Panasonic Microwave Oven, Stainless Steel Countertop/Built-In Cyclonic Wave with Inverter Technology and Genius Sensor, 2.2 Cu. Ft, 1250W, NN-SN97JS (Silver)

2.0 out of 5 stars

By M. Kerr - Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2019

Uneven cooking and shallow plate

We purchased this microwave in January and received it in February. After two months of use, we can safely say that this microwave is NOT worth the price. It cooks terribly unevenly. For instance, if we put in something on 1 to quickly warm up, it's either piping hot or cold as ice.... and I'm talking about the same something, like let's say a cup of water. It's either piping hot on 1, or hasn't even begun to get warm. Then there's the actual plate of the microwave. The holder in the middle of the microwave is soooo small and shallow, that the plate FREQUENTLY slips off and is a pain to re-align. All in all NOT satisfied with this microwave, but recycled the box and now we are stuck with this super expensive thing that doesn't heat properly. Also the lock mechanism for the door sometimes doesn't work, so the door pops open when its not supposed to. If I could ask for my money back, I would.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Marc T. - Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2019

It's a big one!

I did a lot of research, read reviews, etc. before I pulled the trigger on this. I honestly didn't care to have one this big, but it seemed to be the only microwave, I found, under $400. or so, that didn't have scary reviews in the one star category, at least on Best Buy's website. Part of the reason I'm saying that is, I noticed that the reviews for this unit on Amazon, seem to be talking about a different model number. Take a look for yourself, and I think you'll see there's something fishy here, when below the reviewers title it gives you a different model number than this unit, which is NN-SN 97Js. I just wanted to make that clear and just for interest, I noticed that there's some bad one star reviews here on Amazon, but Best Buy's reviews for NN-SN 97Js are all pretty good. Getting to the meat and potatoes of things. So far I'm very pleased with the microwave. I can actually read the names on the control panel and they seem to work alright. That's always a big concern for me on any control panel these days, because they can sometimes wear out early. I'm certainly hoping for the best. I've only cooked a few things in it, so far, but they seemed very evenly cooked, probably better than my old microwave. I like the fact that it's quieter than my old microwave and doesn't sound like a B-52 bomber when you start it up. I feel lucky because when I looked up places I could take it to in the event of a failure under warranty, there is one right here in San Diego. I also bought an extended warranty from Asurian for 4 years, and apparently they'll send you a prepaid sticker if you have to mail it in to them. The way I understand it is that you can only use Panasonic's warranty for the first year, then the Asurian extended kicks in for the remaining 3 years. In other words, the Asurian starts counting down the day you buy the microwave. The good news, to me, is it only cost an extra 44 bucks or so. I noticed that one reviewer complained at how ridiculous and difficult the programming and engineering design was on this unit, but to me, it's not "that" bad. You do have to click the power button 11 times in order to take it to the "warming" setting, but you have to click the button different amounts of times depending on what power setting you want anyway. He's probably right, that they could have designed it to use the number keypad for the power settings but I can live with it. I do like that, according to some literature, the power settings are "real" power settings and not just some cheesy setup where the microwave stops for a while just to make it seem like your cooking it on a lower temperature. In other words, say, when you cook it on Power level 3 it really does take longer for your food to cook. I think 3 is the number you'd use for defrosting. All in all, I'm pleased and it has all the stuff I would want on a microwave. Of course the real test, is how long will it last, and/or, will they honor the warranty if needed, and so on and so forth. I'll make it a point to put an up-date on this review after I've used it for a fair amount of time. Marc Trainor.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Amazon Customer - Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2020

It makes microwave cooking easier

Incredible oven. Nice looking. The infection cooking does heat the food throughout well. I buy Marie Calender’s Dinners fairly often. They say to cook for 4 minutes then stir, then cook for 3 more minutes. For a total of 7 minuets. With this machine, 7 minutes is too much. I just put the dinner in, set it to 6 minutes, and it cooks it throughout and done. No stirring. I find that I can cut back times on most frozen items from the store. A double serving of instant oatmeal used to take 3 minutes to boil. Now it takes 2 minutes 20 seconds. Anyway, you get the idea. As far as even cooking, I sometimes cook those large family sized lasagnas. I used to cook them for about 15 minutes and the middle would still be partially frozen . To exposure things I would take a knife, cut the lasagna into four squares, the take a spatula and rotate each square until all of the frozen corners are on the outside and cooked corners were in the middle. I would then finis cooking the lasagna. Now I can cook the lasagna thoroughly and get the middle cooked without the cutting and rotating. It just makes microwave cooking easier.

1.0 out of 5 stars

By T. Middlebrooks - Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2019

Bad doors

Only 2 months old the door will only open when it wants to do you a favor. (One month warranty) Very disappointed in Panasonic.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Seeking quality - Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2020

Excellent results, great price, easy-to-use options

We have had this microwave for over a month and use it many times each day. It is superior to our old microwave, GE Profile, for defrosting and the other pre-programmed options. And, this Panasonic was $300 less than the GE model we had! It defrosts items based on weight which is not unusual, but so far every item has been almost perfectly defrosted: thawed but not cooked. The settings are quite specific, so if you are heating one cup of milk (one of the auto settings) it uses different settings than heating one cup of coffee (another auto setting). After we realized this, we have been careful to select the right setting and everything has been perfect. It is worth learning the automatic settings. After a few weeks we now use them effortlessly. We keep the chart nearby for the sensor option because we don’t use it often enough to remember the different selections. Also, you can program up to three steps, such as defrost, then rest, then cook. There are three popcorn settings that work very well for us. If this lasts a couple of years we will be incredibly satisfied.

4.0 out of 5 stars

By kecia ivey - Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2021

BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT

This microwave oven is pretty good product, thus far. I have GE Profile kitchen appliances in which my 15 month old GE Profile $400+ microwave died; it needs a $170 magnatron + labor. Very disappointed in GE appliances. But anyway, the look of this Panasonic Microwave is tasteful. The buttons are solid; the door release button doesn't feel flimsy and cheap. The gray interior is a good touch. BUT... what this product needs is some kind of back lighting for the buttons. When you enter the kitchen and don't particularly want to turn on the kitchen lights just to warm up your coffee, backlighting for the buttons would've been a nice touch.