Look Sharp and Cut Your Microwave Times

The Sharp R-305 1100 Watt microwave oven is by far the fastest microwave oven I've ever used. With most microwaves I have to add additional time on top of the product recommendations; with this one I frequently have to chop time off of it. That made for some extremely overcooked food the first several times I used the thing until I caught on, but once I figured it out I was very happy with my discovery.

This is a large carousel microwave that cooks very evenly. If you taste a bit of your food and it's ready, you can bet the whole dish is ready. This is even true for TV dinners with three or four different ingredients in the same tray; you'll never have to burn your corn in order to solidify a brownie bite again. Almost everything cooks well in it. I've made a lot of different types of foods in this microwave - soups, vegetables, frozen appetizers, and even meats - and the only thing I've found that doesn't work well is heating a simple cup of water for tea. Even though the water never boils and didn't get that hot, it smelled and tasted like it was burnt regardless of how long (or short) I tried to heat it.

The microwave is one of the larger I've used. It's been more than large enough for everything I've wanted to cook in it. In fact, you could probably fit a whole chicken in it (I've not actually tried this). You may think you don't need this much space (and you may be right), but too large is better than too small and given how fast this microwave cooks, the only reason I could see size being a problem is if you have limited counter space. With the large size comes a large footprint; this microwave definitely takes up more counterspace than most others I've used. However, it still fits on a standard kitchen counter and is definitely aimed at the home consumer and not designed for the professional kitchen.

The microwave has an actual door handle rather than the increasingly popular push button that pops the door open for you. I greatly prefer having a handle; I like the control and being able to gently open the door rather than being stuck with a door that swings open with a lot of force and without much control. The other physical feature I really like is that the light goes on as soon as you start cooking and stays on the entire time the microwave is in use. Even though there's a black mesh pattern over the window in the door, the light makes it very easy to see inside without opening the door and interrupting cooking.

The basic controls on the Sharp R-305 1100 Watt microwave are very simple. They mostly consist of a number pad to enter cooking times. The microwave also includes some preset buttons for things like popcorn, baked potatoes, and casseroles. I've rarely found these buttons effective and don't really use them. It has a variety of defrost, reheat, and cooking options (more than any other microwave I've used), but I tend to stick to normal timed cooking. The microwave has an "add a minute" button but, in one of the rare design oddities, it's all the way off in an oval in the upper right corner so it doesn't appear to be part of the control mechanisms. It took me more than a week of "there hasn't to be one, doesn't there?" scouring of the microwave casing to find the thing.

The microwave has a large numerical display and lets you run the timer without cooking or otherwise operating the heating elements in any way. It's a good timer with a loud beep that's easy to hear from a few rooms away or see from across the room while it's counting down (the same is true for the cooking features as well, but I find the distance factor more useful when using the timer because cooking times are usually short enough that I don't go very far).

My biggest complaint about this Sharp microwave is that it gets dirty very easily. If you splash anything on the door, it resists cleanup and often leaves stains regardless of how quickly or judiciously you try to clean it up. It's also a bit difficult to get bits of stuff that splatters on the ceiling of the microwave, although these pieces are less likely to stain. The carousel comes out easily and fits back into the microwave without much difficulty, but even the carousel requires a bit more elbow grease than most.

Once I got used to chopping a minute or two off of the cooking times for everything, I was very happy with the Sharp R-305 microwave. It cooks quickly, it cooks evenly, and it cooks almost everything well. It's a bit difficult to clean, but otherwise it's a great microwave. Give it a try and see for yourself.