R-21LCFS Medium Duty Commercial Microwave (Dial Timer, 1000-Watts, 120-Volts) (Update of R-21LCF),Silver

After our previous two microwaves had their plates break or chip, and one of them started randomly burning food, I decided to see if there was anything out there that would be more reliable. We ultimately settled on this one, because even though it's more expensive than even the fancy consumer microwaves it has three important advantages that none (or very few) of them have: 1) It is built to last. Everything on this microwave is purposefully simple and apparently designed to minimize the possibility of breakage. Instead of a plate that will get dragged out with the food and shatter on the floor, it has a glass floor that's fixed onto the body of the microwave. Instead of a push-button control panel whose buttons will inevitably crack or get desensitized, you have an "infinite rotation" wheel that is solidly attached; and because it's not calibrated physically it won't get out of alignment. Instead of a clock that you will continually have to reset, it has ... no clock. The interior is metal all around and all surfaces are easy to clean and seem resistant to scratching. 2) You can intuitively and freely modify cook time while the food is heating. Just spin the wheel, and it does exactly what you'd expect. I can't understand why almost no digital microwave will let you do this, but now that it's easy I do it all the time. 3) Instead of a carousel it has a different kind of heating mechanism that ensures even heating without actually moving the food. This means you can heat larger or odd-shaped dishes without hotspots and without knocking your plate out of alignment. I was surprised at how well this works in practice -- food consistently requires less stirring and has less temperature variation after heating than with any other microwave I've ever owned or used. Naturally you should still be cautious about checking your food before shoveling it in your mouth or feeding it to a small child, but it's nice not to have so many frozen-in-the-middle burritos or ice-cube-like tofu chunks in your leftover chinese food. If you'd like to use variable temperatures or auto-cook, or presets for popcorn, or have another clock or timer, or have something that's also a convection oven, or do anything other than heating food or food-like stuff in an intuitive and foolproof way, look elsewhere. If you are willing to pay more for a microwave that does one thing and does it better than you'd expect, this is the one.

I love how well-built this machine is. I like the simple clarity of the timer dial. I love the easy-on-the-ears ring at the end of the cycle. How deep the cavity is. How strong the microwave is. How accurate. I picked this one because it was highly rated, reputed to be durable, simple, functional. That suits me to a T. I'm happy that it's gray on the sides and top and stainless only on the front. I love seeing the remaining time light up -- none of that hard-to-view digital junk. There are slight tactile indentations at the time intervals on what I originally thought was an entirely flat timer on the faceplate. In addition, there are slight "bumps" at the time intervals when turning the knob (which is smooth). These tactile indicators are very slight but still discernible to my uneducated fingertips. If I lose my eyesight, I can use those to track the time in the microwave. That the food does not need to rotate is terrific. This machine always gets my coffee, my leftovers, delicate pastries, everything finished evenly and precisely. This Sharp microwave looks really -- well, sharp! For what it is worth, I am an aging woman who always preferred function and durability over trends and designer stuff. This looks better in my book. I've had enough pretty microwaves that took up enormous amounts of counter space and died in less than a year. Thank goodness, this type microwave from Sharp is still available and to individuals, not just to businesses. Please note that the ring at the end is not obnoxious. It cannot be turned off though, so if you're looking for no ring or buzzer at all, look to the next-level-up models. My Sharp says inside the door that it was made in Thailand. The squeeze handle is easy enough for even me with my loss of hand strength to "grip open" and boy this door is so much more quiet than the ones on microwaves without handles! I don't wake the family when I warm something in the middle of the night anymore. And one more thing, a family member with cognitive problems is finally able to heat his cup of chocolate by himself -- the functions are that clear.

After hours of research, we found that this microwave fit our specific needs. What prompted us to replace our old microwave was the presence of rust in the interior. The Sharp R-21LCFS has a sealed surface, no turntable and stainless steel interior - making it so easy to clean and impervious to the potential for rust to form. It is so very simple to use and has the power that we need. The only drawback is that it can only go to 6 minutes at a clip. But then it is pretty easy to dial up another 6 minutes.

