Panasonic NN-CD989S "Prestige" 1.5cuft, 1100 Watt Stainless Steel Convection Microwave Oven, Inverter Technology

This new Panasonic Convection Microwave machine is hands down the best appliance in my kitchen and worth every penny. Here's why:

Positives:
1. Extremely well built - Solid precision latches make it sound like a Mercedes car door when you close it.

2. Intuitive - Very user friendly. Easy to figure things out without having to pour over the owner's manual, unlike a lot of other microwaves. The time knob lets you quickly dial in 10 second increments of time, or you can let the machine autosense when it's hot using the reheat mode. It has a digital readout which tells you the next step in the process on certain options and provides status of where you are at in the cooking cycle as well.

3. New Technology - The Inverter Technology provides much more even heat, with very few hot spots. When I warm hard refrigerated quarters of butter in the morning so I can spread it on my toast, it softens evenly, unlike my previous micro that...Read more

I purchased and installed this microwave for a family member. We looked all over for a high quality built-in (above the oven, aka cabinet mount) convection microwave. The GE Profile and Advantium lines were very poorly rated online and did have a very good repair history. It's tough if you want a large microwave (capable of spinning a 9x13 dish) that is convection and has a good repair rating. After seeing that the selection available in the marketplace is poor (We looked at Sears, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, and at a "Factory Direct Appliance" store). All basically sold very few cabinet mount microwave and those that they did have were either a.) small and very cheap or b.) GE Advantium and very expensive ($1200). Since the Advantium has a very low customer rating all over the web, we decided it wasn't worth the money.

After reading online we noticed that approval ratings of Panasonic Microwaves were very high. They use a different style of microwave element...Read more

Had it for 3 weeks now and it is great! Much quieter than the Viking we had before, and microwaves and defrosts a lot more evenly. The convection oven heats up quickly and does a great job. Easy to use, too, and looks great. Couldn't be any happier.