[Electronics-Talk] Microwave Saga, Possible Light at the End of the Tunnel

Sat Nov 26 04:32:58 UTC 2016

I'm glad you found a place that could help you.  Pam.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Annette Carr via Electronics-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 7:14 PM
To: 'Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances'
Cc: Annette Carr
Subject: [Electronics-Talk] Microwave Saga, Possible Light at the End of the 
Tunnel

Hello List,

If you have been following my posts over the past few weeks, you are aware
of my frustration in finding an over the range microwave or
microwave/convection oven.  I've visited every store in my local area and
found unknowledgeable staff, and no display units connected to electric.  A
second visit to a couple of stores with an extension cord in hand I was
refused an opportunity to connect any of the units to electric.

Over the past weekend we came across an appliance store called Appliance
Connection, about 20 miles from us.  At the bottom of their website home
page they have a statement that says that they will provide a personal
shopper to assist people with disabilities to find the right appliance,
during Monday through Friday business hours.  On Sunday we decided to take a
ride to the store.  While no one working in the store had any idea about the
personal shopper statement on the webpage, the sales rep we worked with was
willing to go the extra miles to help us out.  The other impressive thing
was that every microwave on display was connected to electric.  She told us
that if we found any appliance in the store that was not connected to
electric, they would run an extension cord to it.  We learned a lot about
what is available, and I will try to summarize it below.

GE Profile 9005 - This is a microwave only.  If I really wanted only a
microwave, I would have looked further into this one.  The buttons are
located in 2 rows across the bottom of the door.  They are activated by
pressing on them.  They are about the size of traditional microwave buttons,
so there is room for braille labels.  I did not spend any time confirming
that the actual operation of the unit would be possible without having to
memorize how many presses of a button would provide you with the desired
setting.  Given the labels on the buttons, I am guessing that operation
would not be that much different than what we are used to.

GE microwave/convection combination - All of these GE units on display at
this store make use of a dial to make your selection for almost every
setting.  Although the dial provides tactile feedback as you turn it, you
have no way to know what you are selecting.  There is no beginning or end
points to the rotation of the dial.  Since we immediately ruled these models
out, I did not have a chance to put my hands on them to report on the type
of touch control panel they have.

Whirlpool & Kitchen Aid (I do not have the model numbers) - These are
microwave Convection oven combination units.  While the buttons required
pressure to activate, many buttons require multiple presses to navigate to a
desired setting.

Bosch 800 Series & the Benchmark Series Microwave/convection oven - The
control panel requires pressure to activate.  Although some of the buttons
require multiple presses to select what you want, they also have a second
way of making your selections.  For example, Press the convection button
once, instead of pressing it multiple times to select the type of convection
cooking you want.  Now press the number on the number pad to make your
selection.  (i.e. 1 = bake, 2=roast, etc.).  It works this way for all of
the buttons that offer multiple choices.  Of course, you will either have to
memorize all of the various menu choices, or have a cheat sheet.  The
down-side is that Bosch is a high-end line and cost double to triple that of
the others.

So, we ended up ordering the Bosch 800 series.  Luckily it was on sale,
although still more expensive than the others.  Besides accessibility, this
unit was the best fit for the space.  We will have to do minimal work to the
top of the tile backsplash on the wall under the microwave.  It is due to be
delivered on Friday.  I'm going to try and download the manual and maybe
create my cheat sheet before then.  I will keep you all posted on how it
goes.

Annette

After working with the sales rep for around 2 hours, we walked away with a
lot more knowledge than we had been able to gather in the past several
weeks.

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