Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Countertop Microwave Air Fryer Combo, Time-Saving 20 Presets + App-Linked Recipes, 1000W 1.2 cu ft Inverter Multi Oven & Convection Tech – NN-CV87QS Stainless Steel

While most of the reviews for this are very positive, there were enough bad ones that made me slightly hesitant. Especially these days when general product quality is on the decline due to corporate greed. The first time I saw a combination toaster oven / microwave at a friends house over 10 years ago, I was blown away -- I had no idea you could get both functions in a single appliance, and I've wanted one ever since. When I stumbled across this one, I just had to have it. We've had ours for a couple of months now, and it has worked very well -- no trouble at all. I recall some reviewers saying having to use a central knob to dial in the cooking time instead of a classic number pad was a pain, but I disagree. It was a tiny bit awkward at first, but we got used to it quickly enough. There are many other combination air-fryer/microwave/broiler machines, but this one has a unique feature that no other manufacturer offers (or they don't advertise it if they do): the inverter-driven microwave. The last microwave I had was also a Panasonic with the inverter technology, and let me tell you, it's WAY better than the standard microwave. Why is the inverter better? When a typical microwave is set to cook at 70% of full power, for example, it will cycle the magnetron inside on and off at an interval that equates to 70% on and 30% off. So during the phase when it's on, it's full power. But with an inverter-driven microwave, setting it to 50% means the magnetron will stay on the entire time, but only output 50% of its full power. This makes melting butter, softening cheese, or defrosting meat far more effective. Okay, I went too far down the rabbit hole with the inverter feature -- there's so much more to this machine. I won't go into every detail, though. My next favorite feature is the ability to stage different modes to run in succession. For example: to warm up a frozen corn dog, I'll set Stage 1 to run the microwave for one minute, then Stage 2 will automatically switch to air fryer for eight minutes. In my old convection toaster oven, heating up a frozen corn dog would have taken 20 minutes. But in this machine, this feature gives you the best of both worlds: the fast cooking of a microwave, but also the crispy toastiness of an oven! My wife says that the air fryer seems a lot slower than the Instant Pot air fryer accessory that she'd been using. However, it does work, so the extra times really isn't a problem for us. I will tell you this, though: don't leave your hot food inside after using the broil or air fry functions because the steam that builds up inside the chamber will take away the crunchy/toasty texture! The only complaint I have is with the air fryer temperature selection: you can't dial in whatever temperature you want, you have to choose from one of three: 400°, 410°, or 425°. Um... what? Those are close enough in temperature that there's not much of a difference, I don't think. No 350°? No 375°? Who has ever wanted to cook anything at 410°? Of all the clever things this appliance can do, this just makes no sense to me. So we airfry everything at either 425° or 400°, regardless of what the food package instructs, because there's nothing we can do about that. But airfrying seems to work just fine, anyway. We haven't tried the stupid Kitchen+ app, and we probably never will. Even if its actually useful, I'm sure they'll require you to setup an account and supply a bunch of personal information before you can even use it, not to mention collecting metrics every time you use it, and I just hate that. If appliance manufacturers could integrate 99 cameras on their products to watch everything you do, they would. Sheesh. But I digress... Overall, my wife and I have used every major feature of this appliance pretty much daily, and other than the odd airfry temperatures, we have no complaints. I would recommend keeping the User Manual close-by for the first few months so that you have a handy reference of how to use some of the advanced features, as most of those aren't obvious just from looking at the appliance (but basic microwave, broil, and airfry operations should be simple enough for most people). And once you've performed some of those advanced operations a few times, you won't need the User Manual anymore.

It’s so convenient to have this microwave with all four features. Haven’t used the app which provides many features. Sometimes the recipes have to be tweaked for timing. I like that it’s sleek and not oversized. The best part is that it’s made by Panasonic, which is very reliable brand.

