Our Most Used Office Appliance – The Sanyo Microwave Oven

In most offices it is the coffee pot that is indispensable. However our building has a cafeteria that makes very good inexpensive coffee most of the day so there aren't a lot of coffee pots around. That makes the Sanyo EM-W300W Microwave the most used and abused appliance in the office.

The Basics
The Sanyo EM-W300W is a 1.1 cubic foot 1000 watt white microwave oven. There is a 12" turntable to heat food evenly. There are quick buttons for beverage, popcorn, frozen meals, potatoes, pizza and reheat. Cooking time can also be entered using the numeric keypad. There are additional buttons to change the power level, multi-stage cooking, defrost by weight, defrost by time a kitchen timer and a clock. The microwave is 21" wide, 18" deep and 12" high to easily fit on a counter.

Work it, Baby
This microwave was purchased by the department manager at a "Black Friday" sale for $99 (according to the receipt stapled to the instruction manual) as a gift for the department. It has been used almost a year now and continues to serve about 50 people on a daily basis and it gets quite the workout. This Sanyo microwave reheats a seemingly endless stream of coffee, cooks oatmeal, heats lunches and makes afternoon bags of popcorn. We also have a monthly lunch or breakfast as a group and the microwave gets used for cooking bacon and sausage and reheating large dishes of food. The green LCD display is easy to read even from a high angle and the keys are easy to press.

I use the microwave mostly for reheating coffee throughout the day, which it does flawlessly. I've cooked a handful of baked potatoes for lunch and the auto button works well for small potatoes. But for the larger russets I like for a meal I need about 50% more time than the 6 minutes preprogram provides for a nice soft potato. I have done a handful of frozen dinners as well. I use the direct entry buttons and follow the directions on the package instead of fooling around with the preprogrammed button. The 1000 watts of power reheats leftovers quickly, which is important when there is a line of 6 people waiting to heat their lunch too. As with any microwave I don't really trust the popcorn button either, I prefer to listen to the pops to time my bag.

The only defrosting I have ever tried in the microwave is for cookies. Since our monthly gatherings are held on Friday I like to make cookies the previous weekend when I have extra time. Of course by Friday, if there were any cookies left in the house they would be stale. So, after I bake the cookies I put them in the freezer bring them to work frozen and defrost them using the timer function for "fresh" warm cookies for dessert. Personally I don't like how most microwaves defrost meat so it is a feature I rarely, if ever use.

We have a rotating schedule for microwave cleaning duties. It cleans up very easily both inside and out. The rotating tray is removable for easy washing in the sink while general purpose cleaner takes care of the outside. A scrubbing sponge and some dish soap get off any splatters on the inside although the smallish interior makes complete rinsing a pain. But the interior is certainly big enough to reheat anything in an office or home.

Final Thoughts
I use this Sanyo microwave far more than I use my microwave at home, as do many of my coworkers. An office environment is a great test for a microwave's durability and the Sanyo EM-W300W passes with flying colors. If you use a microwave for reheating and popcorn I highly recommend this unit.