Large household appliances are bought for more than one year. Therefore, it should not only fulfill its functions, but also organically fit into space. Most domestic kitchens can not boast not only of excess area, but also a margin in height. A wonderful solution in such conditions is the built-in appliances, including microwaves.
Built-in microwave
A modern microwave oven can perform many functions, and not only quickly defrost food and heat food in portioned dishes.
In the microwave, bake potatoes, stew vegetables, fish and meat, including steamed, cook various casseroles and pastries faster than on the hob or in the oven.
A microwave oven with a grill is especially popular, because who does not like chicken with a crisp. Freestanding furnaces require at least a little space on work surfaces not only for installation, but also for opening the door. Such conditions have not every kitchen. The built-in microwave, which is also smaller than the oven, does not clutter up scarce work surfaces and fits into any interior.
It is convenient to install, in different models it can have a door that opens to the side or, like an oven, from top to bottom. And if we compare the cost of electricity, the built-in microwave is more economical than the oven.
Leading Microwave Manufacturers
Today, many well-known manufacturers of household appliances also produce built-in microwave ovens. And the functions of most models are similar, but in many respects the prices depend on the brand and the place of assembly, although manufacturers claim that all processes take place under the control of the specialists of the parent company. The most popular today in terms of price, quality and functionality is the household built-in appliances, including microwave ovens, from Gorenje (China), Samsung (Malaysia), Bosch (Great Britain), Siemens (Germany) and other well-known brands.
Types of Embedded Microwaves
All built-in microwave ovens can be divided into several groups.
The first includes low-cost microwaves, simple (solo), with a minimum set of functions and services. They are usually used to quickly defrost food and heat food. This option is especially convenient in families where there are schoolchildren. The process of warming up lunch takes a minimum of time and requires only pressing one key. The second group is microwave ovens with a grill. The grill may be located inside the chamber at the top. This is a heater in the form of a curved tube, which often has to be washed. You can find microwaves with a moving grill. In them, the heater can be installed vertically or at an angle, which is important when cooking some dishes. In addition, a stove with such a heater is more convenient to wash. Some oven models also have a lower grill in addition to the upper grill. There are stoves with a quartz tubular grill, which is installed behind a grill in the upper part of the stove. A quartz heater is more economical and gives softer heat. Even more evenly and quickly, without overdrying the dish, you can cook in the microwave with a ceramic grill.
The ovens of the third group, except for the grill, are carried out with convection, in which the heated air is evenly distributed throughout the chamber using the built-in fan. These devices are the most expensive, but in their capabilities they almost replace electric ovens.
The most expensive are multifunctional microwave ovens, which, in addition to microwave, grill or convection modes, can cook steamed or have other, no less useful functions.
Very convenient, especially in small kitchens, ovens with microwave built-in. Such devices save the useful volume of the kitchen even more. No need to look for a place for two devices with overlapping functions, you can install something else useful. But the quality of baking is still better than in a microwave with convection.
Embedded Microwave Placement
Devices differ in size, volume and coating material of the working chamber, software and power. But no less important is the appearance of the microwave.
The built-in microwave oven, in addition to not occupying a work surface, still has several advantages. If you choose the equipment of one manufacturer in the same style, this will give the layout and design of the kitchen completeness and a certain brevity.
If you choose a device of small height, it can be placed in a single column, for example, with a dishwasher and oven, or with an oven and a double boiler.
Typically, a microwave is placed at the height of the chest of an adult. Although, if the device is mainly intended for warming up a meal by a child, then it can be installed lower, at the level of the working surface.
Microwave Dimensions
The dimensions of the built-in microwaves are one of the important parameters that influence the choice of the device.
Often the oven is built into the column when household appliances are installed both under and under it. In this case, the determining size is the width of the oven, which must necessarily coincide with the width of other appliances, whether it be a washing machine or a freezer, for example. The depth is usually not so critical, because the column is formed according to the most dimensional object, and if there is free space behind the microwave, this will not disturb anyone. Built-in microwave ovens are available in widths of 45 and 60 cm, a depth of 32, 38, 45, 50 cm. The maximum depth is 60 cm. The height is in the range from 30 to 45 cm in model lines of different manufacturers.
Volume and inner coating of the working chamber
The dimensions of the built-in microwaves affect the volume of the cooking chamber. A small family of two or three people for heating dishes and making hot sandwiches suitable stove with a volume of 17-20 liters. The built-in microwave Zanussi ZSM 17100 XA has a working chamber volume of only 17 l with dimensions (H × W × D) of 39 × 60 × 32 cm.
The built-in microwave oven Siemens CM636GBS1 with dimensions 45 × 60 × 55 cm has an oven volume of 45 liters. But an apparatus with such a working chamber is needed only for large families with dozens of hungry mouths to prepare large volumes of food or to simultaneously heat several plates of food. Ordinary families are quite happy with microwaves with a working chamber volume of 21-25 liters. Even a thirty-liter oven is already a lot.
Another important parameter of the inner chamber is its coating.
Special enamel is easy to clean. Caring for such a furnace does not cause problems, but it can be damaged, a poor-quality coating can swell over time, and the device will either need to be restored or replaced with a new one.
The inner chamber made of stainless steel is more durable, withstands temperature changes, but it is more difficult to clean such a surface, it can be scratched from excess zeal.
