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This Russell Hobbs microwave is compact compared to many other options, yet spacious within - the glass turning plate inside has a diameter of 24.5cm which should give you some idea of the size dish you could use. Still too small for our largest plates, but definitely ample for most needs - certainly ours as a family of 4 using a microwave regularly.
It may not be obvious from the images online, but this microwave actually has a mirrored/reflective door. It does require regular cleaning as fingerprints show up really well - but my toddler has had hours of fun pulling faces at himself so the benefits have been more than just food reheating for us!
We have the cream coloured microwave as most of our appliances are cream. It looks classy and well placed out on display in the kitchen and is not an eyesore at all. Usually, we have our microwave on a shelf within a cupboard (with space around it) so that it is hidden away. I am not sure this will be an option for us unless we remove a shelf, as this microwave has vents on the top and on the sides and so requires 30cm free space above and 7.5cm free space either side. It’s a good job it looks nice!
As far as I can tell from my own measurements, the depth of this microwave as displayed in the additional info includes the handle on the door - this wasn’t obvious to us when choosing the appliance so we just had to hope that the handle wasn’t an additional extra to the measurements.
The lead with the plug is only 1 metre long, too short to reach to our floor level plug when the microwave is on top of a unit - but certainly ample if you were to have the microwave on a kitchen worktop with similar level plug sockets.
Setting the clock time is super simple, it has its own clearly labelled button and the dial turns to increase or decrease the numbers shown on the screen...easy enough to figure out if you lose the instructions in a few months and need to change the time!
The power output on this microwave is 700w, although it doesn’t show that anywhere on the actual microwave, so this is knowledge that you would need to retain. The power level can be changed from 100% down to 20%...personally, I’d prefer to be shown what wattage the power is rather than a % of the full cooking power. I initially assumed it was just a power button to switch the microwave on.
Once you have chosen the power level, the dial turns to allocate the amount of cooking time needed, and this increases manually in 10 second increments. If you want to pop something in for a quick 30seconds or a couple of minutes without the faff of turning the dial to the right amount of time, you can just press the turning dial and it will start at 30 seconds.
There are lots of options with this microwave, including a ‘weight defrost’ button which allows you to input the weight of frozen meat and then defrost in the microwave (it beeps halfway through to remind you to turn it over).
There are 8 ‘auto’ functions where you can refer to a table in the guidelines and then adjust the weight for recommended cooking times for certain foods. Really helpful if you have the booklet to hand and need some advice...admittedly it’s not something I can see myself using much as I tend to heat in stages and keep checking if I am not sure!
You can set the microwave to cook at different power levels at different stages - I am sure this is a fantastic option for those who take their microwaving very seriously an require this function for longer cooking times...it’s not something I can see myself using personally.
There is also an option to pre-set your microwave to start cooking your food at a certain power and time without you needing to be there. An amazing option if you want to have something cooking and ready for you upon your return...unless, like me, you worry about things like that going wrong for some reason and you like to be around just in case!
The kitchen timer is a great little addition if you are doing something else in the kitchen that requires a reminder, such as boiling an egg or letting your child know that their screen time is finished. Talking of children, there is a child lock function with this microwave - handy if you have an inquisitive one who may try and cook his toys whilst your back is turned. You just hold down the stop button for 3 seconds to lock/unlock. NB: I assumed child lock meant the door locks. It doesn’t. It means the buttons are disabled.
If you suffer from a well known condition (like me) called ‘baby brain’, then this microwave beeps every 2 mins after it has finished if you have forgotten to open the door and take your food out, or cancel/stop the cooking.
One thing, it does seem quite loud. I am used to a microwave in a cupboard though so this may be me! It didn’t wake my one year old up who was asleep in her pram less than a meter away so it can’t be that noisy. "
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