LG NeoChef MS4296

I bought LG 42L MS4296OBS microwave oven from the Harvey Norman (HN) in Liverpool, NSW on 13th December 2019, on 27th February 2019 it stopped working. It shows all display correctly but does not heat food.

I read couple of similar negative reviews before buying this; thinking those people are unfortunately unlucky ones, to my surprise I became one of them. I called HN store next morning and to add in my surprise they said I have to return it to the store, they will then send it to LG. It will take at least 7-10 days before we will know any kind of outcome. During this time of "assessment" I will not have any replacement from the store or from the LG, and have to live without microwave for at least 7-10 days. It is simply unacceptable. I was under the impression that I will get refund or exchange of microwave oven if I go to store. Apparently LG require store to send all faulty products back for assessment while their customer have to wait. I had K-mart $50 microwave previously worked perfectly fine for >10 years. We gave it away for free when we got this new shiny microwave. Now thinking it was mistake. I can’t believe LG will let customer wait for the answers till they “assess” the produce for fault. I don’t know how this even makes sense economically for LG (considering cost of transportation, repairs, and faulty parts)? Also it does not make sense for their customers to suffer for LG's faulty product? I was told by the HN store that Panasonic have different policy, store can simply replace faulty microwave with the new one on spot. At least I know which oven I will get/refer next.

Apart from above fault, we did not like the glass panel in front. It looks good but not very practical. You will see tones of fingerprints by the end of day.

After 7 days of no contact from LG or HN store I contacted LG service centre. I was told they don’t know which third party service centre has my oven. I then contacted HN store and got the details of third party service centre. I called them and they informed me that my oven is repaired (they have changed PCB and magnetron) and I can “collect” it anytime. I asked them to send it to store instead. I then collected it from the store.

This was a big inconvenience and time consuming process, considering I have to live without oven for >7 days, carry this heavy oven to store and collect it back. I am not sure if Australian consumer law have any protection for this kind of situation. I now essentially have refurbish microwave oven.

The design and colour is very sleek and modern. It heats the food evenly and has good power. Very minimalistic design which I love. It's also very quiet which is a plus. Definitely recommend

Needed a new microwave so we brought this one. Great so far. Heats up real quick, kids love the sounds it makes. When you are busy, the sounds don't let you forget there's something in it. We have brought an LG fridge so this matches perfect!

Its simple and elegant looking with flush flat face that is easy to clean.
Most importantly it cooks and reheats food EVENLY. Love the defrosting function that actually thawls throughout. Only con is the tune it plays when it ends.

Have had this microwave for nearly 2 years and have had no issues. Cooks well and is easy to operate and clean. Looks very good in the kitchen. Grandchildren like the tune it makes when finished though i can take it or leave it. Sliding controls work well. When finished it has a fan cooling down cycle which should help in increasing its life.

Two years and four days after purchase it died. It worked except that it plays a tune when finished and this does get tiresome - what is wrong with a couple of subtle beeps. At a change in time you have to turn the unit off and back on to set the new time - twice a year and when mounted in a cabinet it can be awkward. You can only set in 10 second increments - a common problem with models now. The selection of auto mode requires looking at a table - after a while you get to know to set to 3 for auto cooking vegetables. The display does not assist in selecting modes. The opening and closing the door often causes the whole microwave to slide around. Sometimes the touch sensitive buttons do not work - a problem when you need it to stop in a hurry - you end up opening the door to stop the microwave. To access most of the functions you have to open the door. It does show fingerprints and needs to be wiped often - sometimes triggering the touch buttons. Have now bought a 44L panasonic - so much better - simple beeps - can set the time - we will see how it goes.

Been using this microwave for 15 months now, and I wouldn't be without it. I especially love the sensor feature. It works brilliantly for fresh veggies, and cooks rice perfectly.

A microwave is a microwave. It performs all the task that it is supposed to, but it looks absolutely beautiful. All ugly buttons hidden, very sleek as there is only one door that goes from edge to edge (L to R). All features behind the door are the ones rarely used, so its a great place for it to be. All the everyday used buttons are easily accessed in the front.

I agree closely with Truebleu2 comments.
The programming for defrosting and heating using programs seem to miss the point and prove variable. I weighed up some frozen chicken, defrosted it and was suspicious so I only allowed it to do 2/3 of the time shown. Just as well as this was virtually defrosted and slightly cooked on edges. I returned to practices used with my old Sharp (10 years old). This means I manually defrosted food on reduced times and gave timed breaks before resetting the time expected to complete the defrosting. I also calculated that P70-80 was close to the power input of my old Sharp which was 950watts.
I tried something simple, heating baked beans. The programming based on weight was again over zealous. I returned to manual heating. I will next check the machine for hot spots and overall heat distribution before providing another review. My machine is only 1 month old so I will include reliability in my next review too.
The machine is tidy and very easy to operate. I just hope the programming buttons don’t fail with time given I don’t trust the auto cook timings so manual touch buttons may get overused.

