Best microwaves 2025, tried and tested in real kitchens

If space is a premium in your kitchen, this appliance will be a game changer – it is a microwave, air fryer and combo oven all in one. Our tests found it perfect for busy households, because whatever dish you want to cook, this machine has a function to do it. It’s user-friendly, with everything clearly labelled, and it has a 26l capacity, which is great for larger portions.

While it did a good job of everything from cooking jacket potatoes to reheating leftover pizza, one mode that stood out was the keep warm function, which is particularly handy if you can’t all eat at the same time. Plus, there are 10 preset functions ,including meat, potatoes, pizza, chicken, pasta, vegetables, and more, so you know that your food will be perfectly cooked. These presets worked well, but they’re labelled by numbers, so you have to refer to the instructions until you get used to it. Overall, this microwave is one of the best on the market, and the added functionality means you can cook a range of meals in one machine.

However, this model is currently out of stock across all retailers. We’ve reached out to Salter to find when it will return, so watch this space. We also recommend signing up for stock update notifications so you don’t miss out when it comes back in stock.

This is one of the best microwaves if you’re on a budget. It’s also a good choice if you’re struggling to find space on your counter, as it’s small and compact. This microwave has manual controls, so it’s easy to use – there is nothing to learn, you just choose your power level from a choice of six, select the minutes and press start.

The top power setting is 700W, but it’s still powerful and cooks food quickly and evenly. It also has a defrost function, which we found worked well and is ideal if you’ve forgotten to take your dinner out of the freezer. It has a relatively small 20l capacity, but it’s still big enough to fit a regular dinner plate, so you can cook or reheat meals with ease. Best of all, we found it easy to clean – simply take a clean cloth or paper towel and wipe around after use.

If you’re looking for a microwave that looks as good as it performs, the Samsung solo microwave is the one. This is a lovely-looking machine with a well-laid-out control panel that makes it straightforward to use.

With a large 32l capacity, it’s big enough to fit a whole chicken, so you can cook almost anything in it. The appliance has what Samsung calls a triple distribution system. The heat is distributed in three ways, so it cooks evenly, whatever you’re cooking. It also has an auto cook function, which we thought worked well and takes away any guesswork – you simply select the dish you want to prepare from a choice of 15 most popular cooked dishes (fish, chicken, vegetables and pasta) and it will start cooking with the appropriate mode, time and temperature. However, you need to know the weight of the food you’re cooking before using these modes, so don’t throw away the packet before noting it down.

We found that the food cooked well, and it was also easy to clean – this is down to the ceramic interior, which keeps its colour over time and can be wiped clean.

Why have multiple appliances when this five-in-one microwave from Daewoo does it all? This is one of the easiest-to-use microwaves we’ve tested, and with 28 cooking presets, you won’t have to guess the timings. Instead, select the option, sit back and wait for your perfectly cooked meal.

Its large size means you need quite a lot of counter space for it to fit, but when you consider the number of appliances you can replace with this microwave, it’s a good trade-off.

The microwave function works incredibly well – it’s powerful yet eco-efficient, and its large capacity means ingredients are evenly cooked. Talking of power, it has 10 different power settings so you can tailor it to what you’re cooking, so nothing will come out under- or overcooked. The control panel is simple to use. Cleaning is easy, too. Just wipe it clean once you’ve finished using it to remove any condensation and to ensure any food splatters don’t stick. It comes with a handy baking tray and crisper basket, which are also easy to clean and dishwasher-friendly.

The Salter Toronto microwave will look good in any kitchen. Its sleek black design with wooden highlights makes this one of the best-looking microwaves we’ve tested. But it’s not all about the looks; it performs well, too. With a 20l capacity, it’s big enough for standard dinner plates, although if you regularly microwave larger meals, you may want to consider a larger size. It has a clear control panel, and the buttons are easy to see and use.

There are also eight auto-cooking functions for common dishes including pasta, fish, meat, potato and pizza. You have to learn which number goes with what food, but the instruction leaflet provides a handy table. This microwave is pretty quiet, but the beeps when your food is done are loud enough that you can hear them from another room. It’s easy to keep clean, and the turntable is removable for easy washing. This microwave did a good job of cooking food, and it was great at defrosting.

If you don’t have a lot of room, this model is compact enough to fit in even the smallest kitchens. Of course, this means it has a limited 20l capacity, but this will still hold a standard dinner plate and work well with medium-sized dishes.

It’s an easy-to-use microwave with intuitive controls and a clear LED display. The preset cooking functions are handy, taking the guesswork out of common tasks like defrosting and reheating. Food cooked quickly and evenly, and we found it easy to keep clean.

A total delight to use, this microwave has a chrome control panel that is clear and easy to see. Heat is well-distributed, and there are no overly hot or cold spots after cooking, just perfectly cooked foods. It also does a brilliant job of defrosting food.

There are eight preset programs and a handy 95-minute timer for optimum cooking precision. We found it easy to clean, but noticed that it gathered a bit of condensation after cooking, so we’d recommend that you wipe it dry before closing the door to stop it from getting rusty. The 20l capacity means this microwave is quite compact, but it still has enough room to cook a decent meal.

If you’re looking for a do-it-all microwave that will save space on your countertop, then Samsung’s latest smart microwave triples up as a convection oven and air fryer, so you’ll only need one appliance to get the job done.

Sleek, stylish and powerful, the large 32l capacity means there are options for all households. You can control the microwave using the SmartThings app, whether it’s air frying, heating up, baking, roasting, grilling or defrosting, though you still need to get up off the sofa to send the recipe to the microwave once you’ve programmed it in the app.

We particularly liked that the power defrost mode had food type presets, so if we were defrosting chicken, it was clever enough to know how long and how powerful it needed to run. The only thing we didn’t like was that the text on the microwave is quite small, making it hard to read on occasion. The touch screen is very responsive, however, and easy to use.