Five Years Old and Going Strong: My GE Microwave

Sit back a moment and consider how much you use your microwave. If you’re like the vast majority of the population in many industrialized countries you probably use that nifty little item on a daily basis…or so. Now that I no longer have a microwave I definitely miss it, though I’m slowly learning to live without it and use *gasp* the conventional oven. I had a nice little microwave once, not too long ago, and frankly I’m astonished just how well it did its job for the low price I paid for it.

I think most will agree with me that college students and first-time out-of-the-housers are generally short on cash, at least I know I was, so in everything the tendency is to find the cheapest essentials and try to do without as many “essentials” as possible. As I packed my things to move into my very first apartment and my mom was wringing her hands over “her baby” being 150 miles away, she decided to make sure I didn’t leave without everything that she deemed to be essentials, including my microwave.

My new apartment certainly wasn’t the largest of places, so my mom selected a microwave that was compact, would hopefully get the job done and most especially was cheap. This little model from General Electric fit the bill all around; at the time this one was purchased for me it was $45 at Wal-Mart. It fit nicely in the place I had for it and had all the nifty little settings for popcorn, baked potatoes and such along with various power levels and a clock and timer.

This microwave is a lower-powered one than some people may be used to, but all this really means is that it’ll take a little bit longer to heat what you’re wanting to heat. My microwave could heat a cup of water or dish of ramen noodles to boiling in three minutes, heat up pot pies in six minutes and cookies in about 30 seconds…yes, very nutritional food. One of the pluses is that this microwave does run a little quieter than higher-powered ones, you can still hear it in the next room but just barely. About the only thing I’d really change regarding the function and noise level is the “End” alarm, it’s not very loud and if I have anything else going in the house -- TV, radio, etc. -- I can’t hear it when it beeps.

Cleaning is always really easy, just take the glass turntable out and wash or wipe it off, then wipe inside and out with a wet cloth. The turntable is on plastic “arms” that do look a little flimsy but in the five years I used this microwave they’ve never had any problems, though on occasion you can hear (very very quietly) the turntable as it rubs against the bottom of the microwave beyond the arms if you’re heating anything heavy.

So why, five years after purchasing this microwave, do I not have one? Only because I moved and my ex ended up keeping my microwave. It is still working just as well as the day it came home from the store and still looks just as good, with the exception of a protective layer of plastic on the buttons that’s coming loose. The plastic coming loose doesn’t affect the function of the microwave in any way, just makes it a little less attractive, but I suppose something has to give after five years.

Overall I have been very happy with this microwave over five years of use. Now that I’m back in the market for a new microwave, I intend to find out how much these run now and will most likely buy one identical to the one I left behind. I have no complaints about its function and so far it has definitely been worth the price paid for it. This is definitely recommended for students, couples or small families looking for a budget microwave, too many people in a household and you might be wanting something a little bigger or with a little more power.