Panasonic NN-SF564W / NN-SF564WQPQ

After 14 years my Breville Microwave gave out. I chose this as a replacement because it is almost the same physical size. More sophisticated Microwaves wouldn't fit into my kitchen Microwave nook. I bought it on the phone by its physical dimensions, description and features. I trust the Panasonic brand. It features an inverter and no… Read more ·  1

turntable. I like the bigger internal space, and it is nice not having a turntable to clean and manipulate. There are 5 things I don't like. 1. The timer only allows me to set 10 second intervals. 2. At first, I thought it was great not having a turntable, but I find I want to watch the food rotating as it cooks so I can see it from all angles. 3. The start button doesn't have an automatic 30 second quick start. You have to press a function button or enter a time. No instant 30sec/1 min cup of coffee heat. 4. The automatic cooking settings are only set in numbers of 1, 2, 3, 4 etc, but I think the best cooking is done with weight or time. So I will have to work by trial and error with these buttons. 5. I need glasses to read, and I can't yet figure out which buttons are which without my glasses. The writing on the buttons is not bright. Now for what I like. It comes with a comprehensive and well presented user manual and recipe book. The Panasonic cooks fast and hard, needing shorter times than my Breville. In terms of power adjustment, my Breville went in 10% steps. This one goes in 6 wattage steps down to 250 Watts. Using the Breville, I cooked rolled oats for 4 min 44 secs on 50% power (500 Watts). That power on this Panasonic splattered the oats (very easy to clean). I cook the oats for 5 mins on the minimum 250 Watts for best results. The defrost and reheat from frozen buttons only go in 4 preset steps up to 250g. Other settings such as to cook vegetables or fish have 1 to 2 presets. You can't set defrost for 700 g. You have to calculate the weight or size and set the time manually. Eg. defrosting a big meal takes 7 mins on the Breville. The interior is some kind of polymer and is effortless to clean as I learned on day 1 with my oats. There is a greater number of functional buttons than the Breville. In terms of food texture and microwave heating, this unit is high quality. It heats thoroughly and has an automatic COOL cycle at the end. The cooked food tastes great. If I was buying again, I would look closely at the buttons and their workflow and choose on that basis over Microwave size. For that reason, I give this a 4. It is a really good unit to add to my kitchen appliances.

It's a beauty - Top line Microwave Oven - a great deal for less money – This is one of the only Microwaves without the annoying and useless rotating tables inside. The designers of this Microwave Oven really put some thought into what they were going to build before they built it. This oven does not have any wasted space, like you have in a turntable type Microwave. You can use the whole area of the base to heat /… Read more ·  1

cook your food. You don't have to worry about the food or plates on the turntable being out of center and stopping the rotation of it. The panel controls are easy to understand and use. The booklet is easy to to use and well thought out. The heating power is very impressive and heats up very quickly.

All up 100% to the designers and builders of this microwave oven.

New style of microwave and I like it – This microwave doesn’t have a carousel, just a square base. Game changer, you can fit more containers in it, and very powerful quick heating. Lots of great defrost features also Show details ·  1

Panasonic Flatbed Microwave doesn't last – My wife and I decided to buy a Panasonic flatbed model towards the end of 2019. We rarely use the appliance and our usage during these previous 2 1/2 years would perhaps be similar to what a family with kids might give it in only a few weeks. Nevertheless, it suddenly stopped working recently, showing a H98 error message. We understand this… Read more

suggests the Magnetron has ceased working. We are enormously disappointed that a Panasonic product we thought would be reliable can be expected to last for only approx 2 years! I contacted Panasonic customer care who said to send an email along with a copy of the receipt which we did some time ago and we have received no response. We know many other people who have bought cheap Microwaves from supermarkets which continue to last for many years, and whilst it was working we were very happy with the Panasonic. If all one can expect of a Panasonic Microwave these days is 2 years or so, then one would need to consider very carefully whether they are worth the extra expense of what we thought was a good and reliable brand.

Terrible microwave. Do not buy. Inside roof of microwave began peeling away. Returned this model under warranty – Does not cook food well compared to other microwave ovens. Show details

Already taken one back, fingers crossed I won't need to do another – 3 Days after plugging my first one in, I went to use it. It was completely dead; dark display and no light on inside. Took it back and they plugged it in and it was working. After they tested it a few times, the light inside stopped working. The store gave me a replacement unit. I also noticed that the door was sitting slightly lower closest to… Read more

the open button, which does not bode well for build quality... I haven't used it much but so far it seems OK. I just hope it won't fail on me before the warranty expires.

Worst Microwave Ever – Thought I would try something new. Takes about 3x longer to heat things up and there are times when after about 20 seconds the microwave switches to the cool function constantly so can't heat anything up. Tried to warm up something for 6 mins and it stopped after 3. Would definitely not recommend Show details

Rubbish! Doesn’t heat food or drinks – Doesn’t heat food! Only makes your plate or cup extremely hot to the point it burns your hands & fingers! But food or Drink is still Cold!! Not happy at all!! A Show details

Poor cooking/warming food and RUST – Very disappointed with this microwave. Bought in 2019 for my new kitchen. Loved the look of it in the showroom, with no turntable. However, it does not cook food evenly or even warm up food completely taking double the amount of time. Plus a year in I noticed RUST appearing on the top of the oven!! Cleaning with soapy water only!! So HOW IS THIS… Read more

A NON MANUFACTRING PROBLEM! I expected more of Panasonic!! I bought what i thought was a new idea of microwaving to fit into my modern kitchen!! What an utter disappointment!! I have called Panasonic and they have advised to take to a repair centre but will cost me!! Ill probably throw it in a SKIP somewhere!!

