8 Best Microwaves of 2026

The first thing you notice about this Toshiba is what’s missing. There’s no glass plate, no roller ring and no spindle — the interior is one flat, coated floor, and cleaning it is a single wipe instead of a soak around a turntable hub.

That floor changes what fits, too. A rectangular baking dish sits level instead of balancing on a ring, and two containers can share the space without one riding up over the other. Behind the panel, an inverter feeds power continuously rather than switching the magnetron on and off, which is why low-power jobs such as melting butter or softening cream cheese behave the way the setting says they will. Eleven sensor menus and eleven power levels cover the rest.

The controls follow the same Toshiba logic as our top pick — mute, eco mode, child lock, quick-start keys — with a longer sensor menu list that adds pasta and vegetables. At 25.8 pounds it’s a few pounds lighter than the 1.2-cubic-foot model above, which matters if the microwave moves between counter and cupboard.

What we can’t tell you yet is how long it lasts. This model is new enough that it hasn’t built the history our top pick has, and in a category where early failures are the standing complaint, that’s worth knowing. For a kitchen where the microwave runs all day and cleaning is the chore you resent, it hasn’t stopped us recommending it: the flatbed is the most pleasant thing to live with in this group.

A 9×13 pan fits on the 16-inch turntable with room to turn, and that one fact explains why people buy this GE. Two cubic feet of interior changes how you use a microwave: a casserole goes in whole, a family-sized bowl of soup doesn’t need a second round, and leftovers stop being split across two containers.

The other half of the case is 1200 watts with sensor cooking, which together mean a large load heats through in one pass rather than two. Eight auto settings cover the usual foods, the turntable lifts out for washing, and the controls take one read-through and then make sense.

For a household reheating dinner for four or more, this is the pick, and it beats the smaller 1200-watt options here when volume is the requirement. Settle one thing first: the listing carries no warranty statement, so ask the seller what’s covered before you order and keep the receipt either way.

Noise is a genuine split — quiet in some kitchens, a noticeable hum in others — and the satin stainless front is the best-looking of the big units here. If the honest answer to how often you heat for a crowd is most nights, nothing else on this page comes close.

Seven hundred watts is the whole story here, so start with it. It heats a plate of leftovers fine and a dense frozen dinner slowly, and no amount of button pressing changes that. What you get in exchange is a body that fits in 17.3 inches of width, an ECO mode that trims standby draw, a mute option, and a two-step child lock.

For a dorm room, a studio, an office kitchen or a spare room, this is the compact we recommend. A full-size dinner plate fits inside, the one-touch keys run from one minute to six with a 30-second add, and at about 20 pounds it’s easy to move. Among the cheap 0.7-cubic-foot models here it also has the strongest record on build quality, which is not what we expected at this end of the group.

Where it stops: if most of what you heat comes out of the freezer solid, or there are two of you eating at once, spending more on a 1000-watt model buys back minutes every day. For everything else, this is the one where the compromises cost you time rather than money.

A real handle, not a push button: that’s why this Farberware earns a place. You pull the door open like a cupboard door, which matters if the person using it has weak grip or sore hands, and it’s the compact we shortlist for a parent’s kitchen or anyone who finds a stiff release a daily annoyance.

The rest is sensible rather than exciting. A 10.6-inch turntable takes a dinner plate, ten power levels and six one-touch presets cover most of what anyone does with a microwave, and the stainless front wipes down easily. Seven hundred watts means longer times for dense food — stir and turn rather than doubling the minutes — and heating is the uneven part of this one, so a plate of leftovers benefits from a mid-cycle shuffle. It costs a little more than the Comfee and gives up a couple of power levels and the ECO mode to get there; what you’re paying for is the door and the finish. In a small kitchen where the microwave is in plain view and opened all day, that’s an easy trade.

The finish is the pitch. This Frigidaire comes in an azure body with silver-toned trim, and in a kitchen where the microwave sits out in plain sight it reads as a small appliance rather than a black box. Color is the thing people bring up about it, and it’s the reason to look at this one at all.

Underneath it’s a 700-watt, 0.7-cubic-foot compact with eight auto cook menus, auto defrost and express cooking. At 14.5 pounds it’s the lightest unit here — light enough to shift between rooms — though at 18.9 inches wide it’s a touch broader than the other compacts, which is worth checking if it’s going into a shelf.

We recommend it for a guest room, an apartment kitchen or an office where the look is part of the point, and something else for a household that cooks from frozen every night. It’s the most decorative microwave here, not the most capable one, and for the right room that trade is the entire point.

A mute button is the feature we didn’t expect to care about and now look for first: reheating a late dinner without a row of beeps is worth something in a house with a sleeping child or a light-sleeping partner. This Chefman has one, along with six presets, ten power levels and a child lock, and it handles basic reheating at 700 watts.

It’s also the lowest body in this group at 9.53 inches tall, which is the measurement to check if the microwave lives on a shelf or under a cabinet lip, and 17.52 inches wide means it tucks into a narrow gap.

The door is the quirk. The child lock sits on the handle, so opening it means pulling up on the top edge — a safety feature in a house with a toddler and a small nuisance in a shared office. For a dorm room, a first apartment or a bedroom shelf setup, the mute button and the low body matter more than another hundred watts, which is why we hand this one to households rather than to kitchens with a queue.

A plain keypad, ten power levels, a 30-second express key, an interior light and a child lock: this Black+Decker lists what a basic microwave needs and not much else. The 10-inch turntable takes a dinner plate, the push-button release is the familiar kind, and the LED panel is readable from across a counter.

That makes it the microwave we point to for a break room or a spare kitchen, where nobody wants to learn a sensor menu and the coffee needs reheating on a schedule. Heating is the compromise: 700 watts handles a plate of leftovers or a mug, but thicker food needs longer than the preset suggests and can still be cool in the middle. If most of your use is frozen dinners, put the money toward a 1000-watt model.