Best Microwave 2026: 10 Ranked and Tested for UK Kitchens

Twenty-one thousand and ninety-eight ratings at 4.6 stars is why this comes first, and it is not close — the next best-supported model here has 8,945. A microwave is an appliance you buy once and use twice a day for a decade, so that volume of feedback is worth more than any feature on the box.

The specification is exactly what most households need. Eight hundred watts is the standard for UK countertop models, the 20 litre cavity takes a dinner plate on its 25.5cm turntable, and eight auto-cook programmes plus automatic defrost cover almost everything you will actually do with it. The digital panel gives you a clock and a 95 minute timer, and the mirror door and black finish look considerably more expensive than GBP 79.

The trade-off is size. At 20 litres it is one of the smaller models here, and the external footprint of 44cm wide by 35.5cm deep is compact rather than roomy — good if it lives under a wall cupboard, less good if you reheat large casserole dishes. If you want more room, the Toshiba below is 23 litres for slightly less money.

This is the value pick, and the arithmetic is simple: 23 litres for GBP 74.77 against 20 litres for GBP 79.00, at the same 4.6 star average. You get more usable space for less money. The only thing our top pick has over it is the size of the review pile — 21,098 against 8,945 — and 8,945 is still an enormous sample by any normal standard.

Those extra three litres are genuinely useful. The 31.4cm wide interior takes a full dinner plate with room around the edge, which matters because a plate that catches on the cavity wall stops the turntable and leaves you with a cold middle. Express Cook starts instantly at anything from one second to six minutes with one touch, defrost works by weight or by time, and the five-blade fan makes it noticeably quieter than most — Toshiba pitches that at parents with a sleeping baby, which is a fair use for it.

There is no grill, so browning and crisping are out, and the one-year guarantee is standard rather than generous. At this price neither is a real complaint.

A solo microwave heats food; it cannot brown it. If you want melted cheese that goes golden, a crisp top on a shepherd's pie or bread that toasts rather than steams, you need a grill element, and this is the best-supported grill model here with 5,624 ratings at 4.6 stars.

It runs at 900 watts for microwaving — a step up from the 800 watts almost everything else here uses — with a separate 1000 watt grill and two combination modes that run both together, so food cooks through and browns at the same time without preheating. There are 11 power levels, 20 auto menus, a Chef Defrost setting that buzzes to remind you to turn the food, and a +30 second express button. The 23 litre cavity takes a 10 inch pizza.

At GBP 114.99 it is GBP 40 more than the solo Toshiba above, which is the price of the grill. If you will not use it, do not pay it — a grill you never switch on is the most expensive feature in any kitchen.

Samsung's Triple Distribution System fires microwaves in three directions instead of one, which is their answer to the cold-centre problem every microwave owner knows. Three thousand four hundred and twenty-six ratings at 4.5 stars say it works well enough. There are 15 auto-cook programmes, a quick defrost that calculates time from food type and weight, a deodorisation cycle for when last night's fish is still in the air, and an eco mode that kills the standby display.

The ceramic enamel interior is the part worth paying for. It wipes clean without scrubbing and does not scratch or stain the way painted cavities do, which on an appliance you will own for ten years is a real difference rather than a marketing line.

One thing to check before you click buy. Samsung sells this same microwave in silver as the MS23K3523AS for GBP 120.00. Same 23 litres, same 800 watts, same 37.4 by 48.9 by 27.5 centimetres, same Triple Distribution System — and the two listings share the same 3,426 ratings at 4.5 stars, because they are the same machine. Unless you specifically want silver, the black one saves you GBP 21.

Not everybody wants a touch panel. Two dials — one for power, one for time — is faster for the thing you actually do ninety per cent of the time, which is heating something for two minutes, and there is nothing to go wrong with them. At GBP 66 this is the cheapest microwave in the comparison and it has 945 ratings at 4.5 stars behind it.

You get 800 watts, five power levels, a 35 minute timer, automatic defrost, an internal light and a turntable that takes plates up to 10.5 inches. The stainless steel finish and 45.6cm width make it a sensible fit for a small kitchen or a rented flat, and it is the obvious choice for a student house or a second microwave in a garage or utility room.

What you give up is convenience. There is no clock, no auto-cook programmes and no digital display, so you set everything by hand. For some people that is the point.

This is the grill microwave for small kitchens. You get the same 1000 watt grill element and combination cooking as the Toshiba at third place, but in a 20 litre cabinet that is 44cm wide rather than 46.9cm, and for GBP 25 less. If your worktop gap is fixed and you still want to brown food, this solves it.

Eight hundred watts of microwave power, five power levels, eight auto menus, defrost by weight or time and a digital clock cover the basics. The mirror door finish matches the more expensive model and looks smarter than the price suggests.

The reason it sits at sixth rather than higher is the sample. Three hundred and sixteen ratings at 4.6 stars is a good average but a thin base compared with the thousands behind the models above, and the listing itself is carelessly written — there are four obvious typos in the first three bullet points. That does not affect the microwave, but it does tell you how much attention the seller pays.

Thirty-two litres is half again the size of the 20 litre models at the top of this page, and 1000 watts is the highest microwave power in the comparison. Together that means a large lasagne dish fits and heats through in noticeably less time — which is the whole argument for this microwave and the only reason to pay GBP 130 for it.

It carries the same Samsung features as the 23 litre model: Triple Distribution System for even heating, ceramic enamel interior that wipes clean, 15 auto-cook programmes, power defrost by weight and a deodorisation cycle. Build quality is a clear step up from the budget end of this list.

Two caveats, and they are both about size and evidence. At 51.7cm wide and 42.4cm deep it needs real worktop space, and at 14.6 kilograms it is not something you shuffle around casually. And 299 ratings at 4.4 stars is both the thinner sample and the lower average among the well-known brands here.

Sixty-nine pounds for 23 litres with digital touch controls is good value on paper, and the 28.5 centimetre turntable is the largest in this comparison — that is the measurement that decides whether a big dinner plate spins freely or catches on the cavity wall and leaves you with a cold middle.

You get 800 watts, automatic defrost, a timer and automatic programmes, from a brand with a real UK presence in televisions and white goods rather than an anonymous seller.

It sits at eighth because the evidence is weaker than the price advantage. Two hundred and eighty ratings at 4.2 stars is the lowest average of any established brand on this page, and for five pounds more the Toshiba at second place has 8,945 ratings at 4.6. When the gap in feedback is that large and the gap in price is that small, the safer purchase is obvious.

Almost every microwave sold now is black or stainless steel, so if your kitchen is white this is one of the few options that will not stick out. More usefully, at 33 centimetres deep it is the shallowest model in this comparison — on a standard 60cm worktop that leaves real room behind it, and it will not overhang a narrow counter.

Panasonic build quality is a genuine reason to consider it. You get 800 watts, five power levels, nine sensor-driven auto programmes that work out timing from weight or portion, a 30 second quick-start button, a child lock and a 255mm turntable in a stain-resistant acrylic cavity.

Two hundred and twenty-two ratings at 4.5 stars is a respectable average from a thin sample, and at GBP 84.99 you are paying about GBP 10 more than the Toshiba at second place for a smaller cavity. You are buying the colour, the depth and the badge.