This microwave stopped heating after 12 months. To explain my issue via chat was a nightmare. The LG service centers are inconvenient to get to and only open Monday to Friday. Not really great if you work. Lets hope I don't wait too long for my microwave to be repaired. I hope it lasts longer than 12 months this time! Give me my Panasonic back any day!

I gave this Microwave 3 start based i in fact it is a great MW when it works quite, quick and efficient

Bought 10th Oct 2018, however last night while reheating some rice, I heard a loud snap or crack come from it and then a really bad smell* that was all she wrote :( no longer heats anything

The LG NeoChef microwave is simple, streamlined and beautiful. The door is soft closing, recessed and there is an easy to use swipe timer. The detailed cooking options are on the inside giving it a clean appearance on the outside. The white LED light gives it a nice illumination as well.

Where do I start with this piece of work. Amazing! Really cool and easy for me to heat up my food! Although, not sure about the other button when you open it up it’s actually a touch microwave when you close it and just a quick min to heat up you food. Doesn’t make too much noise as well!

My general impression of the product agrees with most of the positive reviews I have read, so I won't repeat those impressions. However I would like to draw attention to an issue that does not appear to be addressed in the owner's manual.
Pages 8 and 9 of the manual deal with setting up the microwave, culminating in a simple test of heating up 300ml of water for 30sec. If this works you are told that now all is OK. In my case the water heated but the turntable did not move as I expected based on my how my old microwave worked. As the manual did not mention anything about turntable rotation I thought perhaps on this new higher tech machine rotation depended on what settings were in place, and that rotation would occur on longer times and/or lower power settings. But whatever settings I tried, there was no rotation. I concluded the oven was faulty and contacted LG customer care (available 7 days a week - excellent). The helpful consultant agreed there was something wrong and told me where I could take the oven for repair but also advised that I could try for a replacement at place of purchase.
JB HI-FI were excellent and replaced the microwave with no hesitation, despite my having already destroyed all the packaging. The new machine appears to work correctly, with turntable always rotating when heating is in progress.

Should anyone from LG happen to read this, may I suggest that the first two sentences of step 7 of the "Unpacking & Installing" section of the manual should read:
The DISPLAY will count down from 30 seconds while the tray rotates.
When the display reaches 0 it will chime briefly.

I bought this in September 2018 to replace an old Sharp.
My first impressions were how clean, stylish and modern it looked.
The swipe feature at the front is easy to master and a nice touch.
The hidden functions behind the door is also a nice touch and now after using the oven I can see why they hid them.
Simply this micro wave is flawed like so many others because their programs just don't work as well as they should.
i tried the defrost , weighed the meat, looked at the cook time and knew straight away this would cook the meat and sure enough that is what happened.
Next I tried cooking rice in the special menu section, and once again the times were way too long and the rice .
came our like a piece of rubber, the rice also boiled over into the microwave once again showing that the presets are wrong.
If you want to cook rice do it by trial and error using the manual cook or just buy yourself a cheap rice cooker it will do a better job.
I can recommend the use of a microwave, any microwave that I have ever owned for one thing,and that is to reheat food the rest is just for show.

The product looks beautiful, functions are easy to use, food is cooked evenly every time. Interior is easy to clean, the 42L model is the perfect size where as the 23L is a little small in my opinion. This microwave does its job well, purchased from Good Guys, would have loved this in stainless steel black but was not available at the time.

It’s been a pretty good microwave. Heats and defrosts as it should. The inner plate is a bit wobbly and the start button can be a bit touchy sometimes - you have to really make sure you finger is over it properly. But it’s a stylish design and in terms of its heating I have been impressed.

Bought this around 8 months ago. We decided to get one without a turn table and boy did it make our lives easier. The cleaning process of this microwave is so easy, we just wipe the sides and flatbed.
This microwaves is also very strong and can heat up food very quickly. There is a cooling mode which automatically switches on when the microwave gets to hot after using it. However the noise is a bit loud.
The exterior design is sleek and minimalist. Buttons are easy to press and instructions are quite clear.
Overall very satisfied with this purchase!

Best microwave I have ever bought so easy to use I used a sensor cooking to cook potatoes and when it stopped they were perfect I love the little tune it plays when it is finished. very good price I can highly recommend this microwave easy to clean looks great too

Purchased an LG brand microwave as the other LG brand items in my home, work well.
My 15 year old Sharp microwave (sadly no longer with us) was an 800wt so I am still getting use to this new LG 1200wt oven. Things cook far quicker than the old one but finding it fairly easy to use.