We bought this as a second microwave because we have five kids who were breaking door push button springs on expensive microwaves from overuse. We were breaking microwaves once a year in our house until this model. We don’t use it for more sophisticated defrosting or sensor cook of vegetables- it really only reheats stuff. If I have a large cold casserole dish it will reheat it when set to the max of 4-6 mins but it’s not super powerful. But it’s perfect for basic reheating, big households, kids- for drinks, soups, oatmeal, potatoes, recipe ingredients, smaller simple stuff. Today it finally died. It may be an internal fuse or a door sensor issue but I feel that getting almost 5 years out of a smaller microwave is probably pretty good for nowadays and we are going to buy a second one before my kids break the door button in the expensive built-on model we have. I like that this sharp doesn’t take up a ton of counter space but still has a large reheating chamber. I like that it has clean brushed stainless steel exterior that looks good in our kitchen and is easy to maintain. The inside is easy to clean as well. It is very simple to operate but gets the job done.

I've bought two of these microwaves so far - one for a cousin's apartment warming, and one for me. I originally bought it for the cousin because it had the best reviews on Amazon. I went on to buy the second because the cousin liked it so much, and my current microwave is crummy. I have to say, I really like this microwave. I'm not a fan of fancy features, which is great, because this thing definitely isn't fancy. You put your food in, close the door, and twist the knob. Ta da! Food is warmed up. I love that the numbers surrounding the dial illuminate to show your selection. It also "counts down" with these illuminated numbers, flashing whichever increment you're closest to at the moment (so at 30-40 seconds remaining, it flashes 30). That said, I'd personally prefer it to be a more boring analog dial - but that's entirely personal preference, and I think most folks will like the numbers as they are. There are suggested cooking times printed above the dial, which is pretty much useless in a home environment, but hey hey, this is a commercial microwave, after all. This isn't a complaint; just remarking on a "feature" that isn't useful to me. It has no rotating plate on the inside. That makes it really easy to clean. Easy to clean = likelier to clean it, which is a serious problem in my household. The handle feels a little cheap. The button on the inside is plastic and it just doesn't feel as sturdy as I would hope from a "commercial" microwave. I expect it won't be a problem since it's fairly lightly used in our house. For someone actually using it in a business, this might be an issue. Also, this microwave is HUGE. It fits just fine in my big ol' kitchen, but for my apartment-dwelling cousin, they couldn't fit it on the counter. It lived on a kitchen chair for a while until they bought a separate cart for it. This is DEFINITELY NOT a microwave for people with limited counter space. It's a beast! We've only had it for a week, but the cousin's had it for a couple months now, and neither of us have any major complaints. I would definitely buy this again - just not if you're short on space.

