LG Neochef MS2336DB
VerifiedMPNs: 12741, 716082 and MS2336DB53 reviews
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OK, let's start with the good stuff. I've owned this model for around 14 months and it's still working. It looks cool - all black and shiny. It gets used almost daily - mostly just for re-heating things and it does the job well. It's a little smaller than previous microwaves I have owned so some of my bigger casserole dishes don't fit in. Having… Read more
read the reviews, I was prepared for the smaller internal space so it's no big deal from my perspective. Now the bad stuff. This is the least intuitive electrical product I have ever used. It is impossible to figure out how to change the time on the clock without referring to the manual. (HINT: you can't just change the time, you have to turn it off at the wall first to re-set the clock!) . Options for cook times are also very limited. Want to cook something for 7 minutes? You have to repeatedly press the 30 second button. Want to cook something for an extra 15 seconds. Not possible! 30 sec or 10 sec options only. After 14 months of trying to like this microwave, I've finally come to terms with the fact that this minimalist style control panel is not for me. I'm upgrading to a different brand that doesn't expect me to have to pull out the manual every time I want to use the microwave for anything more than just a basic re-heat of some food.
We bought this Microwave last year in November. It has completely stopped heating. I rang LG today to get it fixed and LG Australia expect me to drive 1hour away to get someone to look at it. I will never buy a LG product again and I suggest if anyone wants to buy LG look into the after sales service before buying as it may cost you to get the item fixed. The lady on the phone was pleasant, LG need to do better. Show details
Very disappointed with this product and the response from LG. The base has completely rusted out after normal usage. I wipe it out after use and keep it clean. I wanted to know if it was still safe to use with the flaking rusty surface at the base. All I got was a defensive response, insinuating that I hadn't kept it maintained. I believe they use… Read more
an AI bot to answer emails because there is no human response, just a cold hard factual relating of warranty and repair issues. LG you should lift your game and employ humans to answer the hard questions! I will steer clear of LG in the future.
Latest follow-ups
I’ve had two of these. They are cheap and work well. Granted we only use it for popcorn and heating up frozen rice and occasionally melting butter. Both stopped heating within 2 years. Show details
Follow-up · Because it was under warranty LG did repair it. It was relatively hassle free.
Positive reviews
A microwave that actually works – This is a good value microwave, which is user friendly. I just bought it to replace more expensive Panasonic model that couldn’t cook a papadum in 4 minutes. This new microwave did it better in 1 minute. Also it easy to increase and decrease time. 1 push start and time increase/decrease. Show details
Does the job and fine after getting used to it – We replaced out full sized panasonic microwave that went bang with this smaller one. I was a little sceptical especially when it was a lot smaller that the gap for microwaves in the kitchen unit. The speedy way to set the cooking is to press the start button however many times you want - each press cooks for 30 seconds. We find that most of our… Read more
cooking can be done this way, there are heaps more features which we haven't found the need to use yet. Curiously if a cup of milk is put in the microwave with the handle pointing to the back, 3 presses on the start gives 1min30secs and when the door is opened the handle is always pointing towards you. Magic Gets a few fingermarks on the door but apart from that its absolutely fine.
Happy good buy – As a renter, owning less property, moving lightweight and living close to office are important factors. My current landlord has a $49 Kmart microwave with internal rusts. I disposed mine (similar model) which has suffered from over cleaning and rusts. Thanks to my previous landlord, I was introduced to LG MS2336DN 23L amongst other things (eg… Read more
Esatto fridge) which is a godsend.
LG MS2336DN has antibacterial Easyclean surfaces, large 292mm diameter turntable, 23L capacity that fits into a small area and more importantly it is light weight (9kg?), Added bonus is that it is quiet and inverter auto cooking. Minimum amount of reheating is required and the food does not need stirring or turn over. At last, I do not get mutilated edges of my salmon pieces by the heat.
The owners manual is available online. An advantage of an inverter microwave is that food is cooked evenly. I have not experimented with it but one can also do browning. There are several pre-programmed menu functions which I thought is good for making fast and simple auto cooked meals.
