Cuisinart CMW-200 1-1/5-Cubic-Foot Convection Microwave Oven with Grill

I live in a small downtown unit in San Francisco, so anything that takes up space has to earn it's living. This unit is now the only "oven" I use, and it's wonderful. I see many complain about how long it takes to "heat up," but that's a misunderstanding of using convection heat. Just put whatever you want to cook in the oven--cakes, breads, lasagna, etc.--and it will cook as the oven heats. Because of the convection, there are no "hot spots" and nothing will burn. The only adjustment is the cooking time, but that can be gauged with a little practice. Easy to clean, makes wonderful toast, pies, fresh breads and roast cuts of meat.... I don't know what I'd do without this. The microwave is very flexible and easy to use with many different choices on the control panel.

I really looked forward to using this microwave. Unfortunately, it wasn't until I reached page 6 of the instruction booklet that I found I could not use it due to space requirements. The oven needs at least 3 inches free space at sides and back, as well as 12 inches free space above it. These requirements should be listed along with the size of the oven in the technical info to avoid a customer having to send the item back. My hanging wall cupboards were too for me to use the oven, so it had to go back.

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Great idea I went out and got frozen french fries.

Tried no preheat convection and after 15 minutes they weren't done and cooked another 5 minutes.

Another batch I went with preheat and the temp at 425 as suggested and put the fries in the oven at the start of the preheat cycle. By the time it hit 425 the fries were done. I never did set the time. You are not allowed to set the time before the temp preheat is reached. At that rate if they are not quite done then you add more time through what they call kitchen time.

there's heat exhausting out the back that I wish would stay in the oven heating it up faster. However I don't know how convection ovens heat themselves.

Tried the idea of turning on the grill for 2 minutes then going to convection. It did not seem to speed things up any.

I am not unhappy. I've gotten three appliances off my counter and put the Cuisinart on top of the stove. Heat is an issue in the southwest so I have never used my gas pilot stove.

The microwave works exactly as I expected.

The grill has three settings. 100% grilling, 30% micro plus 70% grill, and 55% micro plus 45% grill. I haven't enjoyed steak at home for years so this I am really looking forward to. Fishsticks I'm going to try 30/70.

Roasting and baking have a fast setting which combines micro and convection, you can go straight convection too.

I would buy it again because the price is right, it microwaves great and grills. I never was an oven baker so few times I may preheat convection will be very seldom.

Right now I'm going to look for a rack utensil that I can use in both oven and microwave.

I'm sure after a learning curve that I will be preheat convection cooking and adding minutes after the oven acquires the set temp to finish my cooking.

Everything is possible.

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We bought this microwave oven because it also has a convection oven. The oven takes a VERY long time to heat up.

Example:

350 degrees takes 35 minutes

425 degrees took over an hour

In contrast my regular electric (full size) oven takes 8 minutes to reach 425

Our old Panasonic microwave/convection oven took 15 minutes to reach 425

This machine was supposed to be a time saver, but we hardly ever use the convection setting as it takes too long to warm up. We find we now have an overpriced microwave oven. We could have got a much larger microwave (without convection) for the price we paid for this.

My advice steer well clear of this machine unless you don't need the convection oven in which case you are better off getting a cheaper model.

I wish I had read the other reviews before I bought this machine.

The only good point is you can use the glass turntable on convection mode our old Panasonic required you swap out a metal turntable whenever you wanted to convection cook, which was a real pain having to store the other turntable. However, you are unlikely to use the convection mode unless you remember to heat the oven an hour before you actually use it. I presume all this heating time is wasteful too, so using the full size oven for much less warmup time may work out better value...

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We use this about every day, and it's done exactly what we want it to. I do tend to stick to only two or three settings, however. Standard microwave works as expected. There are some one touch buttons to cook popcorn, potato, fresh veg, frozen veg (and though I say one touch, each button will set to a particular amount (1C, 2, whatever) and then the microwave will operate for a set time based on what you set, not based on any kind of food sensing (as far as we can tell). So, for instance, if I just put in two cups of frozen veg, I'd have to press the frozen veg button two times, then press start, and it will microwave for 5 minutes. I might have to add time after the microwave is done. Also, if I decided that I wanted to add 30 seconds using the quick button, I can't while it's in this kind of auto program mode...so it's actually easier to press the 5 button once, and the microwave will quick start for 5 minutes, with the ability to add time 30 seconds at a time in the middle of cooking.

I also use the convection feature quite frequently, for a variety of things I want more crispy than a microwave will do it. It helps to use the included wire rack to put the plate closer to the cooking element, for quicker cooking. There's a combo convection/microwave feature that works well too, but usually I just use the convection feature (with the food in the microwave while it's heating) to heat the microwave up to the maximum temp (I think it's 450), and then it only takes a minute or two of microwaving to finish up any extra heating.

I haven't tried baking cookies or cakes (and there is a cake button), but from the way "grilled" cheese or frozen corn dogs or cheese sticks have cooked for me, I think you could easily use this for that kind of baking.

We do have a good oven, but the microwave is a lot faster and easier to use. If you want to use the convection bit, definitely put the food in while the oven is pre-heating. It may take some trial and error to get your food exactly the way you want it, but there's no point (so far as I can tell) waiting for the oven to be heated first, and it might just take longer than even the standard oven would if you waited.

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