Toshiba EM131A5C-BS Microwave Oven Review
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We all aspire to cook dinner each night and bring in leftovers for lunch. In reality, though, a microwavable dinner is sometimes all we can muster after a draining nine-to-five and a taxing commute home. In these scenarios, we need our microwave to really do the trick. We’ve owned microwaves so powerless we were forced to double our cook times, and others? Total stain magnets. This time around, we were on the lookout for something that was powerful, easy to use, and relatively simple to clean. Read on to see how the Toshiba EM131A5C-BS Microwave Oven performed in our home.
Design: Sleek but large
The first thing we noticed about the Toshiba Microwave Oven was its size. This thing is quite big. We live in a Brooklyn apartment with a separate kitchen; in other words—an anomaly. The Toshiba Microwave, however, still took up more counter space than we liked.
When placed on one of our two countertops, it spanned nearly the entire depth of the counter; the microwave measures 17.1 inches and our counter just 24 inches. We are quick problem solvers, though, and moved the machine to the top of our refrigerator instead. It’s the perfect size to sit snuggly and it’s heavy enough to stay put despite the constant opening and closing of the fridge.
It must be said, however, that a larger scale can often work in a microwave’s favor. If you’re looking to thaw a whole chicken or pop a family-sized bag of corn, you’ve come to the right place. The Toshiba’s roomy interior allows you to heat and eat almost everything.
Aside from the size, we loved the sleek, stainless steel body of this particular Toshiba model. We also couldn’t get enough of the door handle! For one reason or another, opening a microwave with a handle—as opposed to a button—feels more satisfying and practical.
Functionality: Simple and straight-forward
When we first got our fingers on the touchpad of the Toshiba Microwave Oven, we weren’t sure what to think. Attempting to heat up a quesadilla, we pressed four and proceeded to hover over the five, obviously going for the ideal cheese-melting length of 45 seconds. No sooner did we press four, however, than the microwave began its four-minute countdown.
We’ve never owned a microwave with this one-touch functionality, but we quickly grew accustomed to it. There is a 30-second button as well as quick-touch buttons for everything from one to six minutes. We seamlessly adapted to rounding our cook times to the nearest 30 seconds. If presets aren’t your thing, you can manually input the cook time by pressing the button that reads Custom Cook, and then entering in the number of seconds of minutes you’d like.
Other functionalities include a clock, a kitchen timer, and various presets based on food type. Lastly, you can adjust the power level of the device, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Final Verdict
Yes, buy it.
The Toshiba Microwave Oven checks all of our boxes. It offers 1100 watts of power, a one-touch start feature, an easy-to-clean interior, and a sleek, smudge-resistant exterior. If you’re in the market for a reliable microwave, we highly recommend it.