Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Microwave Oven with Air Fryer, Convection Bake, FlashXpress Broiler, Inverter Microwave Technology, 1000W, 1.2 cu ft with Easy Clean Interior - NN-CD87KS (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.

I replaced a 35 year old Panasonic microwave that was still working. The transition to the microwave function was easy, including defrosting. I read that there was a big learning curve for this 4 in 1 combo. I practiced by twice making cheesy potatoes with the straight convection and then the combo 1 to compare results. I also have learned to use the broiler. I plan on learning each function as I need to use it, including the air fryer. It has been a godsend this week when my traditional oven igniter stopped working. So far, after over a month, I am very pleased with this appliance, including appearance, function, and versatility. The learning curve is true, but not overwhelming. It is a bit noisier because the cooling fan continues after the cooking is done, but it is not an annoyance to me. I would definitely recommend this product.

This is the best oven I've ever used. This is the best microwave I've ever used. It is a great air fryer and decent broiler. However, this 4 in 1 device does have an extremely high learning curve, which is why I think some people got frustrated and gave it lower ratings. Let's put it this way, after a while of experimentation and following the instructions extremely closely, we're able to perfectly roast a 5lb chicken in 1.5 hours crispy like KFC, bake pumpkin pie with cream brulee like crust, warm up nachos that stay crispy in a couple minutes, and BBQ skewers or cook bacon wrapped hot dogs in 30 minutes. The point is once you dial in your recipes, they are perfect each time! You can also program different microwave power and different time intervals like for warming up a bowl of soup where I warm up at 500 Watts for 5 minutes and 1000 Watts for 1 minute so that it doesn't just leave the edges hot with cold soup in the middle.There are a few downsides: There is a huge learning curve because the interface isn't very intuitive and it takes time to learn how to use each accessory for the food you usually cook, so it takes time reading the manual and experimenting with different recipes. It can be difficult to clean if you wait a long time between cleanings, but there are good instructions on how to steam clean and wipe down everything. The rack did start to change color over time, especially with bacon, but the manufacture was able to reimburse us for a replacement and now we just use foil on the rack to protect it. It is a slower broiler than a toaster oven because there is only 1 heating element at the top so things like toast and skewers only get toasted on one side, but doubling the broiling time and flipping the food solves this issue. Also, we did accidently have butter explode while trying to warm up butter, so now we just microwave on low 300 Watts for a couple minutes to melt perfectly.Despite these downsides, after the learning curve is over with, the food that comes out of this machine is perfect each time like restaurant style so it more than makes up for any inconvenience! The results are so good that I don't even use my full sized oven or dedicated microwave anymore unless there are times where I have to bake or microwave two things at once, but that is very rare. Stick with this machine and after a little experimentation, you won't be disappointed.