Panasonic NN-SD688S Prestige 1300-Watt 1-1/5-Cubic-Foot Stainless-Steel Microwave Oven

Comment: We bought this microwave as part of a kitchen renovation. Even though it's not designed as a built-in, we set it into an upper cabinet slot for a microwave. The supporting shelf it's on only protrudes 5 inches out from the cabinets. It looks great.
And the two negatives everyone pointed out - hard to read the panel of buttons, and hard to push in the button that opens it - just don't matter. The microwave is at eye level and easy to read, and since the microwave stands against something, it's no big deal to push the button to open it.
I particularly like the reheat feature. It figures how to reheat by sensing the item's temperature. So you can put anything from a cold cup of coffee to a big bowl of leftover stew in the oven, push one button, and let it do it's thing...which it does pretty quickly. No more guessing at times and checking to see if the food is hot enough yet.
We're really happy with it.

Comment: We loved this microwave....but first one died at 6 months....second one at 5 months. I was thrilled at first just as most of these reviewers were or are.
I wish they would come back after about 5 or 6 months....the inverter will go out. We are 2 adult users...no kids...unit was pampered...no abuse.
I have knowledge of two others going bad due to the inverter/megatron going out.
Mine is now at a repair center under warranty after numerous calls to Panasonic....so once it comes back it will no longer have a warranty....dunno how long it will last.

Panasonic has very poor warranty service....made over 10 calls trying to get my microwaved repaired under warranty. Still don't have it back.

Comment: I thought I would like setting cook time with a knob, but it's not as quick or easy as punching it in with a keypad. This microwave has no numeric keypad.

Setting cook time is the main event. Why must Panasonic invent a way that triples the time and effort involved?

It won't bother most people, but after 9 months I still find it a little annoying. You need to turn the knob a little, then a little more, then oops, back a little, almost there...OK good.

This microwave looks great and works great, but the knob idea was a mistake.

Go instead with the keypad version: Panasonic NN-SN657S 1300-Watt 1-1/5-Cubic-Feet Sensor Microwave Oven, Stainless Steel

Comment: I bought this to replace a 21 year old Panasonic that finally bit the dust(it served me well). Technology has sure come a long way.This oven has less wattage but is much faster.I've had it about a month and have not yet figured out all the bell's and whistles(the instuction book is still out)I don't cook much with it,Just baked potato and bacon, both of which it does perfectly.Mainly I use the reheat feature and it is pretty amazing how well it does that.Put something in right from the fridge with a microwave lid ,hit the Auto-Reheat and the sensor does it perfectly.No hot spots,no over cooking.Just right.On the downside,the clock is a little hard to read(No big deal) and the fingerprints are a hassle to get off.But all in all,I am very happy with it so far and if I get the same longeveity as the last Panasonic I will be thrilled.

Comment: We use a Mircowave very little... but when you want to pop popcorn the key is WATTS and this one has 1300 of them.

I am very happy with this one.