There’s nothing more annoying than something that mostly works. The microwave in my house suddenly started not working at times — the sensor would occasionally trip or it would just reset itself — and that’s just not acceptable. You don’t realize how much you use something until it stops working. Worse still is the “kinda working” that was going on. 

So a bit of research later and I found the Samsung Speedcook on sale. I knew that it was more than “just” a microwave, but hey, it’s on sale. After it was installed Tuesday, I started reading through the instructions and playing with it. Let me go on record now: It’s amazing and frustrating all at once.

It can be used in all kinds of modes, from microwave to convection oven to toaster oven, and combinations of them to boot. You know when you see a “preheat” button right next to the “popcorn” button that this is going to be a bit more complex. For the things that are pre-programmed, it’s perfect. I hit a button and pow, it’s cooking burgers perfectly. Another button, pow, the microwave pizza comes out crispy and not chewy like many microwave pizzas. Reheat a slice from last night? Sure, it’s got that setting too.

The frustration comes in with what it doesn’t have pre-set. It comes with a cookbook that thinks we’re still in the Fifties. They’re all nice recipes, but no one makes this stuff regularly and if they do, well, I dont know those people. Something simple like a grilled cheese or cooking a burrito require some experimentation.

The cookbook has a nice recipe for quesadilla. That’s kind of like a grilled cheese, so I tried it. The bread came out toasted and crisp with the melted cheese just right. It wasn’t better than grilling it on the stove, but it was easier. I didn’t have to watch it, flip it, or much of anything. I just put it together, pushed some buttons, and pow, grilled cheese.

The same was true of my Evol frozen burrito. Love those things for a quick protein-filled lunch. There’s no setting for burrito, frozen or otherwise, but there is a setting for “frozen sandwich.” The description makes it sound like this is the Hot Pocket setting, so I tried it. Pow, perfect burrito. Well, very close. It could use maybe 15 seconds more, but until I figure out how to do that, this is certainly good enough.

I really like this new oven and can see many, many ways it could come in handy, functioning as both a plain ol’ microwave and as a second oven in many ways. The only downside is the limitation of the pre-sets. This oven and similar ones, like the GE Advantium, don’t have much consumer uptake. No products are going to include instructions for some esoteric model. There’s not even a good website to share recipes or settings for various foods. 

Then again, there is a pre-set for lasagne. I’m going to make that this weekend and if it comes out as well as the other things I’ve put together, I may just start that website myself.