Sharp R-820JS 0.9-Cubic Foot Grill 2 Convection Microwave, Silver
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Sharp R-820JS 0.9-Cubic Foot Grill 2 Convection Microwave, Silver
Customer Review: Nice compact unit, does good grilling and roasting
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this unit to replace an ancient Farberware convection oven that finally fell apart after 20 some years. I liked the idea of it using both microwaves with heat and convection though that only works with Roasting; Grilling is Convection only.
We mostly use it in Auto Grill and Auto Roast. Some observations after using it for a few months:
. The Auto Grill mode only works on relatively small weights -- if you have a really big steak or two, it might not take it. No worries, just use Roast -- it works just as well. You'll want to note the weight of the meat and enter it into the oven menu as that has a lot to do with how done it gets. If you trim off all the excess fat (we usually do), then you may want to get a small digital postal scale to weigh the meet precisely; they aren't that expensive any more. We like the results on "medium", so we haven't needed to play with adding or shortening the cook time.
. The note about the meat juices burning on the bottom of the pan is true, but we found a workaround -- we happened to have a "10 inch round silicone cake pan" (Amazon has them, just do that name as a search) and put it under the grill, on top of the pan. It works wonders. We put in just enough water to cover the bottom. When the meat is done, the juices in the cake pan are just nicely cooked, not burned, and can be spatula'ed out into a sauce pan. Fire that up with a bit of flour and spices temper/blended in, and you can reduce it into gravy in just the time that the meat should rest. Having the water in the oven keeps the meat from drying out as well. And trimming the meat first means there isn't excess grease to deal with; just enough for good gravy. This also prevents having to clean a burned pan, mostly things just wipe up and wash right off.
. It isn't as fast as the grill in the electric (or gas) range, but it is way more predictable, and doesn't generate a lot of smoke, or carbonize the edges of things like the grill can. One doesn't get the smoky flavor of a charcoal or gas grill, but I don't miss that much, especially since I don't have to watch over it the whole time, and again the cooking is more even. Grilling steaks in this unit only requires you flip the meat once in 20-30 minutes of cooking time; it beeps to let you know when. This is about the right amount of time to fix the rest of the meal.
. There isn't a preset Auto entry for pork chops, but the beef steak setting works well enough most of the time. Once in awhile we'll test the internal temperature or give it a couple extra minutes to be sure. Again getting the weight right helps. If you underestimate it, then the chances of undercooking are increased. Still this is way better than the typical tough overcooked chops we generally made other ways.
All in all, we're delighted with the unit. Once we figured out a couple of these tricks, it does just what we want.
Customer Review: Extremely versatile
Summary: 5 Stars
I acquired this microwave when I was moving to a flat with limited kitchen space, and my primary reason for the choice was that the Sharp model was multi-functional. Since I've begun using it, I happily have ceased to sing a requiem for the toaster oven, separate grill, and other items I was 'consolidating' in this purchase.
I have used the Sharp microwave for grilling and roasting, as well as normal microwave functions, and the results are better than I could have expected. Grilled and roasted foods are extremely tender and juicy - at least of the quality one could expect from a conventional oven. I have had similar success with cooking vegetables.
Reheating muffins and breads has amazing results - they seem fresh baked and, unlike breads normally heated in a microwave, do not harden in a minute. I have used the convection feature for preparing breads, and had especially stunning results with preparing a frozen chicken pie. I suppose the surrounding air from the convection oven was the reason, but it seemed like a fresh-baked meat pie.
There are a few drawbacks, which would not compromise my five star rating because of the great versatility and high quality of the unit overall. The 'auto' roast, defrost, and grill features are very convenient, as is the prompting (telling one when to turn over the meat, for example), but they are very limited in the weight restrictions. For example, if one is defrosting ground meat, it has to be a certain weight - significantly more than that of a single hamburger. Though grills and roasts would mostly fit in to the specifications, this is a drawback for defrosting, where one must estimate times and key them in manually.
Another difficulty I have experienced, when grilling on the rack, is that drippings which fall either on to the carousel tray or a pan placed under the meat can become badly burnt and baked on. This was slightly disappointing for my intentions of preparing gravies on the side. My single attempt to do so meant I had to soak the pan overnight and then scrape. The grilling results are wonderful, as far as the effect on the meats, but there is a great deal of smoke generated. Whenever I grill, it sets off the smoke alarm - probably best to roast, then only grill at the end.
I would advise anyone purchasing this microwave to read the manual in full. The capabilities will not be realised otherwise. I actually use the unit less for 'standard microwaving' than for its other features.
One further comment: the Sharp microwave cookbook, which is advertised in the manual for the unit, is useful but not specific to the multi-functional machine. It contains only microwave recipes - none for grilling, roasting, or convection.
Overall, and considering that it can replace several appliances, this microwave is an extraordinary value.
