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I just moved from a suburban apartment with a large kitchen to a big city studio apartment with no counter space at all. I have one little block of counter space, but if I put a microwave there, I'll have no space at all to prepare food, cut food, rest dishes and other items before I serve them, or store stuff you usually keep on a counter, like canisters or a cutting board or a can opener or whatever. And there's no room for one of those microwaves that hang from above.
So what are my options? In this day of microwave frozen meals and quick dinners made on the fly, can I really go back to 1978 and do completely without a microwave and just cook in the oven again? I've gotten so used to a microwave - I think we all have - and I'm not sure I can go back. I guess I could buy one and just keep plugging it in and unplugging it after I use it and store it in the bottom cabinet.
Anyone else have this apartment problem or decide to go microwave-less?
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5-28-2006 @4:04PM Ed said... No.
If you have even the slightest cooking skills and inclination, all you'll end up using the microwave for is melting butter, melting chocolate, and popping popcorn.
It's not worth it. We use our microwave almost entirely as a timer and for its ventilation system (it sits above the stove).
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5-28-2006 @5:08PM Dee said... when I bought the house I live in now, I decided to not have a microwave in the kitchen. I'm still not convinced they're completely safe and I also wanted to protect myself from too many ready-made dinners from the supermarket. I do miss one now and then, but never that much that I went out and bought one.
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5-28-2006 @5:15PM Barbara Carlsen said... I think by asking the question you've answered it. If you really used it a lot in your previous apartment, it would be the first thing you would buy in your new place. I could live without it easily, but I have many friends and relatives who worship theirs.
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5-28-2006 @5:23PM Mike said... When I moved six years ago, I went microwave free, and haven't missed having one a bit. I've never liked the way they heat foods unevenly, and I much prefer popcorn made on the stovetop to microwave popcorn, so they're of little us to me.
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5-28-2006 @6:12PM Lianne Reynolds said... I have a house with a minute kitchen and no counter space. (I have to pull out drawers to put the dishes of whatever I am going to cook so I can prep more -- that's how bad it is.) I have my microwave on top of the refrigerator and that works just fine.
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5-28-2006 @6:40PM Jason said... I hardly ever use mine, except to re-heat things I've cooked the "real way" previously, and on occasion to soften butter in a hurry.
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5-28-2006 @6:53PM Sven said... The microwave doesn't have to be in the kitchen. Or you could just get an extension cable and keep it in the bottom cabinet all the time.
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5-28-2006 @8:26PM Michael said... If your microwave is a COBO unit that is a FULL SIZED microwave AND a CONVECTION OVEN I would say YES! Not only can you melt butter but you can save heating up your kitchen in the summer months by convectioning so many different things (stuff you'd normally put in the oven). SHARP makes a really good convection oven.
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5-28-2006 @8:27PM Michael said... COMBO not COBO! I was thinking of COBO HALL or something!
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5-28-2006 @9:05PM cybele said... When our neighbor's microwave bought the farm, they didn't replace it.
They just come over to our house to warm up their tamales from the farmers market or reheat leftovers. They even have a key.
Just make friends with your neighbors and then use theirs.
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5-28-2006 @9:20PM Tanya said... I didn't even know there was such a thing as "not having a microwave." That's how much I use mine! Coincidentally, I have a poll going on over at Iateapie.net about how often people use the microwave, and surprisingly (to me), a large portion of people rarely use one.
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5-28-2006 @10:52PM evenflow said... We are in the middle of a DIY kitchen renovation - and have installed a microwave/venting combo over our new stove. We were w/o a microwave for over a year, and didn't miss it. We only bought the microwave b/c of the combo venting - save space.
Go without it. You will be fine.
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5-29-2006 @2:56AM Jim In Holland said... I've just moved to a larger apartment, after spending my first 8 years in The Netherlands with no microwave and no oven -- my counter might be as small as yours - I had room for a bigger table-top toaster oven and I got by with that for all these years.
Note the wording - "got by". In my "new" place, I inherited a microwave and a separate, proper-sized convection oven. It depends on what you're doing, of course - I'm single and I don't need a big oven. In some ways I wish I had a bigger combi oven in place of the microwave since my cooking load is minimal.
Most of it is energy-efficiency AND real usage, part of it is space, and part of it is happenstance. The one thing I use my microwave for now is defrosting - not reheating. I can defrost gently in half the time and so I can let my menus just happen instead of having to plan everything out. And the big oven? To toast-up a bagel? Overkill, baby.
I'd get a combi and make sure it browns well, so perhaps you can replace 3 appliances. The Sharps *are* good units.
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5-29-2006 @6:53AM Michael said... My microwave bit the dust about 3-4 years ago. We'd use it to warm up leftovers, defrost foods or make the occasional popcorn. The defrosting was always uneven and invariably you'd end up with cooked spots on your food. When it died we never got around to replacing it and haven't missed it yet.
I bring my leftovers in to work for lunch the next day and use the office microwave to heat them up.
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5-29-2006 @7:51AM Rebecca said... To use or microwave, or not - is there really a question?
I say get one. If you don't have the space on your counter, could you fit in a rolling rack with the microwave on top?
I use mine to thaw lots of stuff (broth, meats, fish, frozen stew, ...), and steam rice and vegetables (especially in the summer). Since I don't have A/C, anything that keeps me from turning on my stove in the summer is a blessing.
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5-29-2006 @7:52AM Linda said... Just so that you know it can be done. My husband and I decided 4 years ago that we no longer wanted a microwave in our home. We replaced it with a big dehydrated that we could use for healthy snacks. We have never regretted getting rid of it; we we surprised at how little we missed it. Linda
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5-29-2006 @8:27AM Coach Deb said... Never owned, used, needed a microwave.....but could not live without my Weber Grill !!!
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5-29-2006 @8:45AM May said... Put the microwave in the oven..or on top of the refridge.
Can not live without it...but a toaster.convection oven does work as well. Just plan ahead. Time is the factor.
MAY
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5-29-2006 @9:23AM kathy said... I'm 79 years of age (with a husband) and have scaled down to one of those 2 bedroom/1700sf/patio/condo homes with a microwave oven (as well as a full stove/oven).
And---I'm living in 'heaven'!!! Cooking; making TV dinners for two; freezing them and then--USING THE MICROWAVE. It is a great new life!!!
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5-29-2006 @10:20AM John B said... I don't want to sound like an environmentalist wacko, but wouldn't heating up leftovers for a minute in a microwave vs. 5 minutes in an oven or on the stovetop be more energy efficient?
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