Kenmore Elite Microwave Review

In today's busy life, microwaves have become an integral part of the kitchen concerning food preparation.  In searching for a microwave that would fit the needs of my family, we went shopping at a nearby Sears to see what they had available.  At the time (7 years ago), this Kenmore Elite microwave with Ultra Wave Inverter technology was one of the higher end models that didn't have convection capabilities.  This technology gave us the choice to use "Sensor Cooking", so at the touch of 1 button we could have our food reheated or cooked according to predetermined times for 8 different options:

• Reheat - you can reheat pre-cooked room temperature or refrigerated foods without having to select a cooking time or power level for 3 categories: dinner plate, soup/sauce or casserole.
• Potato - you can cook 1 - 4 potatoes, making sure you pierce skin with fork.
• Rice - 1/2 c. - 2 cups, placing twice as much liquid in a microwavable dish.  Cook instant rice according to package directions.
• Pizza - a function only for reheating leftovers, not for cooking.  1 - 3 slices
• Popcorn - good for popping commercially bagged microwave popcorn, only 1 bag at a time.  You will still have to listen for slowing of pops.
• Fresh Vegetable - prepare however you want with desired seasonings and place in microwave container, using 2 T. liquid for every 1 - 2 cups or 4 T. for 3 - 4 cups.
• Frozen Vegetable - Remove from package and rinse under running water.  Place in the size of container that best fits the veggies.  Again, use the same measurements of liquid per quantity as fresh vegetables.
• Frozen Entree - Remove from the outer packaging and vent the plastic covering by piercing with fork or by lifting up a corner.  If the food is not in a proper microwavable container, make sure to transfer it to one that is.  10 - 20 oz. max

Around the holidays, I turn to my microwave's soften and melt settings.  Using the soften feature, the oven cooks at low power to soften foods such as butter, ice cream, cream cheese or frozen juice.  To use, simply touch "Soften" and then choose if you want to soften butter (great for making cookies when recipe calls for room temperature) and then how many sticks - 1, 2 or 3; ice cream (pint, quart or half gallon); cream cheese (again, a good option when baking) and then if you have 3 or 8 oz.; and, finally frozen juice (make sure to remove any metal top and select 6, 12 or 16 oz.  I can't tell you how wonderful this feature is to have.  I don't think I'd be able to go to a microwave that didn't have these options since they get used all the time.

The melt feature allows you to properly melt butter or margarine (1, 2 or 3 sticks), chocolate (4 or 8 oz.), cheese - processed kind only, like Velveeta (8 or 16 oz.) or marshmallows (5 or 10 oz. bag).  I use the melt butter feature regularly since a lot of different recipes I make call for melted butter or margarin.  Around the holidays, the melt chocolate feature gets a lot of use.  By using this setting, your chocolate melts velvety smooth.  When making my chili-cheese dip (canned chili and Velveeta), I use the melt cheese function and it comes out perfect each time.

If I forgot to set meat out in time for it to be thawed for dinner, the auto defrost button is a real life-saver.  The microwave has 3 preset sequences: Meat, Poultry, Fish.  Just select what type you're defrosting, enter the pounds and press "Start".  When using this feature, you will hear a beep that reminds you to check, turn over, separate or rearrange to get the best results.  You can defrost anything up to 6 lbs.  If you have 1 lb. of frozen ground meat (beef or turkey), you can use the Express Defrost button.  This will cook for 2 minutes, 10 sec.

Besides the sensor touch and preprogrammed methods of cooking, you still have the manual timed cooking during which you can set how long you want it to cook and at what power level.  There's even a multi-stage cooking option (which, I have to admit, have never used).  If you have a recipe that calls for different cook powers during cooking, you can set it up for 2 different cycles.  Just enter the cooking time for the 1st stage along with the power level, hit cook time to enter the time for the next stage along with its power level then press "Start".

Other features of the Elite include:

• Clock
• Kitchen timer (nice feature since it will run even if you're cooking something in the microwave).
• Child Lock - use when you're cleaning the outside of the oven so you won't accidentally turn on the oven when wiping across the surface or when you don't want your children to use it unsupervised.
• Add Minute - you can use this button to quickly set and start cooking at 100% power level without having to touch "Start".  You can add up to 99 minutes with this feature.
• More/Less - you can use this function for any of the preprogrammed buttons (Soften, Melt, Time Cook or Sensor Cook) to adjust cooking time up or down.  Each time the pad is pressed, 10 seconds are added or subtracted.  You can only use this after there is a cooking time shown during any sensor cooking.

Specs of this model:

• 1200 Watts
• Outside Dimensions - 20 3/4" x 15 1/4" x 19 1/4"
• Inside Dimensions - 17 1/4" x 9" x 16 3/4"

Now that you know the basic functions & features of this model, I'll give you my thoughts on this microwave.  First of all, I have had it for 7 years without any problems and It does everything that Kenmore says it will do.  As far as appearance goes, it is very pleasing to the eyes and its sleek rounded front and black exterior is a nice addition to my countertop.  I love the fact that I can place a 9" x 13" baking dish in there with plenty of room for even cooking.  The "ding" sound that this model makes isn't your typical kind - it has a very nice sound, like that of an expensive car door (that's the only way I can think of describing it).

If I would ever need a microwave oven in the future, I would definitely look for another Kenmore Elite model.  Not only do you get a lot of great, useful features, you also get a very reliable oven.