Our Sharp Carousel was worn out after several years of moderate use. We really needed a new microwave. Not wanting to wait for something to be delivered, we wanted to buy locally. But our choice of stores was somewhat limited, unless we wanted to do a lot of driving. We were going to Sears anyway, and they do have the best selection of microwaves of stores in our area. We needed something to fit in a particular corner of our kitchen counters. From web research, it appeared that Sears carried several models that might work for us. My wife and I both had certain features we wanted, but we agreed on the size, as there is really only one spot that works well for a microwave in our kitchen. Size matters! :)

Anyway, we finally found the microwave department in Sears and they did indeed have a wide selection of microwaves that would fit our kitchen counter area. The catch, of course, is what they have on display doesn’t exactly match what they have in stock. I was very disappointed when I realized that both of exactly two models IN STOCK that might work for us were “Kenmore”.

For those who don’t know, Kenmore is not a brand. Sears does not make appliances, and there is no company called “Kenmore” that makes appliances, either. “Kenmore” labeled appliances are made by various manufacturers. This isn’t too much of a problem if you don’t have strong feelings for or against certain brands. But I am a consumer who has very strong feelings for and against certain brands. For example, I believe that (with very few exceptions) the ONLY cellular handsets worth carrying are NOKIA brand. I also, based on previous negative experiences, would try to AVOID buying –anything- made by Sony or Goldstar. Not all people would agree with me, and that’s OK. But I, personally, would not spend a penny of my money on anything made by Sony or Goldstar. And I try to avoid Kenmore labeled items because it is difficult to tell (usually) who actually made them. You simply don’t know whether that Kenmore is good or not, because ‘KENMORE’ doesn’t exist.

So having a choice between two different “Kenmore” microwaves and having to wait several days for a decent brand microwave to be shipped to us was not a great choice for me, personally. I was less than happy. But I did mention I had a wife now, didn’t I? While I was wondering how we’d get by without a microwave for a while, my wife fell in love with one of the two microwaves that Sears did have in stock. Yup, my wife wanted a Kenmore microwave. So I took a good long look at it, and decided that it didn’t look too evil. (Sanyo, maybe?) And the price was right. At a little over a hundred bucks, I really had very little to lose. So I (gulp) bought the Kenmore. (Strike One)

A few years ago, a relative noticed me reading Consumer Reports while I was bored. She mistakenly assumed that I liked the magazine, and I’ve had a gift subscription to CR ever since. I’ll give CR credit for being slightly entertaining, at least. It never ceases to amaze me how WRONG Consumer Reports is, usually. Just about every product that CR recommends that I’m familiar with is pure garbage, in my own personal opinion. And I have seen some items that I own (and LOVE) that Consumer Reports does NOT like at all. After reading many issues of Consumer Reports magazine, I am now inclined to NOT buy something, simply because Consumer Reports recommends it. If Consumer Reports likes it, I am reasonably certain that I’m going to HATE IT. So imagine my shock when I picked up a recent Consumer Reports magazine and realized (to my utter horror) that the microwave sitting on our kitchen counter was not only recommended by Consumer Reports, but it ranks #1 and is the only “best buy” for midsized microwaves. So I made the mistake of buying something that CR thinks I will hate (in other words, they recommend it). :) (Strike Two)

After discovering that Consumer Reports recommends this model, I started wondering who actually makes our “Kenmore” microwave. So I did some research. I eventually found a chart that lists various appliance manufacturers by the first 3 numbers of the “Kenmore” model number. (note that it’s not the short model number, but the FULL model number) The model number of our microwave is 63252 or 63259 (white or black, we've got the white one), but the FULL model number found inside the microwave begins with 𤄉”. So I read down the list to 721, and found our microwave is made by . . . GOLDSTAR!!! Remember how I said I’d never spend a penny of my money on anything made by Sony or Goldstar? (ooooooooops, that’s Strike Three)

I eventually found that this microwave had three strikes against it. It was Kenmore which I try to avoid, it is recommended by Consumer Reports, which is something I try to avoid, and it is Goldstar, which I also try very hard to avoid. If I’d have known then, what I know now, I wouldn’t have bought it, and thus I wouldn’t be reviewing it right now. If I had known it was Goldstar and recommended by Consumer Reports, that would have been ENOUGH for me to put my foot down and tell the wife that we would have to shop elsewhere for a different microwave.

But by the time I discovered that I SHOULD hate this thing, I’d actually kind of learned to like it. For being “Kenmore”, it’s not too evil. For being Goldstar, it’s not too evil. For being recommended by Consumer Reports, I am quite frankly SHOCKED that it’s not too evil. :)

On Size:
Remember I said size matters? Well this microwave is classed as a 1.2 CF (cubic foot) model. Don’t let that fool you. It actually has interior room equal to many 1.4 and 1.5 CF models. How could that be? Well the interior of the microwave is kind of unique. The back wall curves outward. (it’s not a box) This allows for a very large turntable/rotating glass platter to be fit inside of it. The turntable measures about 14” in diameter, which is a rather large turntable for for a 1.2CF microwave. The glass platter is the exact same size as the glass platter of our old Sharp Carousel 1.4CF microwave. At one point we put the Sharp 1.4CF platter into our “Kenmore”/Goldstar microwave, and it was a perfect fit! This microwave is appropriately sized for a small family. It’s larger than you would expect a 1.2CF microwave to be. There are some 1.5CF microwave ovens with smaller turntables!

