Panasonic Compact Light-Duty Commercial Microwave Oven NE-1025F

>> Received it on 06/10/2014
>> Initially rating was 5 stars

Don’t have the time to write a full review yet, will do so when I have some free time and have been using it for a little while. But, so far it’s great.

Some of the features are a little confusing to figure out and use, will re-read the manual again.

>> UPDATE 06/23/2014
Pros:
– Easy to use, but difficult enough to stop my father from using it. My father used to microwave his tea in the previous unit(a different Panasonic non commercial grade model)without covering it, letting it steam inside the oven, which may cause it to overheat and we have told him over and over to cover the DAMN thing, he just won’t do it. Even though this unit is easy to use like a typical microwave, to set custom time, just hit Power once, which will be on high with the first press, then enter the time and hit Start, simple. However, my father is technologically ignorant and has OCD(e.g. he has to use a permanent market and draw symbols on wall switches, to remember which is the light, fan, on and off, etc.), he doesn’t know how to use it and now has stopped microwaving his tea, finally stopped him. I was hoping that this had a child proof password feature, in case I need to stop my father from using it, but no need for that now. He’s the type of person that you will need to lock everything up, otherwise, he’ll mess with things in ways that will irk the hell out of ya, like leaving the microwave door opened after each use, etc.(too many things to list).
– No pull or push button to open door, door is easy to open and not too tight to close, the unit will not move from closing. Unlike our previous microwave, which was pretty tight to close, each time you close it, it would make a loud sound and the whole unit would move backward a little.
– No spinning tray, makes it easy to clean.
– 1000 watts, .8 cubic feet is more than enough for typical users.

It’s an easy to use microwave, well built, so I don’t have any more pros to add at this time.

Cons:
– By default, when it’s done, it lets out 4-5 loud annoying beeps, which I have to read the manual on how to turn it off.

Conclusion:
– So far, am glad I decided to get this, instead of some cheaper stuff.

>> UPDATE 7/5/2014
Tried turning the annoying 4-5 beeps off when cooking is done. I released the Program Lock, it shows a “P”, so that’s confirmed. Then opened door, pressed Prog, pressed 0, the display shows the Prog and Stage 1 lights on and the number 10 right below, which should be showing “bE EP”, instead of 10, pressed 0 again, NOTHING happens, unable to toggle between Stage 1 and Stage 2 to turn off the Beep. Not sure if there is something wrong with this part of the feature. Calling Panasonic support soon.

>> UPDATE 7/7/2013
Regarding turning the beep off that I was having trouble with on 7/5/2014. Spoke with Panasonic and then I realized that I misread the instructions. The first step says “Open the door”, each time I tried, I opened and CLOSED the door, when I was supposed to leave the door OPENED, until the programming is completely finished. My bad 🙂 My main issue was with the 4-5 annoying loud beeps when done cooking, however, once the Beep is turned off, there is no beep sound at all for ALL other functions, which I like, so I turned the Beep back on.

Este micro ocupa el espacio necesario y funciona muy bien, materiales excelentes, nosotros que tendemos a calentar en volumen a la hora de la comida en la empresa nos resulto muy practico, hay que educar al usuario en su uso para que te dure mucho tiempo.

Funciona al 100% y calienta rápidamente

I have only had this microwave for a few days, but already I adore it. Our built in GE Profile 36″ wide microwave died after about 8 years. We needed a replacement quickly, because we use our microwave quite a bit. I ordered this one and got it within two days using next day shipping, which was ridiculously inexpensive compared to similar shipping from other companies. The first thing I noticed about this one compared with my old one is that the interior space, while much smaller, is used much more effectively. My old microwave was huge, but there were numerous “dead spots” inside. I could only place food in certain areas and expect it to get hot. Not so with this Panasonic. Also, the fact that there is no turntable means you need less space inside, because your plates and containers do not need to rotate. The heating element (concealed) rotates instead. So, even though we replaced a 1.8 cu. ft. microwave with this much smaller model, we have the SAME effective usable space inside. Which is pretty cool, as I was not sure it was going to do the job for us when I took it out of the box.

Also the wattage is interesting, as this model is supposedly a lower wattage than our old GE Profile. I’ve had to cut 2 minutes off of my estimated cooking time for everything because food heats much more evenly, hotter and faster in the Panasonic. I also am a bit concerned that we used the GE Profile for so long, because it used to disrupt WiFi within a 10 foot radius. The Panasonic only bothers WiFi within about a 2 foot radius. I can only guess that it is better shielded, which makes me a little concerned about the Profile hood model that operated within inches of my face while I cooked on the stove. So, I’m guessing the Panasonic is safer in addition to being more effective.

The sound it makes when food finishes heating is a bit strident. It is the only drawback, but it is LOUD, and we can hear it all over the house. It only beeps four times and then stops, which is nice. The old GE Profile model would continue nagging me every 30 seconds or so, which could be annoying when I fully realized the microwave had finished, but was in the middle of doing something else and couldn’t immediately take care of the microwave.

The Panasonic controls took about a day to adapt to, simply because they were different than the ones on the old model. Spend 15 minutes experimenting and reading the manual, and you’ll figure it out. They’re very easy to learn, and the microwave supports custom programs. That’s not something I plan to do, but other people might find it convenient if they miss a particular setting that was available on their old microwave.

I love that this one is so easy to clean. There are so few parts inside. Essentially, there’s one thing you could remove (a guard over the air intake/vent thing) in case of a tragic spaghetti sauce explosion inside. But it’s super simple to clean every nook and cranny. I appreciate the fact that there is no turntable to break or clean.

There is no timer on this, so if you just want to set a timer without cooking anything, you’ll need to use something else. It’s very functional looking, but I don’t care about that. I prefer restaurant-grade equipment because it tends to be more durable. I don’t need my kitchen to win a beauty contest. It isn’t ugly, but it lacks any designer touches. Not sure what other people look for in appliances, but attractiveness is not high on my list.

Time will tell if this microwave lasts longer than the usual 18 to 24 months of most models available today. I will post back with updates, most likely if it fails. If there are no updates, you can assume that it’s still trucking along…