Turning The Heat Up!! (Cookworks Silver Manual Microwave)

Member Name: newby2

Product:	Cookworks Silver Manual Microwave
Date:	01/06/07 (1240 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap and cheerful

Disadvantages: none

Cookworks MM717CKAS Microwave in Silver




Seeing as we have moved in to a brand new build flat it seemed such a shame to be taking a load of our older household furniture and equipment. After clearing out the kitchen and moving the old microwave out of its position of the last seven years I was able to see clearly for the first time that the white colourings of the microwave had turned a rather worn yellow colour. This would certainly show up more in our new fitted white kitchen and I for one was not prepared to move it and tarnish the look of our new flat. A quick browse in the Argos catalogue showed me all I needed when I saw this Cookworks silver microwave for a cheap price.


This microwave cost £29.99p although it is available in white for £24.49p and it is the cheapest microwave that Argos has for sale. We don’t really use the microwave for too much apart from heating up beans, peas and the like so getting a high tech, high priced microwave was really not even an option. The silver microwave won against the white version for the fact that I know the silver will not discolour over time and will match more of my other kitchen appliances more than the white colour.


An added bonus of buying this microwave is that it is not digital and has no clock on the outside. I recently read that most families that own a microwave that has a digital clock on the outside use more electricity in a year having the LED clock on rather than the actual use of the microwave! This seems like such an awful waste when I personally don’t ever look at the clock on the microwave and as I said before we use the microwave on a fairly sparingly basis. This microwave is a manually operated one which means there are no digital clocks or timers and it is purely operated by turning a dial to the time needed for cooking and turning a separate dial for the heat or wattage setting required.


The microwave itself looks pretty good with its silver colourings I think it looks far superior to the white version available from Argos. The microwave itself is very simple with only two dials sitting on the outside of the machine along with a large button to open the door. Inside of the microwave sits a glass plate that can be removed for cleaning and this sits on a circular plastic ring that has three wheels propelled around a centre piece that enables the glass plate to turn in a clockwise motion smoothly. The inside of the microwave is a white colour that allows you to see any splashes or dirt that has attached itself to the inside and therefore making it easy to clean. The fact the glass plate and the plastic ring can both be removed gives the microwave an easy clean quality.


The door on the outside of the microwave has a slightly black mirrored effect and this does show up any dirt quite significantly and needs to be kept wiped clean regularly making the microwave looking new and pristine. The dials on the outside are easy to use and pretty basic. The top dial is the temperature or wattage settings that range from 700w to defrost. The watts are clearly labelled in small writing around the dial and the defrost option is labelled with a snowflake. The different wattage settings available are the highest at 700w, then a 540w setting, a 385w setting then the defrost setting and finally the 120w setting. I have only used the defrost setting and the 700w setting and I am unsure what things you would have to cook to use one of the lower power settings but I suppose having the option there if needed is good.

The second dial underneath the first is a timer dial and this ranges from 0 to 35 minutes. The numbers are clearly shown in digits and can be selected when turning the dial in a clockwise motion. The bell that signals the end of the timer is not overly loud but clear enough to hear from another room. If things need more than 35 minutes to cook it is easy to reset the dial to more time. Both of the dials are chunky and both easy to use and to clean. The large button that opens the door blends in with the silver colourings of the outer surface and lays flat against the microwave to appear slightly hidden.


All the food that I have cooked in this Cookworks microwave has been cooked well throughout. It has been easy to use and easy to clean and I have as yet encountered no problems with the use of it. The timer works well and I could expect no more from a microwave that costs this price. It is a simple yet effective piece of kitchen equipment and one that I personally am glad that I bought. I would say this is the perfect microwave as it looks good is lightweight and its 17L capacity really is enough to cook all the things that I use the microwave for.


A great microwave from Cookworks at a great price. Recommended to all.

Summary: a good little micro

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