Panasonic NN-CF778SBPQ Family Size Combination Microwave Oven, 1000 Watt, Stainless Steel

When my Panasonic Dimension 4 combination microwave finally died after 25 years of unfailing service I thought that I would without question buy another Panasonic. To my dismay, from reading reviews on Amazon, at least for some models, reliability and build-quality of Panasonic microwave ovens has been questioned. I swithered and delayed buying another oven and checked numerous different makers and models, but, in the end decided to go for this model that doesn't seem to have attracted too much criticism; got a good report in Which? and was selected by Good Housekeeping magazine for particular praise.

I've only had the oven for a few weeks but must say that it is easy to set-up with intuitive controls and is performing well. The lack of a turntable, thus enabling one to use the whole of the interior space of the oven, is a plus. On combination (micro + convention) programmes you can use the supplied metal oven shelf and if only using it as a conventional fan oven cooking can be done on two levels. I haven't used a quartz grill before and am impressed that it doesn't need any pre-heating: much more economical that a conventional grill, especially if you just want to quickly brown the top of a shepherds' pie or grill a piece of fish for a few minutes.

Straight microwave has a range of power levels from Defrost, Simmer, Low, Medium and High. The actual wattages for these descriptors are in the manual. The manual is an A5 black and white booklet that is nothing like as attractive or helpful as the full-colour cookery book I got with my old Panasonic. In the latter there was more transparency over the actual power levels and convection oven temperatures used in the pre-set programmes, which I found helpful when learning how to adapt my own recipes. Whereas in the new oven one is presented with 13 pre-set programmes but no information about what power levels and temperatures are employed. I e-mailed Panasonic to ask for this information, but they refused saying it was "confidential"!

I've tried some of the pre-set programmes, for example, for baked potatoes. The latter produced perfectly tender potatoes, but, for our tastes the skin was too hard and crisp (owing to the grill evidently being part of the programme). Fortunately, one can create combinations oneself and I found micro Simmer plus 180 degrees got the result I wanted but I had to base the timing on my experience of my old microwave oven.

I think the combination of convection plus microwave is the most useful cooking tool and I've been pleased with the results for such things as Anna potatoes. My old oven had AutoSensor cooking by microwave that detected the moisture content of the oven to tell that particular foods were cooked and I am disappointed that this oven doesn't have this function: you have to weigh the food to get "auto" cooking.

One strange thing I've found with this microwave is that it has a profound effect on Bluetooth communications much more than my previous microwave oven. Even if I'm several feet away from the oven (when it's using microwave power) and I have, say, my iTouch in my pocket communicating by Bluetooth to headphones: the signal drops off in pulses. The microwave doesn't affect my Apple Extreme wire-free network or infra-red signals. Searching on-line I find that this is a known problem of microwave ovens, but, my experience of two ovens this one affects Bluetooth much more: maybe because it uses a different "Inverter" technology.

A point that may affect some potential purchasers is that this microwave has vents on both sides of the machine that must have space between them and adjacent walls, cupboards etc. You have to allow for a 5cm space on the left and 10cm on the right-hand side. The machine is 51cm wide so this means that you couldn't, for example, slot it into a standard 60cm housing or similar-sized gap.

UPDATE September 2010: I've now had this microwave oven for over 9 months and continue to be pleased with it. I expressed disappointment above over the lack of an AutoSensor function on this model. However, I would now have to say that the Auto cooking on this oven (once you've input the weight of the food) actually performs better and more accurately than the AutoSensor mode of my previous model. In addition, the new oven displays the cooking time as soon as you press start, whereas the AutoSensor didn't give a time until it had operated for some time and was detecting the moisture given off by the food. The upshot of this is that with the new oven you can check how long it will take to cook the food and re-start the process to tie-in with when you need the food to be ready.

UPDATE March 2012: The oven is still performing well with frequent use, particularly combining micro-wave and convection.
The HIGH setting of micro-wave is pretty powerful and can cause, for example, milk or butter to explode and spray all over the oven. I've taken to putting a cover over things I'm heating on High as I have had to clean boiled milk and butter spattered all over the oven. The worst part being cleaning the ceramic grill as it is protected by a metal lattice that can't be removed. Take from me don't try to burn off spatters using the grill!

I noticed that another reviewer had criticized the fact that a piece of plastic had fallen off after only a few uses of the oven. I should point out that this was probably plastic attachment that clips on the feet under the door to catch condensation that many foods create within the oven and that drip down when the drop is opened. It is detachable to allow you to dispose of the water.

We have always had Panasonic Microwaves, simply because they are well made and durable and reliable. They may well be pricey, but after all, you only get what you pay for. We bought this model to replace an ageing earlier combi oven, which was used everyday for most cooking uses, and is in fact still going strong. This new model has no turntable, as the magnetron is built in under the floor of the oven, which is made from a solid slab of ceramic, making it easy to clean as well. The controls are classic Panasonic, logical and well laid out, requiring little reference to the manual. Auto cook facilities are brilliant. You can also (as long as you follow the guidelines in the book) use metal utensils on full micropower using the antispark ring. Clever stuff. Multi-stage cooking and two adjustable shelves if required make this oven very versatile. The door opens downwards and forms a very useful ledge on which to rest any dishes either before or after cooking. Cleaning the cabinet only requires a damp cloth, as does the inside. The occasional use of a specialised stainless steel cleaner will help to keep eveything clean.There is even a removeable drip tray to collect condensated water on the bottom of the door. One word of caution, is that the cabinet can get very hot to touch when in convection, grill or turbo-bake mode. This fact is highlighted in the users manual and there is a subtle warning sticker on top of the oven.
To date, there have been no issues, and the very absence of a turntable seems to make things work better. It also looks very good on the kitchen worktop as well. This is certainly one make and model to put on your shortlist.

We had a Panasonic combi microwave (NNA883) before that served us well for about 5 years. As good as our old one was, this is better. The NNA883 couldn't quite cook a pizza evenly. this model has no problems at all. We have had it now for 2 months and it gets used everyday cooking a wide variety of food. It cooks them all well. Well recommended. Presumably, the silver plastic version is just as good at cooking!

The only annoyance with it is that the timer jumps up in 5 minute steps after 10 minutes. This is OK as it has two timers. So, you can cook for, say, 12 minutes by setting timer 1 to 10 minutes and timer 2 to 2 minutes.

A tip for anyone looking at Panasonic microwaves. Read the manuals on the Panasonic website and you will notice that some say "Do not cook on both shelves in oven mode". This is true for the microwaves that can only go up to 200 degrees. Well, these are the microwaves that use the grill to heat the oven. Those that can cook on both shelves and heat up beyond 200 degrees are 'proper' ovens.