Customer Review: Works as advertised so far
Summary: 4 Stars
Works as advertised. I say "so far" because I am skeptical about how long new electric appliances will last. I've had several microwave oven magnatrons give up the ghost inside of five years. That wouldn't be so bad if replacement parts were reasonably priced and available, but they price them so you will buy a new oven instead. This unit supposedly has a better track record so we shall see. Space inside is a little cramped and there is a fair amount of wasted space. Someday a smart microwave manufacturer will realize that round turntables don't fit well in rectangular spaces. Re: cooking... I think by today's standards 900W is a bit underpowered, but still this unit does a fine job. If you need to nuke large volumes of stuff on high in a big hurry buy the 1200W model, I guess. I do like the convection oven and the grilling options. And, if you follow the directions explicitly, this little nuke/heat box bakes the best frozen pizza of any I have tried. Pizza comes out better than it does from our new big gas oven using a fancy pizza stone, which is not needed with the Sharp. Cleanup is not as easy as it could be. There are several little corners that are hard to wipe, especially above that upper heating element. You really need to keep the instruction booklet handy-- or at least the laminated one-pager cheat sheet nearby -- to use this oven properly. There is no way anyone could remember all the detailed settings for all the different functions. But it's worth taking a moment to look them up each time because the really do work. However,I do wish they had printed a simple conversion chart for conventional oven recipes to "convection oven" recipes. From all the things I've baked so far, I recommend knocking the temp down about 25F and reduce cooking time by about 15-20% for recipes that give "standard oven" baking times. The display is odd. It is set to viewed straight on, so when viewed from an off-axis angle from above (where it will be seen by most people most of the time while selecting oven settings) it is not very clear. If you stand a few feet away from it, it looks fine. This is a combination oven... it nukes, it grills, it bakes, it browns, etc. If all you need is a hot water nuke machine that you run on 100% power only, don't buy this box. But if you do a lot of different kinds of cooking, and appreciate a small oven that won't dry things out before they are done, this may be the one you are looking for. Finally, Amazon didn't have a white one... only the slightly more expensive "stainless steel" look... so it looks a bit odd in our kitchen sitting between the white breadmaker and our good old reliable white toaster oven. Overall my criticisms are minor. The oven works as advertised and I would recommend it.Customer Review: cedar grilled Norwegian salmon with fresh dill sauce...mmmm....
Summary: 5 Stars
I live alone and I bought this when my cheap little microwave died and I thought I might save some money on baking small meals with a small convection oven. I didn't fully utilize it for a couple years (I did bake chicken every week and loved it). I've only discovered the programed Grill option (and am exploring the other options) in the past few months and am totally amazed! I now grill steaks, burgers and this morning i grilled a small chunk of Norwegian salmon on a soaked cedar plank that was being promoted at my favorite supermarket last week where I bought the salmon on sale. Wow! Delicious! I made it for myself for brunch since I had just come off of a tiring work week and I needed a treat. It took about 11 minutes. I topped it with a little homemade dill sauce, the ingredients I always have on hand (dried dill, yogurt and lemon juice) and it was the most moist, succulent salmon I've had in a long long time, even in restaurants. I topped it off with a cup of expensive coffee and I felt like a queen. Nice breakfast for a single working girl. I also never used the programed "Comp Defrost" feature until recently. It was the first time I had a prayer of defrosting meat in the microwave that didn't half cook and tasted like rubber. I do check it often enough and make sure the meat is "pulled apart" as the little LED window suggests, so it defrosts evenly. I can't sing enough praises for this little gem of an appliance. I do think the microwave feature is a tiny bit slower than a regular microwave, but for me it's not very noticeable. The only inconvenience I've had with this appliance at all is some of the programmed options (grill, bake, defrost, etc.) don't compute if your serving is too small or insufficient weight. I merely pump up the quantity or weight and take it out sooner. Works all the time. This house I now live in has a microwave above the stove and I use it to store my bills and other random paperwork! Oh, forgot to mention, I just baked my first batch of cookies last week. Holy cow... no burnt edges or unevenly baked ones! I made a regular batch of peanut butter cookies and only made enough cookies (1-1/2 dozen) that would fit right on the rotating plate that's in the unit - no cookie sheet. The rest of the dough went into the fridge for another day. Experimenting with the timing for cookies is my next challenge because, since the edges don't get real brown like in a conventional oven, the overbaked cookies can become extra crunchy (not burnt) instead of moist. This is by far my most utilized appliance and I'll never go without it. I hardly use my stove anymore. I just had to share this after my incredible meal this morning!Customer Review: You won't regret it
Summary: 5 Stars
We've been using this microwave a lot since we bought it, both with its regular microwave function and its convection oven functionality, and we haven't been disappointed.
General functionality: The volume of the unit is good enough for most things you'd expect to be putting in a microwave...we've cooked small pizzas and batches of cookies in here already. Granted, you can fit less in here than you would be able to on the average cookie sheet, but that's to be expected I think. As other reviewers have noted, the LCD screen is hard to read unless you're at a really good angle, but unless you have this as your primary kitchen time piece, it's only a minor inconvenience.
Microwave functionality: Things are exactly what you'd expect here. It's a microwave, it works, and the power level is about what I've come to expect from a ~1kw microwave.
Convection oven functionality: For smaller items that you don't want to stick into an oven (or for many other things, like reheating food), the convection oven is really handy, and...frankly, fun. You can put in a metal "grill" that the food sits on, you punch in whether you want the oven to preheat before starting the timer countdown or not, put your food in (now or after preheating), and off you go. Now, don't get me wrong, but...this is possibly the least polished feature of this microwave, in two respects. First...an oven takes, what, 15 or 20 minutes to preheat, for a large amount of space. And on average, this thing takes 7-10 minutes to preheat...what? This microwave is like 1 cubic foot! (whereas ovens are 3.5-5.5 cubic feet). Secondly, I'm not convinced yet that there's actually a thermometer inside the unit for determining whether it's preheated yet (rather, just a timer?). That is to say, if you say "preheat first", it always takes a predetermined length of time to warm up, regardless of whether you just cooked something in there or not.
Regardless, overall this has been a very positive experience for a microwave/convection oven, and would definitely buy again.