For forty years, it has been the most automatic appliance in the American kitchen: a mug of coffee, leftovers, popcorn, frozen vegetables. Yet more and more kitchens are being designed without a microwave, or with one that is no longer a microwave at all. Here’s the appliance that is taking its place, and why.
Why the microwave is losing ground
The microwave is fast, but it has never been good at everything. It heats unevenly, leaves cold spots in the middle of a plate, turns bread rubbery and fries soggy. Online, it also carries old fears about radiation: they are unfounded. As El Español recalls, citing the WHO and the U.S. National Cancer Institute, a microwave used properly poses no significant health risk. The real reasons for the change are elsewhere: texture, space and versatility.
Kitchen designers are also rethinking the bulky over-the-range microwave, which blocks the view, sits too high for many people and competes with the range hood.
The replacement: the countertop combi oven
The appliance that is taking its place is a countertop combination oven. Depending on the model, it combines several modes in one box:
- Microwave mode for speed, on the models that keep it.
- Convection and air fry for crisp, golden food.
- Steam to reheat leftovers, rice or pasta without drying them out.
- Broil and toast for small dishes, without heating the big oven.
Reheated pizza comes out crisp instead of chewy, yesterday’s rice stays moist, and one machine replaces a microwave, a toaster oven and often an air fryer. It’s the same logic we described with the new appliance replacing the classic air fryer.
Should you get rid of yours?
Not necessarily. For a cup of water, a bag of popcorn or defrosting in a hurry, the microwave is still hard to beat for speed, and it uses little energy for small portions. A combi oven is slower for simple reheating and costs more, often several hundred dollars. The best choice depends on how you cook:
- You mostly reheat drinks and leftovers: keep the microwave.
- You often cook small meals, reheat fried or baked food, or lack counter space: a combi model makes sense.
- You are redoing your kitchen: it’s the right moment to decide where it goes, rather than over the range by default.
Safety first
Whatever you choose, a countertop appliance needs space around it to vent heat, and it belongs in a wall outlet, not on an extension cord. An electrician explains which appliances should never go on a power strip, and firefighters have their own advice about the kitchen appliance to unplug before bed.
The limit
The microwave is not disappearing from American homes anytime soon: it remains one of the most common appliances in the country. The trend is real in new and renovated kitchens, but for many households, the microwave and the combi oven will live side by side.
One box that steams, crisps and reheats. That’s the trick.