On features:
This microwave will do everything but toast bread for you. (Don’t laugh, some microwaves have built-in toasters now) I won’t bother going over every feature in detail. I will simply state that if you haven’t shopped for a microwave in many years, you can expect any current model microwave to have a wide variety of auto-cook features, controlled by a built-in sensor. For example, if you find a microwave without a “popcorn” button, keep looking. :) This particular microwave has many auto-cook features. (reheat, potato, rice, popcorn, vegees, tv dinners, melt, soften, defrost, etc.) Some of these features are not as easy to use as I would expect them to be, though. (will cover that below)

On ease of use:
Maybe I’m spoiled by various Panasonic and Sharp model microwaves that I’ve owned, but I’m somewhat disappointed that this microwave is not easier to use. It has many features that I’ve grown accustomed to, but the controls should be automated a bit more than they are. The cook time, start and stop buttons are pretty intuitive, as are SOME of the auto-cook buttons (like popcorn for example). But some of the auto-cook functions on this microwave are not as easy to access as they were on the last TWO microwaves that I have owned. Examples:
1) Reheat. My last two microwaves, I’d place food in microwave, hit ‘Reheat’ button and walk away. (food would be very well reheated, automatically) THIS microwave works a little different, and that is not a GOOD thing. With this microwave, you place food in microwave and hit ‘reheat’ button. THEN the display prompts you with a less-than-helpful “select menu 1 to 3 – see cooking guide”. At this point, if you haven’t read the owner’s manual, you are probably wondering where the “Menu” button is and why you have to hit it three times. (!)
2) Melt or soften: I don’t remember seeing these features on any previous microwave that I’ve owned. However, pushing either one of these buttons will result in the display prompting you to “see cooking guide”, just like pushing the “Reheat” button. Basically, “see cooking guide” means that you have to pull out the owner’s manual and look your food up on a chart so that you will know which number button to push. That’s not very intuitive, and can’t be memorized. Without the owner’s manual, the display prompts are useless. While this microwave has more features than I’m used to, some familiar features are not as easy to use! Reheat should be just that . . . don’t ask me what to reheat and refer me to a printed book for the answer!
3) Auto Defrost. My last two microwaves, I’d put food in microwave, hit “Defrost” button and walk away. Hit the AUTO-defrost button on this unit, and the display prompts you with something like “meat press 1, poultry press 2, fish press 3”. That sounds pretty easy, right? WRONG. According to the owner’s manual, “Fish” includes: Steaks/Chops, Round beef steak, Tenderloin steak, Lamb Chops, Veal Cutlets . . . and ummm, fish and shellfish. How are you supposed to know that Tenderloin steak is actually fish? Wouldn’t that be meat? There’s something fishy about that menu system. :)

On performance:
I have mixed feelings on the performance of this microwave. Does it work well? Yup. Does it work well for 1200 Watts? No, I don’t think so. Every time we’ve used it, I remember thinking that it was kind of a ‘slow’ microwave. That is, food doesn’t seem to get as warm as it should in X amount of time, or the auto-cook function (reheat, popcorn, etc.) doesn’t finish as fast as I am expecting it to. At first I thought I might be imagining things. But then I realized that this would be easy to test. I put exactly 6 ounces of water in a microwave safe bowl and set the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Of course, this meant that the water was boiling before the 2 minutes was up. I watched the water closely while heating, and hit the STOP button when the water started boiling. I had 39 seconds left on the timer. Then I performed the exact same test on a microwave at work, a Sharp brand, rated at 1100 Watts. In the same bowl, exactly 6 ounces of water started boiling when 49 seconds was left on the 2-minute countdown on the 1100 Watt microwave. Hmmmmm . . . that means a weaker microwave makes water boil faster. 10 seconds faster. That makes me wonder if this “Kenmore”/Goldstar microwave is really 1200 Watts?

But I shouldn’t be so harsh on it. After all, microwaves are all pretty quick. So maybe this unit isn’t the fastest microwave I’ve owned (including lower Watt rating ones). So what? It gets the job done.

The real question is, how does the food taste? Very good, actually. No matter what you throw in it, it comes out nearly perfect. Well, nearly perfect for microwave, if you know what I mean. There are some foods that just will never taste right if heated/cooked in a microwave. But if you are good at following the directions in the owner’s manual, you are going to be pleased with the results, regardless of what you are cooking/heating with this microwave. Ignoring some less-than-helpful automatic controls that are not quite automatic, the sensor in this microwave does an excellent job of automatically warming foods to the proper temperature, once you figure out how to program it. TV Dinners, leftovers, baked potatoes, it all tastes as well as could be expected. And of course, to answer the question that is on everybody’s mind . . .YES, it makes PERFECT POPCORN. (!) I suggest Act II brand butter flavor, with just a little bit of salt tossed on it . . . YUM!!!

I can’t believe I’m actually recommending a Goldstar appliance. It’s not perfect, but it’s still an excellent value. It could be easier to use, but for the price? NO serious complaints. It is one of the cheapest microwaves on the market, yet it performs quite well, and is appropriately sized for a small family. It even looks good! Unless you need a really large microwave, you should take a close look at this “Kenmore” model. I think you’ll like it.






Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 110