apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I use it every day, but mostly for heating milk for my coffee, or reheating leftovers, or melting/defrosting butter for baking.

Joan A. really said it all! I also use it to melt chocolate. I love the timer on the one at home, and I use that daily.

I use a microwave at least twice a day. Oatmeal in the morning (I know you steel-cut oats in the crock-pot will bristle at the suggestion) and reheating my lunch at work.

Plus the occasional defrost, quick hot chocolate and fixing the underdone barbequed meat....I guess I couldn't live without one.

yeah, i use it to reheat leftovers that don't require crisping. it's also good for defrosting frozen veggies and melting butter and chocolate. it's a tool, not a way of life.

I like Michelle's microwave as a fixer. I use it to cheat stuff along sometimes too. To start something warming before I put it in the oven . . .

Warming up leftovers is my biggest use.

No microwave for me. I don't miss it; everything that you use the microwave for can be done elsewhere in the kitchen, and the food tastes better.

Doesn't offend me but I really don't care for it. I never use it to cook. They actually take up too much space and I hate the look of them over a stove.
I agee with above in that I can't see food tasting good at all or using it to heat up any kind of leftovers. Leftover food seems to lose it's flavor when reheated in them. Microwavable popcorn is all it's good for (and I prefer air-popped anyways).

I'm with the others--I use it to reheat leftovers for lunch or to melt chocolate, defrost frozen butter that I forgot to the take out of the freezer until the second I'm starting a recipe (sigh), heat up milk for coffee, etc. Popcorn, too, though I hate the smell.

I use it for popcorn only, and wouldn't have one, except that my new apartment came with a built-in.

We don't have one at home, but I use the one at the office maybe once or twice a week to reheat leftovers for lunch.

I use it at lunch at the office, but I wish there was a toaster oven there instead. Microwave food tastes so blah!!

I tossed out my outdated microwave a few years ago and I haven't looked back. The only thing I missed was popcorn...until I found a great source for Jiffy Pop right in my neighborhood!

I don't have one at home. I rarely miss it. Everything a microwave can do, my range or oven can do. I use the microwave at work sometimes for reheating leftovers or frozen burritos.

I use the microwave all the time. I cook potatoes through, then throw them in the broiler or on the grill to crisp them. I use it to cook veggies often too. My husband loves corn and peas, and in the winter, frozen just taste better. We throw them in the microwave in their bag and it is one less dish to wash. Plus the popcorn, tea, melting stuff that everyone else uses them for.

Oh, look at that, I got mentioned!
Also, what a close race, that's interesting. I voted every month or so, even though I'm definitely on the "or so" end of that spectrum.

I'm thankful for the microwave those times I've also forgotten to defrost the butter, katef. The only reason I even have it, however, is because the previous tenant left it, and my landlord didn't want to get rid of it. It's a hideous orange thing, but smaller than the usual - I think it's called a 1/2 pint or something. So, I stuck it in a corner.

Kassie,
Love your microwave then grill technique for potatoes! I'm going to have to try it out. I guess sometimes the microwave fixes grilled items and sometimes it's the other way around....

I was an anti-microwave holdout until a year or so ago when my in-laws bequeathed their 20-year-old Amana to us. Much as I hated the beast's dimensions, it did win me over with its chocolate-melting abilities. Now we live in an apartment with a built-in microwave and I use it almost every day to heat up milk, reheat leftovers for lunch, thaw frozen veggies...all the stuff the previous posters have mentioned. I still don't believe in "microwave cooking" but, like thinkingwoman, I do think it's a convenient kitchen tool.

I've never owned my own microwave, in my last place my sister owned it. When she moved out and took it with her, I really started to miss it for all the small things I used it for, melting butter, reheating leftovers, etc. You can do everything on the stove that you can in a microwave, but sometimes you just want the speediness that a microwave will give you.

i use it everyday - my oven is broken (for 2 months now....) - for lunch (quick) or for re-heating left overs. all meals have been cooked on the stove.

I threw my crap one out three years ago and haven't missed it. Like others said, everything a microwave does can be done elsewhere and much better. Sure, it may take a little longer, but it's worth it. And really, don't we need to take some time and slow down anyway? Rushed food equals lame food.

I've had a microwave on and off over the years, and have always preferred having one. Heating up the entire oven for one portion of leftovers is just ridiculous to me: slow, inefficient, and a waste of resources (heating up my apartment for half an hour vs. 90 secs in the box).

I don't use mine everyday, but several times throughout the week. For melting butter and chocolate, yes, and for steaming vegs in a rush, for reheating food, the usual stuff.

There' s a Barbara Kafka book on microwave cooking that I'd love to check out. I trust Barbara Kafka when it comes to cooking methods, so I believe that she's figured out some good uses for it.

Also, my mom makes carrot cake in the microwave, and it's the best I've had.

Last night I experimented with plantains: nuked the slices for a couple of minutes to cook through, then browned them in the oven. It's a reasonable approximation, better than all-oven baking, part of my quest to find an acceptable non-fried plantain recipe.

The only time I ever had one was living with a roommate. I know I ate things I shouldn't have when I had one (like mw popcorn and frozen dinners, ugh). I'll use one at work occasionally to heat up leftovers. I think you're better off with a toaster oven (but I don't have one of those either). When I heat leftovers at home I almost always do it on the top of the stove (but I use gas and heavy cast iron cookware so that is do-able) and those also make melting chocolate & butter pretty straightforward.

I tend to only use the microwave to make porridge in the morning, and even then, it's not a daily thing.