[sonofhans]

Partially off-topic, but I’ve seen complaints in the thread about microwaves in general. Here’s the trick — buy a commercial microwave. They’re reliable, powerful, and have only a few features. They come in all sizes.

You’ll put less duty on one in a month than a commercial kitchen does in one day, so it will last forever. Time is money in a kitchen so they’re powerful and fast. They tend to have very simple, direct controls, rather than a myriad of popcorn/pizza/whatever buttons. Commercial microwaves often have an integrated diffuser, so they don’t need the stupid rotating glass plate in the bottom.

[ToucanLoucan]

Can confirm. We got a commercial-grade Panasonic microwave I believe, that survived near daily use for almost 9 years before the magnetron finally gave out. We replaced it with an identical model, and it must be a pretty good one since a cursory comparison inside between the old and new revealed virtually no changes since our old one was made. If it ain't broke...

[MarkusWandel]

Can confirm because at my work, they initially put ordinary consumer microwaves in at the coffee/lunch stations. They failed quickly. The commercial ones last. However the latest ones have a very flimsy feeling control wheel, I somehow imagine a 25 cent rotary encoder behind that which, if it fails, may still cause the otherwise solid machine to be discarded.

[bzzzt]

That's not all bad. Someone who can replace a 25 cent encoder can enjoy a lifetime of microwaving ;)

[ssl-3]

I cooked for a family in part with a consumer-grade, Walmart-sourced Panasonic inverter microwave oven for a dozen years until circumstances made me get rid of (donate) it.

No issues ever. It was reliable, had some useful programming options (that nobody ever used but me, but it had them), and it did a good job of microwaving food in a consistent and predictable manner.

(But that's not an indication that inverters are reliable, or that consumer is the same as professional, or that Panasonic is good, or of anything else really other than that anecdotes are anecdotes.)

[bzzzt]

That seems to be the issue with all kitchen appliances. I've had the same issue with kitchen scales. I like a digital display for small amounts, but had a few of those 'pretty design' scales fail after a year or 2 (no, it was not the battery ;). Bought one ugly thing from a company that also makes shop scales which is working for years now...