I am not advocating that you rush out to buy one. Prices varies from retailer to retailer. Luckily, I bought a brand new one at a big brand sale that saved me $$$ (>15% discount). Be a smart shopper.
I do not have financial or business interests with LG. Please do your own research.
Overall LG’s MS2336DN 23L is a very good buy.
Negative reviews
Very stylish but after a year it started to rust, after 3 years the motor died. It says it is covered for 10 years warranty on the front, forget LG honouring that, I have to take it to a service agent and if they find a motor problem it will be replaced, but I will have have to pay labour and any other charges. Not fit for purpose. Certainly not worth expending any further money. Just landfill. Lucky Goldstar. Show details
A bad purchase – After 4 months the oven ceased heating food because the inverter stopped working and had to be replaced under warranty. Now 9 months after purchase it has happened again. I am not even going to bother getting it repaired under warranty and will buy another brand. Show details
Waste of money- broken after two years – Purchased the LG Neochef 1000W Smart Inverter Microwave in March 2022. It has since stopped heating food despite the 10 year smart inverter warranty. Would not recommend. Show details
Recent reviews
AVOID THIS LINE OF PRODUCTS !!! – AVOID THIS LINE OF PRODUCTS !!! Like many others here, after 16-18 months of use, my microwave was rusting inside in multiple places to a point I felt it was unsafe to use. Even though it was still under warranty, LG refused to take responsibility and admit these microwaves have a design flaw. Instead they blamed me saying it was poorly… Read more
maintained and cleaned with chemicals. In comparison, my previous LG microwave lasted over 14 years. Having dealt with their customer support, I will never buy another LG product in Australia.
I'm quite confident the $50 kmart microwave I bought to temporarily (now permanently) replace the LG, will last much longer.
Decent until it broke just within warranty – It was a good microwave while it worked, but like others have experienced, it broke down in an unreasonably short time. Fortunately in our case it was after about 19 months so within the 2 year warranty we had, but perhaps we just got lucky. The LG customer service people were actually pretty good about getting us a credit to purchase a new… Read more
microwave, which we are shortly about to do, so we're grateful for that.
While the microwave worked, it was reasonably fast, didn't overheat things, cooked things well on their specialised settings (e.g. potatoes), and was easy to clean. The only thing that annoyed our family was the repetitive sing-song beeping when a meal was done, but we grew a bit affectionate for this after a while.
Nevertheless, 18 months to 2 years of use is so obviously a case of planned obsolescence that it's seriously offensive, not just to customers who have paid for a decent, non-budget appliance, but also on the grounds of environmental concerns. Moving forward, I cannot help but be wary of the LG brand on this basis.
absolutely avoidable – just over 2 years warranty period and does not heating at all. I use their app to check what is the issue with it but it doesn't really works. contact LG Australia and can't be covered by warranty (if it works but not heating, definitely inverter issue which has shown 10years warranty for it on microwave) their response and asking me to drop it… Read more
Nerang but doesn't say receivable in Weekends. (no reply at all to my questions) Sick attitude and react to customer who trust their product.
Find out how LG Neochef MS2336DB compares to other Microwaves
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Poor design choices – I've just bought this and just using it to heat some water to give it an initial clean, some design flaws are immediately apparent: 1: The force required to open the door exceeds the friction between the feet and my benchtop, so a second hand is required to hold the microwave in place, so you can't hold a bowl of food in your other hand. Perhaps… Read more
some high friction material under the feet can fix this, but boy is that sad. 2: The omission of a numpad makes setting the clock or high cooking times frustrating. Have fun pressing the +/- buttons 30+ times if it's 11:30, or no less than 22 times to set a 5:00 cooking time. I actually like the +/- buttons for fine time adjustment, but they should be in addition to a numpad. 3: Speaking of the clock, there is no clock button, so you need to turn the mains power off and on to reset it. Bad luck if you're installing the microwave in a cabinet with an occluded power point.
These could have been easily solved at essentially zero cost. At least in these respects, a cheapo no-brand microwave from kmart or whatever is literally superior for a fraction of the cost.
