A rustproof microwave?

I've never seen a rusty microwave oven. Mine was pretty much the cheapest in the shop 20 years ago and hasn't gone rusty yet. What are you doing to them?

Microwave designers seem to take inspiration from Jackie Chang’s car in Cannonball Run when coming up with their UX. The controls have to do two things: 1. Vary the power. 2. Vary the time.   But oh no, you need to weigh the thing your cooking, then look at the power ratings on the packaging you’ve already binned, then check the cycle of the moon, adjust for the influence of Jupiter and check the phase variance of your own electricity supply. All entered through an interface with non-standard symbols and pictograms.  🍗☢️🔥♨️🦩⛱️

what you need is a £30 Home Bargains special. But they rust. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ve never seen a rusty microwave oven

Pretty much this (other than the old ones repurposed as letter/parcel boxes and sitting outside rural driveways)

Yes. All they need is two dials. "Power" and "Time", but they are rarely that simple.

Mine needs 5 different button presses to be on full power for 1 minute. Surely the most commonly used function.

Yet, it has separate, single press buttons to select for the following:

• Curry (no mention of type or size, just "Curry")
• Chinese ( 17% of the world's population, or their cuisine, summarised to one button)
• Pasta (vague)
• Casserole (hello 1980s)
• Jacket potato
• Potato products (???)
• Chicken (no other meat option)
• Pizza (who cooks pizza in a microwave?)

Such a bizarre appliance.

It hasn't rusted though....

I've never seen a rusty microwave.

Buy a brushed stainless one?

I had one that started to rust a bit inside, an ancient one though, 20yrs old at a guess.

Replaced about a year ago as the LCD display was also starting to play up...I have noticed a lot of steam when you nuke something, so I thought to myself, if you shut the door as soon as you pull the food out, you're trapping that moisture inside, so I tend to leave it ajar for a bit now.

Dunno whether that's a waste of time or not, but I do that with the washing machine aswell to discorage the seals going manky.

Leave the door open for a minute or two after use to let the moisture escape

I'd be wary of a stainless one being actual decent stainless. 

Pretty sure the 'stainless steel' bin I bought for my bathroom started to rust in the car on the way home from the shop. 

I think most stainlness will get surface oxidization after a while depending on environment... unless it's chromed, or treated in some other way?
Maybe not suitable for something like a microwave/ I dunno.
It won't (shouldn't?) rust through like 'mild steel' will though.

How would a microwave rust? Does it live in the shed?

Ours was £30 ten years ago. Has three controls… time, power, and go.

Leave the door open for a minute or two after use to let the moisture escape<br />this^^^

We have. A Samsung ceramic coated job.
It has 2 dials. Power and time. Would buy again.
Same as the one before.

It still rusted. But all told we have lived together for 20 years and have only had 3 microwaves total.

Is that a good tally or not ?

I've always been of the impression that it's an issue with not cleaning them.

I'm not big into the whole cleaning thing and mine have always rusted.

Maybe it's the salt in the 5 year old soup stuck to the ceiling.

I’ve always been of the impression that it’s an issue with not cleaning them.

I’m not big into the whole cleaning thing and mine have always rusted.

I don't think it's that as I've never cleaned mine.

OK so in the interst of science, I've done a 5 min internet research project.

Conclusion.. leaving the door ajar will for a few mins discorage trapped moisture, and cleaning it every so often will also help, because you do get food spatter and dropped crumbs etc, it's unavoidable really.

I did read an interesting comment about moisture inside can encourage bacteria growth, but given that it's a microwave, I'm not sure any bacteria can realistically survive in there!

I certainly don't wipe the inside of mine down after every use, but do when it starts looking a bit mucky, or if theres a spillage.

I don’t think it’s that as I’ve never cleaned mine.

Is this yours? 😉

I’ve never seen a rusty microwave oven. Mine was pretty much the cheapest in the shop 20 years ago and hasn’t gone rusty yet. What are you doing to them?<br /><br />

He’s probably not doing anything special to them other than using them in Carmarthenshire humidity. 

