cooking any of it in a little under 10 minutes. Both microwaves also beep halfway through to alert you to flip the meat over.
The Black+Decker EM720CB7, Cuisinart CMW-100, and Magic Chef MC110MB defrosted about 12 ounces of ground meat. The remaining turkey broke apart fairly easily, even if it was still a little frozen, and we wouldn't have any issue tossing it directly in a pan after taking it out of these models. The Nostalgia RMO4AQ narrowly followed, marked down because it cooked a tiny bit of the turkey during the defrosting process.
There are many standout features of the GE, the foremost being defrosting.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Panasonic NN-SB458S defrosted approximately nine ounces of the turkey, but the remainder was barely frozen and crumbled easily. The Galanz Retro and the Breville performed similarly. The remaining microwaves all delivered lackluster results, not only leaving a large frozen chunk of turkey but also cooking sections in the process.
The Toshiba EM131A5C does a great job with premade frozen items.
Credit: Laura Casner
Ease of Use
Our final set of tests assessed the user-friendliness of these kitchen appliances. We looked at the different preset features and one-touch buttons, as well as the internal lighting and whether they were prone to sliding around on a counter when we opened and closed the door or pushed a button. As popcorn is a fairly popular preset for buttons, we tested this function by using it on a bag of popcorn with each microwave and counting the number of kernals leftover.
The Toshiba EM131A5C, Magic Chef MC110MB, and the GE JES1109RRSS impressed us with their overall ease of use. The Toshiba provides ample interior lighting, whereas the GE leans a bit on the darker side, leaving the Magic Chef's lighting performance in the middle. Each of them features convenient +30 seconds buttons and one-touch quick start functions for durations ranging from one to six minutes. However, the standalone kitchen timers on the Toshiba unit can be somewhat finicky, whereas the GE and Magic Chef are nearly perfect in this regard.
The Toshiba EM925A5A is convenient and easy to use.
Credit: Laura Casner
The Black+Decker EM031MB11 has all the one-touch features you would typically want but slides around a bit on slicker surfaces. It has decent lighting, but the preset popcorn feature wasn't amazing. The Breville performed similarly overall but has better lighting and popcorn functions. However, we didn't find its quick buttons to be as convenient.
This chart shows the number of unpopped kernels leftover in our popcorn that we carefully counted in our testing after using the preset function on each microwave.
The Farberware 700W was fairly wasteful, leaving far too many kernels behind.
Credit: Lesley Robinson
The Black+Decker EM720CB7 was hampered by a few flaws that made it less convenient to use. While we liked its interface, the entire appliance slid around some when we opened or closed the door. It also fared poorly in the popcorn test, leaving tons of unpopped kernels behind after the preset time had elapsed. The Panasonic NN-SB458S did a fine job of popping nearly all of the popcorn with its preset. On the other hand, putting popcorn in the Comfee felt like a waste of our time — we'd be better off using a stove and a pan.
The most basic ability your microwave should have is being able to fit in a full sized dinner plate, so we measured the diameter of each turntable to see what size plate they could handle, with the ideal diameter being at least 11 or more inches. The GE, Toshiba EM131A5C, Black+Decker EM031MB11, Cuisinart CMW-100, and Magic Chef MC110MB all had adequate turntables for large dinner plates.
The Farberware turntable has a diameter of 10 inches for dinner plates, which may be too small for some households.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
How to Pick the Best Microwave for You
Each person has different expectations for their microwave, and we found throughout our testing that many microwaves are designed with features marketed to specific consumers. We encountered many different user-specific features of microwaves, and we feel confident that if you're in the market for one, one of the appliances in our lineup will be a good fit for you.
Form Factor
We tested various microwave sizes, and size often heavily influences which microwave is compatible with your use case. In our testing, we frequently found that some smaller appliances have lower wattage ratings and fewer convenience features. So, if you need a small form factor microwave, check out our individual product reviews to find one with a feature set that fits your needs. Otherwise, our testing results suggest that buying a larger microwave often correlates with more features, higher wattage ratings, and faster heating. Something to note, some of the smallest microwaves we tested could not fit full-size dinner plates inside.
We found the Magic Chef MC110MB easy to use and had plenty of convenient features.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Cost vs Cooking Performance
When looking for a new appliance like a microwave, we always look for something that performs well and is within our budget. We reviewed top-of-the-line models like the GE JES1109RRSS, which was hard to fault but was also the highest-priced microwave we reviewed. We also reviewed many others with attractive features and a more palatable price. We feel confident that through our research, we have found great options for budgets of all sizes and we recommend checking out some of our other award winners for those of you looking for great value.
Heating Capability
Heating is the most important testing metric we used when reviewing microwaves, and performance varied from unit to unit. Whether you are looking for the best microwave for quickly heating leftovers or need to quickly defrost meat, you can rest assured that we thoroughly tested a wide range of the best microwaves and have a suggestion for which would be a good fit for you. We recommend higher-wattage microwaves for faster heating and oftentimes better defrosting performance.
When reviewing some of the best microwaves, we encountered a wide range of convenience features, some with many and some with few.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Conclusion
Many households have a microwave in their kitchen, a daily essential for heating leftovers, defrosting, heating frozen foods, and preparing popcorn for movie nights. However, microwaves vary in performance. Our review is designed to assist you in selecting the right equipment that aligns with your requirements and budget. We hope we've provided the necessary information and details to help you narrow your search.
—Lesley Robinson, David Wise, Austin Palmer, and Genaveve Bradshaw