The only major value propositions of this microwave are the long-ish warranty, and the (supposedly) anti-microbial internal surface coating. The inverter functionality is also worth something if you use it, but most of us just want maximum heat 99% of the time...
This microwave oven heats the surrounding cabinet better than the food – This oven doesn't heat foods very evenly even 'tho the blurb says the 'inverter' is superior to older magnetron types. I tried to heat a 2 person amount of food from frozen and stopped half way to turn the bowl around. Oven stopped but the fan kept running - the display read 'Cool'. Couldn't start it up for a good minute and at the end of heating… Read more
the entire cabinet was very hot to touch. A previous microwave never did this. And the dumb doodle-oodle-oodle-oooo sound effects are **** irritating. Can't recommend.
Specs are incorrect – Microwave says max draw is 1150w(112ah) from the 1000w. The actual draw current is 1608w.(156ah) Was purchased to use in motor home but specs are incorrect for draw power, max output from 2 x 175ah lithium batteries( 150ah continuous)so I use it in house instead. Show details
Cannot see or feel dark colored buttons unless well lit and excessive ring tones – Pros: it microwaves food well Cons: no lighting or indentations on any buttons so I just stab wildly at them til it does what I need cos I can’t hardly see or feel where to press in low light. (Unit is not at eye level so maybe it would be better if it was…I’m thinking to paint over the buttons in glow in the dark paint or something so I can at… Read more
least touch sense them…) a bit of backlighting to the buttons wouldn’t hurt - make it touch sensitive to light up when you touch it if the design concept was to avoid light pollution in the kitchen but something would be better than nothing. Annoying and excessive sing song tones when it’s done that repeats itself if I don’t open the door in a few minutes - and nowhere in the manual does it tell me how to turn this off. I don’t need to be bullied to attend to cooked food by an appliance - what’s wrong with a single ding when done??? Or at least let me adjust the volume cos I can hear it in the bedroom when someone makes an early breakfast.
- +4
The glass exploded and shattered across our kitchen – I was washing the dishes, and the microwave's front door glass shattered across our kitchen with a rather big bang! We were lucky my one-year-old daughter was not in the kitchen then. The microwave was not running at all, and nothing hit it either. It was not in use at the time. It's not uncommon for poorly made tempered glass to shatter. It… Read more
happens to glass tables too. Our glass door had a fault, and LG should rectify the situation.
The customer service has been very bad at LG and Myer, where we purchased it. LG even told us to bring it in for it to be inspected! The fact that it had pieces of glass sticking out of it is a real danger.
It's just a microwave – To disable the annoying tune that plays every 30 seconds to remind you that the reheating is finished: press and hold the stop/cancel button and the inverter button at the same time for a few seconds. You'll see OFF on the screen and all sounds will be off.
Absolute dud! – Stopped heating, closest repairer 2hour round trip away (we are 20 mins from major city!) Customer service was awful, hard to understand and wouldn’t organise a courier to collect and return item. Won’t be buying any LG products in future! Update: was the inverter, so not charged for repair, but disappointing all around Show details
Terrible, don't buy it – We bought it last year June because of the good reviews. Whilst it was good, it just suddenly died on us last night. Its only been 17 months! We have had other microwaves and they have all lasted a LOT longer than 17 months. Did not expect LG things to be so fragils. Save yourselves money and hassle and buy something else Show details
Hi Kitty, Thanks for taking the time to share your review and… Read more
LG Needs to Advertise in BOLD that this microwave will knock out your WIFI and Bluetooth when in use. Not recommended – Bought this microwave from JB Hifi based on the generally positive reviews online and our kitchen space, after our previous Sharp Microwave stopped working after 5 years. What we noticed very quickly and incidentally, is that this microwave knocks out the Wifi and Bluetooth completely when it is heating even when it is located >8-10m away from the… Read more
router. So if you are cooking rice in a microwave rice cooker for 40 minutes, there is massive interference with internet and it also knocked out our Bluetooth baby monitor, which is very worrying when trying to keep an eye on baby. Very concerning and makes one wonder about the likely radiation emitting from this device if it can interfere with Wifi and Bluetooth consistently. There is a very small description in tiny print located in the manual near the back, that the microwave may cause some Wifi/Bluetooth interefence being on a 2.4Ghz frequency...but in our case, this really should have been in BOLD and at the start of the manual- which makes it seem like LG are trying 'normalise' this issue. Made it very difficult to work from home or complete zoom calls or participate in telehealth. We never had this problem with our previous microwave so very disappointed with this and will be seeking a refund and/or new microwave. I feel this is a design flaw in this day and age when we are reliant on wifi and/or Bluetooth. On the plus side, it heats food, but it does not heat as evenly or as well as previous microwave so we often have to microwave for much longer. It is easy to use with quick start button with the timer going up in 10 sec increments and has a jingle at the end of use (which you have to quickly attend to..otherwise it keeps repeating over and over again!!)
