Around 9 months ago we had a new kitchen, but as I can be a little OCD at times, the new kitchen wasn't enough because as we'd changed the colour scheme I wanted accessories to match the new colour scheme. We went for a cream coloured kitchen, so I wanted cream accessories to match.

I found a kettle and toaster quite easily, but struggled with a microwave that didn't cost a fortune. Eventually I found one in the Swan range that didn't cost a fortune. The one we chose was the Swan SM2090 Microwave in cream.

If cream doesn't suit your tastes then this microwave is available in other colours such as white, black and red. It is an 800 watt manual microwave and the reason this appealed to me was its charming look. This microwave doesn't do a lot in comparison to what a lot of them do nowadays, and it doesn't have a lot of functions, but it just looked so damn cute!

It has a real simple, clean, basic look to it. The exterior shell of the microwave is a lovely cream colour with an oval shaped see through section cut into the door to enable you to see into the microwave.

The front of the microwave basically consists of two shiny round dials and nothing more. There's no digital element's to this microwave, it looks like something you would have found in the 60's or 70's. The top dial is the time indicator and you simply turn the dial to the amount of minutes you want your food microwaved for. The second dial has the different power settings on. There are 6 different power settings overall ranging from low to high and it also has a defrost function. The microwave is opened by simply pulling the handle, there is no button as you would get on more modern microwaves.

For information, the dimensions of the microwave are H29.5CM X W46CM X D35.5CM and it weighs 13kg. It comes with a 2 year guarantee which is always handy and it has a 20ltr capacity.

The microwave looks divine in my kitchen and is a good size as it holds everything I need it too, but doesn't seem to take up much room on my kitchen surface. A few visitors have commented how my cream accessories really enhance the kitchen and give me the confidence that I made the right choice. I did notice when purchasing this one that they do a complete set with kettle and toaster but as I had already purchased these items from other ranges, I purchased the microwave only.

This microwave cost £66.00 from my partners catalogue which I thought was quite good considering catalogue items are usually premium prices which means from a high street store, you could probably get it a good £5-10 cheaper.

So far, the microwave has proven to be thoroughly reliable. It isn't too noisy either which is a bonus. I don't tend to alter the power settings, I just use the one in the middle and have learnt now how much time different foods need to cook properly. As this is an 800watt microwave, it is quite powerful and cooks food well, consistently and doesn't take too much time. These are all attributes I want when purchasing a microwave.

As you can probably see from the above, I have been really impressed by this microwave. I probably made a mistake when purchasing it as I didn't really look at its performance and was only interested in the look it created in my kitchen. Thankfully it does a great job as well as looking good and so far (touch wood!), I haven't found any negative points to this microwave.

If you are someone who is after the latest, cutting edge technology, then this wouldn't be for you as it is very basic but it warms food so what else does a microwave need to do exactly? This microwave is all about the look it creates. It has a lovely retro look to it which fits perfectly in my kitchen. The fact that this also does the job well is a bonus.

In summary, this is a great looking microwave that does a great job and therefore, it comes with a recommendation from me.