My wife was expecting a baby and I was in one of those phases of fatherly mood wherein you tend to think what you could do to make the life of your wife and soon to come child more comfortable and the only thing missing in this equation was a microwave. But before I actually went out and purchased I did quite a bit of research on the topic and this is what I’m going to share with expectant fathers and other more happy men who intend to purchase a microwave for some reason or the other.
I first tried to figure out what are the probable uses to which the microwave could be put to. General heating, heating in rush situations (like trying to heat milk with the baby crying [milk is in the bottle mind you]). I was somehow sure that this gadget is going to be used only when things are needed fast and there is no chance that we’ll be cooking rich Indian food in it. At the most only recipes that require boiling ...like making rice/idlis would be done in the oven rest all would be done elsewhere. But I also wanted to make Tandoori Chicken yaar (biwi bacchhon ka to ho gaya mera bhi kuch jugad hona chahiye).
After this analysis of my requirements I studied the features available in the market. I came across three terms
Simple microwave - only heats or boils, no browning or roasting is done. for example you can make rice but you cannot make chapatis because they require browning.
Grill - there is a heating element usually on top which heats the food the old fashioned way but only browns or roasts from one side - the side on which the heater is situated. for example you can make tandoori chicken but cannot make biscuits because thay require heating and baking from all sides.
Convection - this is the old fashioned heating system wherein heating is done from all sides as a result browning takes place, in other words you can bake.
I cmpared my requirements with the features availble in the market and came to the conclusion that I needed a an oven with microwave and grill features, I wasn’t interested in baking though. Now came the time to make the decision as to what size should I buy, well I let this decision rest on the size of chicken which I wanted to grill in my oven and I decided on a 26L model. But why Kenstar, I had no prior experience of this product, nobody in my khandaan had ever had it or used it so probably I didn’t want to risk a big amount on the other so called better and costlier owens (and I’m happy I decided on Kenstar.....Yaar its been 2.5 yrs and it’s still working fine...full paisa wasool).
I’ve been using this owen since the last 2.5yrs and in this while only the rotator motor has gone once (The motor which turns the plate holding the food) and it was replaced as it went off during guarantee period, otherwise there has been no problem and we use it atleast 15-20 times in a day from reheating tea, samosas, to drying my underwear (Its one more use which I discovered and which the manufacturer doesn’t know).
I’m happy and would advise this model to every expectant and possible father.