We've got a Delonghi microwave, stainless steel, it's 15 years old. No rust, power output is/was always wildly optimistic.

Panasonic stainless Steel, complicated timer to upset you instead, but no rust 

Not rust, just beanzzz

@mattyfez that looks like my old work microwave after it was cleaned.

It still rusted. But all told we have lived together for 20 years and have only had 3 microwaves total.

Is that a good tally or not ?

16 years, one Sharp microwave, older than that, no rust.

Unfortunately the leaving the door open thing doesn't apply here, 'coz I do leave it open. And clean. It's just a bit of painted mild steel really not fit for purpose.
Argos here I come.
@gowerboy, there's at least three Argos stores near me.

What's all this chat about power and time.

You jab the quick start button a few times to get up to a number plucked out your arse, it kicks in and you are sorted.

I have never used another button.

What’s all this chat about power and time.

True, mine runs at 900w full power unless you want to be fancy.... jab the 'on' button to add 30sec , so press it 6 times for 3 mins.

It has a handy display so you can see the total nuke time as you press the button.

Mine sparks and fizz's and occasionally puts on a bit of a light show 😀

Ach...it'll be fine...

Anything that's metal inside rather than white paint. I paid a bit extra for a... Panasonic I think which is stainless steel inside and it's outlasted every other microwave I've ever had, combined.

Either that or treat it as a consumable I suppose.

Panasonic? 14 years old and not a speck of rust. Two buttons to nuke food for a minute on high, and it has a fan to clear the steam out of the inside when it’s finished (maybe linked to the lack of rust?).

I don't have a microwave since ours exploded (a rather tame explosion) when my wife manage to melt a brioche roll that only really need a quick defrost 🙂

However, several years earlier it had rusted and the paint lifted under the wheels of the turntable. A quick sand and some microwave paint I found online fixed it.  Wouldn't have bothered if it was generally rusty on the walls/ceiling though, it's designed for touch ups.

As others, ours is over twenty years old (I bought it for Mrs NBT when I still lived in London, which I left in 2001) and though the interior light gave up the ghost a few years ago, I can't see any rust when I do look inside.

I’ve never seen a rusty microwave but I’m willing to bet that kitchen spray with bleach is used pretty liberally in the OP’s kitchen… will eventually eat through paint, SS etc.

buy a normal microwave, step away from the spray bleach. 

Our microwave is absolutely rank.

The paint has come off the roof, where the wheels go round, off the inside of the door seal area, pretty much everywhere. Think it's a Delonghi to match the coffee machine but might be something else. It's fundamental flaw (in addition to being built like a 90s Lancia) seems to be the lack of any ventilation. Surely it's not that hard to integrate a fan or even just some passive ventilation?

My previous office used to have a huge Panasonic one that could do everything, put a jacket potato in and not take it out untill it was crispy. The only problem was inspire of a million programs, you couldn't actually do that, you had to put it in, then go back to switch it to convenction oven.

buy a normal microwave, step away from the spray bleach

Bleach won't attack stainless, not outside industrial chemistry conditions where things like chloride embrittlement become a worry.

A quick sand and some microwave paint

Now that’s niche paint! Do they do toaster paint?

Our last two or maybe three microwaves were chucked out due to rust and flaky paint inside.
I can guarantee it wasn't due over cleaning or spray bleach!

We had the wheels drop through the floor of our last supermarket special. I take the plate out of the new one and leave the door open after. I've also silicone-greased the wheel-track to preserve it - let's see how it goes.

I’ve never seen a rusty microwave oven. Mine was pretty much the cheapest in the shop 20 years ago and hasn’t gone rusty yet. What are you doing to them?<br /><br />
He’s probably not doing anything special to them other than using them in Carmarthenshire humidity.

Could be. Swansea here and ours is two years old (ish) and starting to dimple. It's not even used that much.

My wife found a 'life hack*' once. Place a halved lemon in the microwave for 90 seconds, or whatever, and it will clean any residue off the inside. That microwave lasted significantly less than any other because of the assault with hot acid!

*I hate that phrase with a vengeance!