Customer Reviews

Panasonic NN-CD989S "Prestige" 1.5-Cubic Foot, 1100 Watt Stainless Steel Convection Microwave Oven, Inverter Technology

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This new Panasonic Convection Microwave machine is hands down the best appliance in my kitchen and worth every penny. Here's why:

Positives:
1. Extremely well built - Solid precision latches make it sound like a Mercedes car door when you close it.

2. Intuitive - Very user friendly. Easy to figure things out without having to pour over the owner's manual, unlike a lot of other microwaves. The time knob lets you quickly dial in 10 second increments of time, or you can let the machine autosense when it's hot using the reheat mode. It has a digital readout which tells you the next step in the process on certain options and provides status of where you are at in the cooking cycle as well.

3. New Technology - The Inverter Technology provides much more even heat, with very few hot spots. When I warm hard refrigerated quarters of butter in the morning so I can spread it on my toast, it softens evenly, unlike my previous micro that melted a big hole in the middle and left the rest hard. In the defrost mode, the food is thawed evenly, unlike the cooked edges that some micro's leave.

4. Performance - This machine cooks quickly and evenly and when you combine the micro and convection its extremely fast. In the combination mode the micro power is dropped to 30% and then combined with full convection heat to cook quickly and evenly. Lots of other features...the keep warm option, the broil and bake options, the easy to use dials, digital temperature guage, great recipe book, cooking recommendations, and owners manual.

5. The Look - Very sleek and very professional. Easy to clean and a kitchen show piece. You'll gets lots of compliments on it.

Negatives:
1. Size - As with all of my appliances I wish it was a bit larger, but it WILL allow a 9X13 rectangular glass casserole to rotate.

2. Trim Kit - Mine is also a built in, so I had to buy a separate trim kit which was not included in the price.

3. Customer Support - Panasonics only big mistake with this product, as they appear to have outsourced customer support to an overseas group. I had inquired about use of the wire rack when doing straight microwaving. Conflicting answers. Agents hard to understand and not very knowledgeable. Not sure my first contact even knew what a microwave convection oven was. All she could do was read a script. I know Panasonic feels that have to do this to remain price competitive (like many other companies out there) but it's certainly the weakest part of their product. Lets hope congress takes away the incentives and starts penalizing companies that ship jobs overseas.

All in all, it's a great second oven for baking, cooking, reheating, defrosting, letting bread rise, keep food warm during meal prep, etc. Great purchase. Highly recommended if you're looking for the best.

I purchased and installed this microwave for a family member. We looked all over for a high quality built-in (above the oven, aka cabinet mount) convection microwave. The GE Profile and Advantium lines were very poorly rated online and did have a very good repair history. It's tough if you want a large microwave (capable of spinning a 9x13 dish) that is convection and has a good repair rating. After seeing that the selection available in the marketplace is poor (We looked at Sears, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, and at a "Factory Direct Appliance" store). All basically sold very few cabinet mount microwave and those that they did have were either a.) small and very cheap or b.) GE Advantium and very expensive ($1200). Since the Advantium has a very low customer rating all over the web, we decided it wasn't worth the money.

After reading online we noticed that approval ratings of Panasonic Microwaves were very high. They use a different style of microwave element that they call an inverter. This means that, when using lower power levels, the microwave doesn't turn on and off the element. For example power level 5 on almost every microwave means the element turns on for 2 seconds, then off for 2, then on again. This means that delicate foods come out screaming hot in places and cold in others. The Panasonic has a proprietary element that actually has adjustable amounts of power it can output. This is something that sounds like marketing but in this case it is truly unique and directly beneficial to the customer.

The "sensor" cook option works really well. We followed the directions to bake a potato. The microwave instructs you what to do on the display. The result was a large perfectly well baked potato in about 90 seconds all managed by the sensor. I was shocked at how well it worked and how fast it was.

Be purchased the mount kit (the unit is for countertop use out of the box). The kit, while expensive, is very high quality and well designed. It was easy to install and looks great. It matches the Samsung fridge perfectly and is neither cheap looking nor "showy". It, like the microwave, is very austere and modern looking without being too "high tech" looking.

I'm VERY pleased about this microwave and think that its a good value for its price. It comes with racks and ceramic turn table. The interior is all stainless steel. Overall I can't find a place that Panasonic cut a corner in the microwave, accessories, or the trim kit. For the price (less than half the price of an Advantium) the build quality is perfect.

Had it for 3 weeks now and it is great! Much quieter than the Viking we had before, and microwaves and defrosts a lot more evenly. The convection oven heats up quickly and does a great job. Easy to use, too, and looks great. Couldn't be any happier.

I had a twenty ton Panasonic convection microwave that was perfect. Magically cooked vegetables to perfection...somehow. Did the usual microwave stuff and baked excellently. It was built like a tank...and weighed almost as much. When the door slammed it sounded like a Rolls. Then that terrible day...it stopped working and the guy told me parts were no longer available. Almost exactly 20 years of wonderful Panasonic service.

I slipped and bought a Sharp...one year later it broke and I said...never again...I'm going back to Panasonic.

The NN-CD909S seemed to be IT.

It works fine. But it is much lighter and seemingly more cheaply built. For example, the light inside the oven, which will surely burn out...cannot be replaced by the owner...it is a factory tech repair job! On convection...the top and sides get so hot that you can't touch them (well....you can..but it really hurts)!!! REALLY cheap in my opinion. The old one was big enough to contain sufficient insulation.

It does do veggies magically, like the old one. You can crank the power up and down, instead of being on HIGH with only shorter or longer cooking times. I tried all levels and stopped using it. It didn't seem to make much difference to me.

So...if this is the best Panasonic can do...well...I wish I had my old one back. They built a heck of a convection microwave in those days. It seems that this unit is the modern equivalent of my old one after the "beancounters" figured out how to manufacture it for less.

Amazon's service was wonderful. Prompt delivery with no shipping cost under their delivery plan.

The first microwave arrived with the button to open the door pushed in so we never got the appliance going. The second one worked beautifully but the light which should show how things are cooking does not go on. We consulted with Panasonic on this who referred us to a service center. Of course the recommended service center did not service microwaves and the next closest one was 35 miles away. So we returned the second one and have ordered a third. Why...its a really good microwave with many other features such as convection cooking we want. If you order this product cross your fingers. By the way, Amazon was great in swapping the first for the second but refused to do this from the second to the third so we ended up purchasing the third one from another company. In general a lot of hassle for what should be a simple purchase.

I purchased this for my country house in Texas. It is capacious, quiet, convenient to use, and renders very good results, both in convection and microwave modes. It does what it does very well.

THE OVEN IS WELL SUITED TO ANY PLACE IN YOUR KITCHEN. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. HOWEVER, THE INSTRUCTION BOOKLET IT LACKING.....IT'S JUST TO COMPLICATED, i THINK IF IT WERE SET UP IN
SECTIONS, AS, BAKING, CONVECTION, MICROWAVE. BROIL, ETC. THEN UNDER EACH CATAGORY, THE MEATS, VEGTAGBLES, CAKES/COOKIES, PIES, PUDDINGS, CASSEROLS, WELL YOU GET THE JIST OF WHAT I AM SO
POORLY TRYING TO IMPART. OTHER THAN THAT FOR PLAIN OLD MICROWAVING IT'S LOVELY, BUT, VERY EXPENSIVE.