kendrew

An excellent mid-size microwave oven – We purchased the R330YW just after Christmas - after returning the Samsung ME6124W. I have previously added a few comments in support of the many negative reviews on the…

Samsung.

The Sharp is proving to be a very well designed and functional microwave oven.

Continuous cooking is no problem - unlike the Samsung - which overheats - and is recommended by the manufacturer to wait some time between consecutive cooking programs.

Once the cooking time is set, the Sharp performs faultlessly without any electronic glitches such as reported by several Samsung purchasers.

It is quiet in operation, unlike the Samsung.

The cooking process is quite visible through the door of the Sharp - but not with the Samsung due to the almost black interior which sucks up the lamp illumination.

The Sharp has a sturdy door with glass window whereas the Samsung has a flimsy door with plastic window. In fact I had to physically twist the Samsung door slightly to obtain a proper fit when closed.

There was no strong odour from the Sharp as the normal “newness” smell of volatiles burnt off during the first couple of uses. Whereas the Samsung continually emitted an overpowering “toxic” smell consistently during the time we had it.

The many cooking programmes on the Sharp are easy to understand and quite flexible. It hasn’t got a couple of options the Samsung does but they are not critical to the cooking process.

It is an 1100 Watt oven compared with the Samsung’s 1000 Watts. This may not be significant in overall function but having used a 600 watt National Genius for 30 years the Sharp cooks like a rocket on the High setting and with less intensity according to the selection of the many lower power level options. We had an interesting learning curve initially adjusting to the Sharp’s power output but it really was quite easy to adapt. Our Genius is still going strong and remains a major appliance in the kitchen.

The Sharp has a 1 year warranty. The Samsung has a 2 year warranty - which I find odd considering its abysmal performance in the short term.

The Sharp was released to market in October 2011. The Samsung was released in May 2006. Technologically the Sharp should well have the upper hand.

Overall, in my opinion, the Sharp R330YW is one of the best mid-size microwave ovens on the market today. Reliable. Excellent performer.

Bad design – I agree with previous comments that the dark interior makes it hard (impossible?) to see the cooking process. The almost black enamel has no reflective light from the lamp…

illumination.

We have returned ours because of that - and have replaced it with one having a white interior. You need to see what's going on during the cooking to avoid boil-overs, etc. without having to open the door to check, which stops the cooking process.

Samsung have made a ridiculous oversight and would be far better changing the interior to a white (or pale cream) colour. Enamel is OK for cleaning. What's happened to proper R&D ??

The door is only plastic, including the window, and very flimsy. It didn't fit well when we unpacked it and I was able to "twist" it to make it close properly.

Otherwise, in the brief time we had it, the oven seemed to function OK except for a suffocating heat related odour; probably the volatiles burning off. I don't know how long that would last - we couldn't stay in the kitchen while it was on.

I'm concerned with earlier reviews regarding the erratic nature of the oven; switch-offs, resets, etc. There are too many similar comments for it to be a non-issue.

I would not recommend this oven.

Poor interior illumination, flimsy construction.