I am old enough to remember life before microwave ovens became a fixture of most American kitchens, offices and convenience stores. My first microwave oven was a Litton that took up a large chunk of my counter. I decided that the disadvantage of decrease in working space was far outweighed by the convenience of this marvelous new gadget. I could do all kinds of things more quickly and easily. This was great for a working mother with a busy family. I could bake potatoes in fractions of the time it took in a regular oven. I could melt butter and chocolate quickly. I could get a vegetable on the table in half the time and not heat up the kitchen. I was in love.

Like a lot of honeymoons, familiarity began to show the limitations and flaws of my new love. My biscuits which were always a family favorite came out of my Litton just slightly softer than the rocks in my garden and my roast had the consistency of bubble gum. It was tough and got bigger the longer you chewed. I decided counseling was in order to save this relationship, so I enrolled in a class to learn to cook microwave style. I quickly learned that there are some things that a microwave can do well and some things it cannot do at all. I had already begun to understand that there were limitations to the things my microwave convection oven could do. Experience is a great teacher!

Now microwaves come with an assortment of bells and whistles that allow the user to brown and crisp, defrost automatically by weight, and sense when food is done. Also standard is a digital clock, and pre-programmed cook times for a variety of common foods. Safety features have been enhanced with child lock out systems and you can even get a drawer microwave oven or a built in microwave convection oven. If you are doing a cabinet refacing project you can even get microwave oven doors that match your cabinet doors. The microwave I have today is an over the range type and it has a vent that closes when the microwave is not in use, surface light, pre-programmed food preparation, turn table, and a lot of other features I never use. I decided against a convection microwave because my regular oven is convection. I thought that would be over kill. When I replace this microwave, I think I will get the convection feature.

I still use my microwave primarily for warming left over meals, melting, heating water and cooking veggies. I don’t do nearly as much actual meal preparation in my oven as I once thought I would, but it is an essential tool in my kitchen. With all of the microwaveable foods available today, I think microwave ovens are here to stay. There is one for every budget, size, color and style. If you don’t believe in microwave cooking, that is your decision. For me it is like living without color TV, It can be done….but why.

This was a guest post by Dan Rissla. Dan normally writes for rissla.com where you can find information on all types of indoor and outdoor furniture.

What is a convection microwave oven?

A microwave convection oven is simply a small kitchen appliance that takes advantage of two different cooking techniques: Cooking with microwaves and cooking with convection technology. Using microwaves to cook your food heats up the water molecules in your food so that is has an even though sometimes rubbery texture or taste. Microwaving food is ideal for the person in a rush as it provides the fastest way to get a hot meal. The convection feature is just like a miniature version of the full sized oven in your kitchen. It uses a fan to move the heat proportionally throughout your oven. Using this method gets your food crispier and has a more traditionally texture.

Why should I get microwave convection oven?

These versatile kitchen appliances will appeal to many different demographics, from single college students to busy professionals to the classic homemaker.

For college students having one of these in the apartment is a great way to cook small meals fast without compromising the quality of the food. As a student you’re busy and lets face it, you haven’t had a lot of experience cooking so the convection microwave oven will certainly ease your burden and let you get to your homework thus helping yo get better grades. Yes, a convection microwave oven will help you get better grades.

For the home maker having a microwave convection oven in the kitchen can be a huge help when you’re cooking a large meal for your family or for a get together. The oven lets you keep a side dish warm, lets you cook a side dish or if you need a quick reheating you can simple use the microwave feature to achieve the desired results.

Having a combination convection microwave oven will help you cook great food in a very small amount of time.

Microwave Convection Ovens offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to cooking in the kitchen. At first glance you may just see a fancy. glorified microwave oven and in one sense you could classify it that but in my opinion I see it as a small more efficient convection oven. The options that both of these cooking features gives you are many and can help you cook single servings faster or aid in the efficiency of your preparation of larger meals for family dinners or parties.

Of course there’s your basic microwave feature that allows you to cook and reheat food very quickly. Microwaving food is perfect for those meals that are made specifically for microwave ovens and when you’re ina big rush or are just feeling lazy. Microwave ovens though heat the water in food so although its usually evenly cooked it can come out rubbery or the consistency is quite a bit different than when you cook the food fresh.

My favorite part of microwave convection ovens is of course the convection feature which allows you to get that convection quality texture out of food in a fraction of the time it takes to cook food in your regular sized oven. Not only is the convection feature great for cooking small meals quickly and with great quality it is also superb at reheating food while preserving its texture. I will only reheat pizza now using the convection feature of a microwave convection oven. It only takes a few minutes and the pizza crust is crisp and not soaked by the old grease that solidified in the fridge.

If you want to really get the full use of your Panasonic convection microwave oven then try using both features together to get fast and unique results. You can start with the microwave and then use the convection feature to crisp and brown the food for fast, delicious results.

Microwave convection ovens are one of my very favorite kitchen appliances because of their versatility. Not many kitchen appliances can do what these do. Often they’re functions are narrow and specialized but with these you can cook anything you want as long as it fits in the cooking space.