Disgusting!!

Really irritating "cool function" – We have previously been fans of Panasonic microwaves but feel this one is a dud. We find that food is not evenly heated and the cool function is beyond annoying because after you remove the food, the cool function kicks in for an unreasonable length of time which is very noisy - a lousy idea guys! It forces the user to open the door and leave it open until the "cooling period" expires. We would never ever purchase one again! Avoid it. Show details

Not bad, not great – Love not having a turntable, but unfortunately it cooks unevenly, especially if we have more than one thing in the microwave (back left area seems to heat up quicker). However we have got use to this now. Got the dreaded ‘H97’ error yesterday and repair will cost the same as buying a new one - so for us 3 1/2 year life span Show details

Making buzzing noises – Bought a new one from HN and found out it was making noises. Went back and get replacement but having the same problems. I don’t know what to do next. Show details

Not impressed – I've persevered with this flat-bed micro wave for a month now, but find it very slow and it definitely doesn't heat evenly. I'd happily swap it for an ordinary rotating microwave, which would have been cheaper too. What do I do now? Show details

[Brand New] Making Electric Pop Buzz Noise from back – We purchased the microwave few days ago, its making electric pop buzz noise from the RHS back. Very creepy!!! We knew the flatbed won't heat up the food as even as the turn table, but never had this creepy sound in previous experience! Show details

Best Microwave ever!! – This is actually an incredible microwave. It cooks food far more evenly than a normal microwave that revolves the food (this just has a flat bed). The texture of cold food reheated is just as good as freshly cooked, and so far same with frozen meals (risotto). It’s really easy to use, love that it has a 10 min button (in addition to 10 seconds and… Read more ·  1

1 min), although I wish it had a 30 second button. And the recipe book it comes with is amazing!! Who knew you could cook so many things in a microwave!! And without any splatter, ever!!

Good, with a few caveats – I've had this for 6 months. It replaced a 20 year old Sharp that finally went ZOT with a puff of smoke. I bought it because I liked the idea of the flat bed & easily cleaned interior (with the exception of the sharp lip at the front) . I am a lazy bachelor; I use a microwave exclusively for heating a mug of milk (50 secs, twice a day) for my… Read more

espresso, or various frozen bricks of TV dinners (3-6 minutes twice a week). I don't know if the lack of a revolve changes cooking efficiency. I've never tried anything more complex, so I don't need the small sea of hard to read preset buttons. I had become very used to the Sharp, where you simply close the door & hit the easy to find Start & it automatically goes for 30 secs on high or multiples of 30 depending on how many times you stab Start.

This Panasonic does not do that. You have to spend a couple seconds finding the appropriate time button (simply an area of black glass illegibly marked in tiny mid-grey) then find Start. Irritating. I never got used to the position of "1 minute", "10 seconds" & "Start". These are my go-to commands, so I've marked them with ugly white marker circles.

It is certainly no quieter than the old Sharp. The continuing fan for cool down never engages after heating for just 1 minute, but will for anything much longer. It annoys me sometimes, but it can be avoided by just opening the door.

Another thing that distinguishes this unit is that having it sitting on top of my 1.6m high fridge puts the bottom corner of the door at face height; this corner is quite sharp & a bit of a hazard unless closed.

Another result of having it sitting at this height is the design decision to have a 4cm gap below the door, so that you look at the unfinished galvanised belly pan & legs. Maybe for ease of cleaning underneath the front, perhaps? The Sharp simply hid this muck so it didn't bother me that much & looked much sleeker. The Sharp also had a nice blunt corner. This might not be an issue if the unit sits on a bench, where the opening door would clear the top of a waiting plate.

The light inside could be a bit brighter, but I had become used to a non-functioning light for 5 years (told you I was lazy) , so dim light is better than nothing, it's adequate.

I am not sorry I bought it, it was a good price, and it performs just fine for what I need it for.

Ours also caught fire randomly – We were satisfied with way it cooked and operated but while it was not in use we heard a bang and then heard the fire alarm and ran downstairs to smell electrical burning smell and see smoke coming out of the microwave. Very scary. I see we are not the only ones to have had this issue.  Show details

RUBBISH – Unit was defective out of the box. Faulty door catch which I discovered after googling is endemic to current Panasonic microwaves with hundreds of complaints. Panasonic destroys every semblance of credibility by advising 'we've never encountered that problem'. What passes for 'customer service' is in Manila, with all the problems typical of… Read more

offshore call centres ... unintelligible, disinterested, arrogant, unhelpful etc. Clearly there is no such thing as quality control as a trained monkey would have noticed the problem .. it would be impossible not to have difficulty during packaging!!! This is the third flatbed Panasonic microwave I've had. The first died just outside warranty, second lasted three years and was replaced under extended warranty. This one will go back for a credit and I'll get an Ariston. Never again a crappy Panasonic product.