Modern bioceramic coating combines resistance to temperature and mechanical damage. It is easy to clean and lasts a long time.
Functional Content and Software
Oddly enough, but the dimensions of the built-in microwaves affect the set of functions provided for in them.
The same Zanussi ZSM 17100 XA does not have any additional features, only five power levels and a signal to shut down.
In general, small ones are for the most part inexpensive microwaves with a minimum of functions and mechanical control, or, at best, electronic.
Microwaves with a chamber volume of 20 l or more are the most popular, and there are already more functions in them. However, the price is also higher. They, as a rule, can work in grill mode, have several automatic modes, program for certain recipes, cook for a couple or memorize a given operation algorithm. And there are ovens that can cook national dishes.
There are also ovens with microwave built-in.
Steaming prevents overdrying of some products, and is considered more healthy.
The function of automatically cleansing the camera of odors is very important, especially when several dishes with pronounced aromas are sequentially cooked, for example, fish or meat in spices, after which you need to bake sweet cakes or puffs.
The auto-weight function allows you to determine the weight of the products in the microwave itself, and the so-called double radiation due to the bifurcated source - to heat them more evenly.
The interactive mode, when prompting questions are displayed on the display, after receiving answers to which the cooking mode is set, facilitates the life of novice housewives. Not only that, some ovens may give cooking recommendations.
An electronic cookbook may not be a very important addition to the device, but children can cook with it. However, they just master such additions in the first place.
Microwave control
The type of control is important not only in terms of the convenience of setting settings and modes, but also from a design point of view.
Mechanical control - these are two protruding knobs with which the radiation power and cooking time are selected. This option is the most reliable and cheap, but, firstly, the accuracy of setting the time is low, and secondly, it does not look very modern.
The button control looks already much more beautiful, but less reliable. But with this control it is already possible to program cooking modes.
Touch control is most convenient in cleaning, since there are no protruding elements or gaps, it allows you to program processes, but does not tolerate power surges and their replacement requires significant costs. For built-in microwaves, prices differ very markedly depending on the type of control.
Built-in microwave power
One of the important parameters of a microwave oven, including a built-in one, is power, which depends primarily on a set of functions.
Ovens only with an emitter of microwave waves consumes from 500 to 1000 watts of power.
Microwaves with a grill - 800-1500 W, with a convector - up to 2 kW.
Even in the simplest devices, there are several modes of emitter power. And the most complex devices have 10 levels of work.
The minimum power level, which is 10% of the nominal value, is used to maintain the food at a given temperature or to heat foods sensitive to high temperatures.
A quarter of the value is used in the MEDIUM / LOW mode, that is, below the average when defrosting and heating food and cooked dishes.
Medium mode at half maximum power - MEDIUM - is suitable for most dishes, including soups and baked meat.
In full power mode (HIGH) they rarely cook. It is suitable for quick baking vegetables and fruits, making drinks and sauces.
Some modern microwave ovens use innovative inverter power control technology. The microwave emitter does not work discretely, as in most microwave ovens, but constantly, and its power is regulated by an inverter. Cooked in this mode of constant and continuous energy penetration, the food does not dry out and retains its nutritional properties.
Samsung Microwaves
One of the most popular is the Samsung built-in microwave, model FW77SSTR, with a useful chamber volume of 20 liters. It costs about 17 thousand rubles, but the internal coating of the working chamber is bioceramics, electronic control, four automatic modes, two recipes are recorded in the memory of the device. The stove can work in a double boiler mode, it itself removes odors. The stove looks concise, the combination of silver metal and black glass attracts attention.
Built-in microwave "Samsung" NQ50H5537KB today costs 60 thousand rubles. This is a new manufacturer in the Russian market. Its volume is as much as 50 liters, dimensions - 45 × 60 × 55 cm, the door opens down.
This is a microwave oven, grill and convection, internal enamel coating, 800 W microwaves and 7 degrees of its adjustment with touch control and digital display. Its functions include working in mixed modes of grill and microwaves, convection and microwaves, steaming, programming with the ability to set 15 cooking programs, five automatic defrost modes, cleaning the camera with steam and delayed start of work. The power of the device is 3 kW, the maximum heating temperature is 240 ° C.
Bosch Microwaves
The Bosch HMT75M654 built-in microwave is assembled in China. It costs about 25 thousand rubles. Its volume is 20 l, dimensions 38 × 60 × 32. Microwave power - 800 W with 5 steps of adjustment. Electronic control with digital display. It has 7 automatic programs, and one program is stored. The door opens to the left, the stove is easy to clean, and it looks modern and strict.
The Bosch BFL634GS1 built-in microwave is assembled in the UK. Its volume is 21 liters, the dimensions are the same as the previous model. A little more powerful is the microwave emitter, and there are seven automatic programs, but it costs already 50 thousand rubles.
Siemens Microwaves
The Siemens CM636GBS1 device, the price of which is already 95 thousand rubles, can work separately in the microwave and grill modes, as well as combine them. In the microwave and grill modes, the power is 1 kW each, the control panel and the display are touch-sensitive.
Maybe such an expensive and stylish large microwave is a fashionable and prestigious thing, but these are not at all the main indicators.
The dimensions of the built-in microwaves, the set of functions that they are able to perform, as well as the price for them are much more important. And, of course, the appearance, which may well complement the design of a modern kitchen.