Purchased for elderly parent with failing vision moving to assisted living. Needed a device that is simple to use and possible to use by someone with very limited vision. This device is as simple and easy as it gets. No fussy flat-screen buttons with tiny labels, no clock to set, just twist the knob (which is very easy to turn) and it works. Simple and safe. I believe this would be usable for someone who is blind (however there are ovens that actually talk for those who are blind, but those are quite costly). One concern with conventional keypad-controlled ovens is that the timer could be accidentally set wrong (60 vs. 6 minutes)....have personally seen this happen and it started a small fire. This has a maximim time you can dial in of six minutes that makes it much safer to use. I expected a twist-knob to be some sort of wind-up timer, but it's a slick zero-effort control that lights up the bright LEDs as you rotate it, and the LEDs flash and show visually the time counting down. When the door is opened, the timer resets (so it does not run if you close door after taking the food out). (Note it does not show number counting down, just flashing lights on dial). From the photos you would expect a cheap knob, but the overall fit and finsih looks very upscale. The knob appears to be metal, the handle is chrome-plated metal, and it just has a real simple yet high-quality feel to it. Since this is a commercial-grade model, it is made to meet more stringent requirements. - Commercial grade units must be able to withstand a much higher duty cycle (regular units are expected to be used no more than ten minutes per day, while a commercial one can be used non-stop). The door hinges, for example, are more rugged. - Commercial units have no turntable and have stainless steel interior and exterior for sanitation (to meet NSF standards). On this unit the interior and door is stainless steel and the outer case is gray painted steel. The bottom of the cavity is white...looks like ceramic, but not sure. Note that there is no turntable, but that's not needed for most smaller items. Turntable is one more thing to break and clean. Our need was for a microwave to heat up a cup of water for tea, or a bowl of soup, and one of the small frozen entrees...it works perfect for that. One very slight gripe is that the door unlock is a bit stiff--it's like a car-door handle where you have to squeeze it to open, and it took enough force that the device slid a bit on the counter. I was worried that someone with limited grip strength could not open it, but it was no problem for an elderly person (she used both hands). The handle is metal with good quality chrome plating, there's no way it could break.

I was tired of microwave ovens that failed prematurely and that had number of zippy "features" that I had to pay for but were of questionable value to me. I had my eye on this commercial unit for some time so, when it went on sale, I grabbed it. It is used exclusively at home. In my experience, the main points of failure of a microwave oven are the door and the turntable. This thing has a rugged door that is designed almost like an old refrigerator door and has no turntable; the food heats evenly anyways. The user can control only one variable-- time-- with an elegant rotary control. The timer control seems to be of the encoder (digital) type that, in my experience with other forms of equipment, tends to hold up to years of use. Even though this microwave doesn't have a lot of fancy fancy features, it is no ugly duckling in a home kitchen. To my eyes, at least, it is a gleaming, stainless steel beauty. The base of the cavity is ceramic and cleans up in a jiffy. The oven chassis is elevated above the counter on feet that are about 1 inch high, making spills around the unit easy to clean up. Having only a timer to deal with may seem like a limitation but, if you think about it, the only important variable in microwave cooking is time. (Only with conventional, convective-type ovens do you need also to worry about temperature.) Ask yourself honestly, when was the last time you adjusted anything on your microwave other than time? There is probably nothing I can do with the zippy units that I can't do with this one. If using at home, please be sure the circuit on which you plan to use it can safely handle the rated current. I've only had this unit for about a month, so I can't vouch for durability. I can tell you that I've enjoyed using the unit and that I do not miss any useless programming features, level features, or blinking clocks.

I bought this for my 94 year old father. He accidentally let the previous microwave oven (the type with two dials) run empty. It ended up making an awful smell and had to be thrown out. He took to this one immediately and you could see he was very happy to be able to understand how it works and how easy it is to control. While billed as a commercial microwave oven (and indeed, I have seen this in use at various office kitchens), it really is a great solution for people that have difficulty understanding and using microwave ovens with many options and buttons. There is only one knob. It controls the time from 10 seconds to about 9 minutes. When the door is opened the cycle stops and dial light goes out. End of operation. So easy to use. Also of note is that there isn't a turntable. I've never had a microwave oven that didn't have a turntable, so I was a little skeptical. Turns out the design without the turntable has been more effective at even heating. My biggest problem is usually with thick soup. The sides of the bowl get extremely hot while the inside is cool. Not the case here. Overall I'm very pleased with this. It's pretty much "dad proof" (not meant in a mean way!)

Perfect office microwave - easy to use, no plate to clean and cooks well.

Simple to clean and almost anyone can figure out how to operate it.

This is a very nice microwave! We purchased it for my 90 year old mother and it is really easy for her to use. She just turns the dial and the number lights up to her selection and it blinks as it counts down. No power level to choose. Heats evenly and nicely! Door opens easily and without needing extra strength, which she doesn’t have. We are all very impressed and happy with the decision to purchase it!

Good