Seeking advice: Convection oven or microwave?

[phantom power]

Our over-the-stove microwave is on the fritz. Based on my past experiences with Sears/kenmore service, I'm leaning toward just replacing it, but wondering if this is a good opportunity to get a convection oven, or combo.

Any opinions would be read with interest!

[pscot]

1. I would opt for a stand alone

microwave. Complexity compounds trouble. They don't make 'em like they used to.

[Warpy]

4. I agree on the principle

that appliances that claim to do it all do it all very badly. I have never seen an exception to this rule.

You can get a stand alone convection oven if you eat a lot of meat, something they are best for. The glass tabletop ovens are great for that.

But just replace the microwave with another microwave. It's less to go on the fritz and it will work better than a combination unit.

[EFerrari]

2. My experience agrees with pscot. The combos never seen to work as well.

[salvorhardin]

3. The combo units always puzzled me

How could anyone expect to subject electronics to the kinds of temperature extremes that NASA spacecraft regularly experience and expect them to be reliable without spending the millions of dollars on hardened components that NASA does?

[Denninmi]

5. I agree, and frankly ....

... the combo units just really don't do a good job as a convection oven, IMO.

My GE combo oven was fine as a microwave, but left a lot to be desired, IMO, in terms of browing and even cooking with the convection oven feature. It was also claimed to be capable of toasting, which it did if you wanted to wait five minutes to toast one side, then flip it over and toast the other side.

It conveniently died literally 7 days after the one year warranty was up. At least it went out in a blaze of glory, literally, since I turned it on and some component inside burst into flames, which was a little scary.

Oh well, not really that big of a loss, except for the $200 bucks I spent for one year of mediocrity.

[Tab]

6. I agree

You can get a decent microwave for $35, and if it sucks, you can get another one.

Convections are different - if you can't get a convection oven and just want a tabletop, make sure you can fit, say, a chicken in. I got one once and couldn't fit in a chicken - ended up returning it.

BTW, we replaced our regular oven with a convection. Convections only cost maybe $50 or so more than the regular. I've been cooking with convections for nearly 20 years now and wouldn't use anything else. I started for economic reasons - my house was all electric, in the most expensive state for electricity, and I couldn't afford to heat the oven for every little thing. So I got a tabletop convection and an outdoor grill and fell in love with both. Eventually I got a convection oven itself. I only use the non-convection mode for some stuff like cookies. Other than that... convection, convection, convection. You'll love it.

- Tab