Hi Scelee9, Thanks for taking the time to share your review,… Read more (+1 reply)
Find out how LG Neochef MS2336DB compares to other Microwaves
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Well worth the upgrade! – Upgraded to this microwave after owning a small ANKO (kmart) microwave, after my mother and grandmother were happy with their similar LG models. I am so glad I did, heats up food very quickly and it tastes much nicer. I do a lot of meal prep and freezing bulk meals, can take a little while to heat up from frozen, but heats very evenly without cold spots in the middle. Also love the sleek look of the microwave. Show details · 1
This is perfect – I love this microwave. It's stylish, easy to clean, cooks evenly and I love the microwave sound at the the end of each cook. I found it strange at first especially with how you open the microwave but after a week I got used to it. It's a great product overall Show details · 1
Problem turntable – Worked well at first but now the turntable clunks around - I’ve tried moving it but still a problem. Pity as I was just getting used to the many functions. Guess I’ll need to return Show details
Hi Linda, Thanks for taking the time to write your review, We… Read more
broken down twice in less than a year – It stopped working after a few months so i had to take it back, they sent it away to fix it and then i had to go back and get it, then it stopped working agin two months later so i have taken it back again . waste of time and money. Show details
Hi Danielle, Thanks for taking the time to write your review,… Read more
Could registration be any more difficult? – It is a very stylish compact unit that I have yet to use. My complaint is with registration on the LG website which has proven impossible; there are several annoying issues including having to repeat the same data many times, as their system does not store on entry. It locates the model number yet this model is not listed in their drop down… Read more
selector, and there is no facility to enter it manually. Wonderful, can't register! But wait, there's more- I go to my iPad Keychain and Bring up the LG website then enter my password and store it, then go to LG webpage and enter this password twice and guess what? I'm told this password is incorrect.
Might be that I'm missing something but it's impossible to tell. Oh, one other thing- the data on the back of a microwave is almost microscopic and rather faint so I had to photograph it and use a magnifying glass!
great microwave but problem with this model – this is the third LG inverter that we have had - two of the same model had an issue with the magnetron and so we switched to this current model 18 mths ago - now have the issue of the microwave suddenly not heating - don't buy Show details
Hi HMS h, Thanks for taking the time to write your review, We… Read more
It fits my specialised needs – Update Jan 2026 ... This model is still on sale. Mine is still working, so I can't complain. The display occasionally kicks into a random/rubbish reading and the 10-second run "button" rarely works. However hitting "Stop" resets the display and both 30-second and Stop "buttons" still work (most of the time) - and it still does its job in heating… Read more · 1
the oven's contents.
In this age of planned obsolescence, a 5+ year run has to be considered good. A quick check on current price ($179) and it's worked out at a little over $30 per year. And maybe LG have fixed the problems?
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Update 2024 ....
The microwave has given some 4 good years of service. While still functioning, the "+" "button", that adds 10 seconds to the run time , is no longer working. The "-" "button" is still working so I can work around the broken "button" by adding 30 seconds then subtracting 10/10 ... but really?
