It’s been exactly three years since we bought our last microwave, a now-discontinued Sharp Carousel. Last month, the door latch started to stick. But a few days ago, it started microwaving when we opened the door.
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The only way to turn it off was to unplug it. Plugging the oven back in started the magnetron back up every time the door was opened. It was clear we were going to have to buy a new machine.
Our malfunctioning microwave was a fairly normal unit, with the exception of its Alexa integration. I haven’t tapped a microwave’s control screen in three years. Instead, I’ve been saying variations of “Alexa, microwave for 90 seconds,” a few times every day, starting with my morning oatmeal.
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We chose the Panasonic NN-SV79MS with “Genius Sensor Cooking” as our replacement. It was $299 (but it’s currently on sale for $50 off), a hundred dollars more than the two other Alexa microwaves on offer (both of which were not available for overnight shipping). We figured we’d spend more than $100 on two days of Door Dash, so we ponied up the extra bucks. Not only did we get a new microwave, we got our own “Genius Sensor.” Ooh. Aah.
I was not a believer
When we bought our first Alexa-enabled microwave, I mocked the whole idea. It was a stunt purchase. We needed a microwave, but not with Alexa. I bought the one that worked with our favorite smart assistant because I write about Alexa — and I thought I’d get some low-hanging mocks in as well.
I said:
I’ll be honest with you. I felt silly. I am perfectly comfortable telling Alexa to turn on and off my lights and change my thermostat, because the idea of getting up to touch a light switch or thermostat wheel seems far too caveman for modern society. But you have to manually open the microwave door to zap things, so why not punch the buttons right next to the door?
Apparently, I have a previously untapped capacity for laziness. Since the Sharp Carousel has entered our kitchen, I have not once — not once! — touched any of the buttons on the front of Miss A’s Nuclear Roaster.
The biggest perk of an Alexa-controlled microwave
This was still true three years later. But I found that voice control was actually a big help in the kitchen. That’s because kitchen work often involves using both hands. And while you have to open the door to put something in the nuker, you don’t always want it to kick off right away (although we found there’s a time limit on how long you can wait to give it a command after opening and closing the door).
It’s also possible to use a rag on the big rectangle you push to open the door, but chicken slime-covered fingers aren’t all that great on a touch panel. Voice activation makes it possible to be slimed and nuke, too.
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This new Panasonic doesn’t contain an Alexa inside (neither did our old Sharp). Instead, it links to your existing kitchen Alexa device over Wi-Fi. We have an 8-inch Echo Show<!–> ($70 off right now at the link) that lives on top of the microwave, so the two team up to give us our daily veg.
This new microwave offers a ton of voice commands.
You can have it just run for a duration, or you can tell it to reheat pancakes, waffles, pie, brownie (one only, apparently), bread, dessert, and even ice cream. Panasonic knows its audience has a sweet tooth. We didn’t try any of those features because neither my wife nor I eat any refined sugar or flour-based foods.
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The chart shown above is for reheat, but there are also cook commands. I did try the “cook oatmeal” option, and it worked fairly well. My oatmeal normally takes 90 seconds, but the microwave’s sensor cooking version took about five minutes. Yes, it did have a nicer texture.
The genius sensor gotcha
But, and this is a gotcha for all the “genius sensor” options, any food you cook with the sensor option must not be covered. Covering food while microwaving is the very best way I’ve found to not have the microwave itself covered with food splatters after microwaving.
That oatmeal definitely crested the edges of the tall bowl it was in, which made me nervous, but it did not spill over. And, honestly, it just didn’t taste that much better for taking two and a half times longer.
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Beware the child lock
Right after we installed the microwave, we ran into a snag. After we cooked something, we couldn’t get the door to open. Having just had a microwave with a stuck door, we were not amused.
Turns out that the microwave comes with a child safety lock that physically engages when the microwave starts cooking. We did not know this, so of course our solution was to push on the open button repeatedly in the hopes that our new microwave wasn’t broken.
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There was also a big sign on the front of the door about it that we both paid no attention to.
We then eventually decided to look at the instructions. There’s a button sequence that permanently turns off the safety lock.
Speaking of buttons, this microwave doesn’t have a traditional button panel. There are six physical buttons. One is called Microwave. The others are Popcorn, Turbo Defrost, Quick 30, Time/Clock, and Stop/Reset. There’s also a dial that allows you to choose numerical values.
That said, the manual itself recommends controlling the microwave primarily with Alexa.
One minor issue
My only other complaint is that sometimes the machine doesn’t seem to realize (or at least tell Alexa) that it’s done cooking.
When we say, “Alexa, microwave for 2 minutes,” Alexa often responds that the microwave is busy, when it’s not. We have to hit Stop/Reset and reissue the order. That wasn’t something we had to do with our previous Alexa-enabled microwave.
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Overall, though, we like it. I’m not sure it was worth the extra $100 for all the sensor cooking features since we don’t normally rely on sensors for our cooking times. But if you want Alexa to control your microwave, this fits the bill.
Do you have Alexas in your home? What devices do you control with your Alexas? Would you ever buy an Alexa-controlled microwave (or do you have one)? Let us know in the comments below.
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Source: Robotics - zdnet.com
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