Panasonic Microwave is a Perfect Kitchen Appliance

My wife and I have a great relationship, and laugh about a lot of things.(Including her cooking) She is an outstanding cook, and can make meals that simply make everyone want to eat more. Unfortunately, we work different hours and days. On most days we get to say “hi” and “bye” to each other, and sometimes we don’t feel like cooking. My days can last up to 16 hours at work sometimes, so most of the time I immediately return home to my lair.(The basement) That is why I decided to add a microwave to my favorite place, and it sits next to my mini refrigerator/freezer. The main requirements were to find a basic microwave that would cook microwave dinners and popcorn, while keeping the price at a reasonable level.

After careful research, I decided to pick up the Panasonic NN-S431WL. Panasonic is one of the most respected brands in electronics, and the price was hard to beat.($89.99) It offers a full foot of space inside for cooking, and provides 1000 watts of overall power. Inside there is a 12″ turntable, and the size dimensions are 20″x12″x15″. It is a fairly attractive microwave, as it does not have annoying 1980’s style push buttons. The color is white, and it has a fair amount of capabilities. My experience with it is now for over 3 months.

Now, my main concern was how the Popcorn button worked. Some microwaves popcorn button either under cook or burn the kernels, and this one works perfectly. I have yet to suffer from a “bad bag” of popcorn, except for when I accidentally bought the fat free stuff.(YUCK!) In a couple of minutes the popcorn is ready, announced with a loud beeping noise that can be heard a few rooms away. Some people may find that annoying, but I like knowing the food is ready to be served.

This microwave has push button cooking, and offers auto reheating, auto defrost, quick minute, and of course popcorn. I really like the auto defrost, as it works great to thaw out items such as frozen ground beef. This microwave only takes 4-5 minutes on a pound of beef, which makes it a very efficient performer. It also works well for reheating soups, although pay attention to make sure items do not get burned in here. The turntable evenly distributes the cooking, but this microwave really heats up to high temperatures FAST. There are 10 power levels, and all can be used depending on what kind of food you are cooking. The instruction guide that comes with this microwave is useless when it comes to the power levels. You really need to go “trial and error” with it, as some of the food was under or overcooked with Panasonic’s instructions.

This microwave has a timer thankfully, and even has a child lockout option.(So the cat doesn’t get cooked, like in the television show Alf!) I really wish Panasonic would fix the display lighting-it is so dim that it is hard to read with the lights on.(I actually turn the lights off when first turning it on!) However, it makes up for it with its attractive looks and easy to use features. It does a great job cooking my Swanson’s Hungry Man Dinners(Oh, so GOURMET!), and popcorn. It even heats coffee well:15 seconds on high. That is why I recommend it, and it has been a reliable performer so far. Panasonic offers a one year limited warranty on this able machine, and it has operated without a glitch under my heavy workload.