I suppose that in this day and age 4 years should be considered a good life, but it's predecessor was an ancient (15? 20? years old) Sharp model that was only replaced because eventually the LCD readout had faded to the point where it could no longer be easily read.
Surely LG can build switches that last longer than 4 years?
================== 2020 review ============
I wanted a small microwave for the house that I could also take with me in a caravan where it would run through a 2kW inverter (ie drawing power from the batteries). Research showed that microwaves draw a lot more power than they delivered to the food with a typical unit drawing close to the 2kW maximum of the inverter - and I don't like to run anything at its maximum.
If told to reduce power, most microwaves deliver an "average" reduction by cycling on (at full power) and off instead, so reducing power wasn't an option.
The alternative technology is "inverter", which reduces the input power drain instead.
The Neochef is inverter and I've run some tests (all figures are approximate). On full power (1000 watts) it pulls an actual 1500 watts. On a nominal 600 watts it pulls an actual 1000 watts. Both provide a safety margin for the inverter and lower the instantaneous demand on the batteries.
On aesthetics, it looks good to me. On user interface, it took me a bit of time to get used to the control panel after using a very old traditional microwave. However I now find it easy to use and the manual was actually a lot of help, which was unexpected.
The only (small) negative I have found is that the dark glass front combined with a low'ish internal light means it is hard to see inside while it is operating (if you are thinking you might need to stop it early). However it does everything else I wanted as below and I got it at a good price so this doesn't affect my rating.
FYI caravan owners - a glass turntable is not the best for a caravan so I did look for a flatbed microwave. However, much research later and, I reached the conclusion that the technology is still in progress in that it didn't seem to work consistently - and came at a high price.
Great value and stylish – I love this microwave, it's functional, stylish, and cheap. For me, I only use my microwave to reheat a meal occasionally so this is perfect for me. If you need a small, cheap microwave that doesn't look or function like a cheap microwave this is worth a look. Show details · 1
Backed up by good customer service – Bought just over 14 weeks ago and was delighted with its performance and sleek design. The defrost function left meat evenly defrosted without the cooked edges, and food cooked quickly and evenly. I quite enjoyed the end-of-cycle chirrup/melody, even though it was persistent. The unit was very quiet, and was easy to clean. Unfortunately it… Read more · 1
developed a problem with the magnetron. After conversations with LG, this issue was resolved to my complete satisfaction.
The singing microwave – The black design on this microwave looks sleek and modern. The manufacturing materials are of high quality. It is very reliable and cooks food evenly. There are a number of programming features but honestly I just use the quick start mode. I like that this microwave has a single button start. You don't need to enter the time or turn dials like some other microwaves. Show details · 1
Not as good as the reviews suggested – 1. There is no timer. ie you can use it to time boiling an egg. What the!? This is the first microwave in history without this feature. 2. The chime is really annoying. You can turn it off (Hold the Stop and press the inverter cook button), but the instructions aren't in the manual. Give me a nice single ding when cooking is done, not a tune… Read more
that keeps playing until the door is opened. 3. The Inverter Defrost, Cook and Warm settings are extremely complicated. You need to keep the manual next to you. Or a cheat sheet. 4. Cooks ok. No better or worse than our old Panasonic unit.
Hi Peter, Thanks for taking the time to reach out. We… Read more
She's a nag when finished but we love her – very stylish Microwave, people always mention it when in our kitchen. Pros: Simple cook functions are really simple. Doesn't move forwards or back when opened and closed. Best looking Microwave aesthetically. Very easy to clean. Inverter cooking produces a very decent microwaved meat pie. Cons: Nags (chimes) a lot when cooking us done. You need to read instructions to use the inverter cooking, you can't fumble through it. Show details · 1
Top-notch, sleek microwave – This microwave looks very sleek in our kitchen. Lots of different heating/cooking/melting options available. The one I most frequently is the re-heating of a dinner plate meal - it takes around 7 mins and works great. Also softens butter without melting. Can't be beat. Would recommend to family and friends. Purchased from Good Guys online for $143 in July 2019 (+$10 delivery). Show details · 1
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Hi Mel, Thank you for taking the time to share your review,… Read more