This is for the CV87 version, which has a dial. We recently got to try an air fryer out at a friend's and really liked it, but we don't have room in our kitchen for another appliance. This Panasonic, however, combining an air fryer and microwave, was able to fit in the space that our previous Kitchen-Aid microwave was installed in, so that's cool. The Breville was too deep. Toshiba makes two, but the larger Toshiba was too big to fit, while the smaller Toshiba was too small on the inside. WIth a circular tray over 13" in diameter, this can handle a lot of meals, and in convection bake mode it heats up faster than our big oven. Operation of the microwave function is quite straight forward - press the Microwave button to start - each subsequent press lowers the power level by 200 watts, if you don't want full power. And since this uses an inverter, it's good for delicate tasks - non-inverters run intermittently to simulate low power, but they're still zapping your food with high power for short bursts. Anyway, after pressing Microwave, you turn the dial to set the time, then press the dial to start. The other functions work in similar ways - press the button for the mode you want, then press again to change the temperature. Turn the dial for time and press to start. You have to remember what Combi1 (Broil+Microwave) and Combi2 (Convection+Microwave) combine, but otherwise, the screen gives you the information you need to start the cooking. For reheating, you just press the dial button to start the sensor reheat program. That's pretty convenient. What's problematic, though, is the automatic child door lock. By default, you can't open the door with the open door button - you have to press the "Timer/Clock" button to unlock the door before it can be opened! This is in response to a new Federal law requiring two actions to open the door after cooking so kids don't get burned. But, Panasonic making it the "Timer/Clock" button is just stupid and unintuitive. They should have added a separate "Unlock" button, or at least used the more obvious "Stop/Reset" button, but they didn't. Now, you can turn this off with a 3-button key sequence, but that only lasts until the next power outage! Very frustrating. Another, much more minor, issue is that if you turn key-press beeps off, the oven doesn't beep ever, even when cooking is done. This oven is "smart" in that you can connect it to your WiFi and then perform some controls from the app, which seems silly since you have to be at the oven to put the food in anyway. Unfortunately, the app doesn't let you alter the settings (like child door lock!) or set the time of day, so all it really does is spoon-feed you parts of the manual - and NOT the parts you really want, such as the odd things it can do like melt butter or reheat pastries, etc. The only real use I've found for the app is that it'll notify you when cooking is done, so if you're not in the kitchen to hear the end beeps, you can still know when cooking is done. As an Air Fryer, there's good and not so good. What's good is that the basket is like 13" in diameter, so it holds more than typical 8" air fryers. What's bad is that the racks supplied lift the air fryer up quite high in the oven (see photo), so you can't air-fry tall/thicker things. What's also bad is that you only get 3 temp choices in Air Fry mode: 400º, 410º, and 425º. Dedicated air fryers often have temps as low as 350º. One interesting thing is that the glass tray on the bottom stays in for all cooking modes, so your food is always rotating when cooking. I guess that's good for even-ness, but it's a bit odd. You also have to be careful not to use the metal pan and racks in Microwave mode, but you can use them in the Combo modes which include a microwave program, so weird. They do have silicone spacers on the metal racks so you don't have metal to metal contact, which apparently is what causes sparks. Overall, we're happy so far. Early days yet for sure, but this is a better microwave than the one it replaces and can be built-in (with the expensive trim kit), with added cooking functions to boot.

If you have a PhD, you might understand how to operate this oven. The manual of instructions is the most confusing I’ve ever seen! This might be great for making simple things, like popcorn, Mac and cheese, french fries or casserole, but if like me you want to be in control of what you do, and properly COOK, grill steak, veggies, or make a cheese soufflé, forget it! I had a basic Panasonic combo microwave oven twenty years ago that was amazing. It was so simple to use. This one is not. The child lock is annoying, but the worst feature is the cooling system after stopping a program and choosing another one. For example: I used preset 16 to make steak, but when I saw it required 45 minutes (vs. 6 minutes medium rare in a pan), I stopped it to select a different setting. It then started cooling off for 10 minutes! I even used a fan in front of it to help dissipate the heat! Based on my last 2 weeks trying and failing (I used to be a chef in France!), I noticed that this oven takes much more time to cook everything than a normal oven. If only I could return it!

Love this! Once you figure out all it can do and I think you have actually have to read the instructions to do so . Having an appliance that does microwave, air fry and convection oven is great and it clears counter space!

Nice looking, sturdy. Microwave works okay. Food heated evenly ( once we figured out how to open door and get microwave to run.) We didn't find manual to be very user friendly. Old microwave was 1000wts this is a little higher at, I think 1110wts. Doesn't heat any faster than old 1000wt one. When microwave turns off, turntable stops. Old microwave turntable continued turning until container in same position as when inserted. ie: bowl with handle facing open door. This, turn hot bowl to reach handle. Realizing I'm disappointed. Especially at this price point. Would probably return if it was a smaller item. Hope we can get used to it. Someone was looking for a way to close door less noisily. Press door open button and hold down. Close door and hold door closed tightly then release button. Lots of LOUD beeps. Disabling beep button disables ALL beeps. Would be nice to disable all except one beep when finished. Vents are on sides and back. Top doesn't seen to get hot. Cooling off fan is loud. I haven't used air fryer or convection oven yet.

Absolutely love this "Do it ALL" microwave. Very solid build and it can do it all,..Microwave, Convention Oven, Broil and Air Fry!!

This is a very versatile oven.