Best Built-In Bosch Microwaves

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Oven-cooked meals are nice and all, but you don’t always have the time or inclination to go through time-consuming preparation and cooking processes; that’s where microwaves can give you a helping hand.

Microwaves are tremendous tools for quickly and efficiently heating, defrosting, melting, or reheating food for convenient food prep for your family.

Bosch has been known to produce luxurious, high-end, built-in microwaves, and today we’re going to look at their range of microwave ovens and talk about our favorites. We base our opinions on affordability, appearance, build quality, durability, and performance.

Let’s get started.

Specifications

• Type: Microwave & Oven Combo
• Dimensions: 49 x 29.7 x 24.5 inches
• Microwave Interior: 16.5 x 9.8 x 16.5 inches
• Appliance Weight: 259lbs
• Capacity: 1.6 cu.ft
• Turntable: Yes
• Available Colors: Stainless Steel
• Wattage: 9600 Watts 

Design, Construction & Capacity

As you’d expect from a product that costs an astronomical amount of money, the Bosch 800 Series microwave and oven combination’s appearance and build-quality are exceptional. 

The stainless steel finish is stunning, and the ‘Steel Touch’ control panel is not only beautiful but highly responsive, making it easier to use than most competitor models. Even when your hands are greasy or wet, the panel performs flawlessly.

It comes with a mid-sized 1.6 cu.ft capacity, which is adequate for small families.

While this article’s primary focus is microwave ovens, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the convection oven that comes with this appliance. The oven’s design matches that of the microwave to create a perfect symmetry, which will look fantastic in any kitchen.

As both the microwave and oven are connected, this appliance is not only massive, it’s extremely heavy and will take a minimum of two people to lift and install it.

Features

• Speed Chef: Not only does the adjoined oven have convection capabilities, but the microwave does too. So it cooks faster than any standard oven/microwave.
• Multi-Rack Convection Oven: This combination appliance is both a microwave and a full-sized multi-rack, multi-functional convection oven, which gives you double the cooking capabilities.
• ‘Steel Touch’ Control Panel: The control panels for the Bosch 800 Series microwave/convection oven combination appliance are among the most responsive, visually stunning control centers available on any kitchen appliance.
• Panel Lock: To stop accidental activation of the super responsive control panel, the ‘panel lock’ deactivates all functions until you switch them back on.
• Pre-Programmed Settings: There are six one-touch presets on this microwave, broil, convection, pizza, frozen foods, popcorn, and beverages.
• Sensor Cooking: Sensor cooking detects humidity levels in your food and adjusts time and power levels accordingly for perfectly cooked food.
• Auto-Defrost: Make life easier with this auto-defrost feature that does all the hard calculations for you.
• Add 30 Seconds: Add 30 seconds to your cook-time at the single touch of a button.
• ‘Quiet-Close’ Doors: ‘Soft hinges’ ensure these appliance doors don’t close with a bang.
• Oven Features: It’s worth noting the multitude of features on the convection oven, such as Wi-Fi connectivity, self-cleaning, ‘roast mode,’ closed-door broiling, telescopic rack, glide-out racks, temperature probe, and hidden bake element.

Performance

Not only does the Bosch 800 Series Speed microwave operate as a first-class microwave, but its convection capabilities mean it also functions as a small oven. It’s perfect for cooking less substantial meals or supplementing the lower convection oven when you’re cooking massive meals. 

Being able to brown and crisp food such as chicken or steak in a microwave is something you won’t find in a traditional appliance. It gives the ‘Speed Oven’ a massive advantage over a majority of its rivals.

Consumers are delighted with how the Bosch 800 Series microwave performs and consider it worth the money despite its super high price point. Of course, people are commenting on the lower convection oven too. 

Should you buy the Bosch 800 Series Speed Microwave & Wall Oven Combination?

While we’re focusing primarily on microwaves in this article, this combination appliance is head and shoulders above other products in terms of quality and high-end exclusivity. However, we should clarify that a substantial percentage of the ridiculously high price point is to cover the convection oven. The microwave is there to supplement the oven, not the other way around.

Specifications

• Type: Drawer
• Dimensions: 23.8 x 16.3 x 23.3 inches
• Appliance Weight: 80lbs
• Capacity: 1.2 cu.ft
• Turntable: No
• Available Colors: Stainless Steel
• Wattage: 1000 Watts

Design, Construction & Capacity

Bosch are no strangers to beautiful kitchen appliances, and their 800 Series 1.2 Drawer microwave is stunning. The high-quality stainless steel finish is crisp and clean, while the sleek tinted window gives it a cool aesthetic.

The whole appliance has a low profile design to sit flush with your cabinets and cupboards. Keeping in line with a low profile nature, the control panel is a sleek touch glass feature that looks excellent and is very responsive. Unfortunately, you can’t alter the control panel’s angle, which means it could be tricky to use if you install the microwave low down.

While the mechanism that opens and closes the drawer is beautifully smooth, it’s relatively slow, which has proved frustrating to some consumers. You can open/close the microwave drawer with a gentle touch of the control pad.

With 1.2 cu.ft of space, the Bosch 800 Series drawer microwave is a small-to-midsize appliance, though the drawer function means it’s a little roomier than a standard machine. Fits a 20oz travel mug or 13″ x 9″ baking tray.

Features

• Sensor Cooking: Ensures food isn’t overcooked by using a sensor that adjusts power levels based on your food’s humidity.
• Auto-Defrost: Never have partially defrosted food again, with the auto-defrost function that will do all the calculations for you.
• Pre-Programmed Settings: Six settings increase the ease of use of this Bosch microwave. Including; sensor cook, sensor reheat, and more.
• Keep Warm: This feature keeps your food warm after it’s finished cooking until you’re ready to eat it.
• Panel Lock: Avoid unwanted activation with a simple lock that disables the panel.

Performance

With 1000 Watts of power running through the Bosch 800 Series microwave, this appliance is more than capable of heating food quickly inside the mid-size interior. However, one downside of a drawer microwave is the lack of a turntable, which can cause unevenly heated food, which can be the case on occasion with this appliance.

Though this is only a problem with dense, more robust foods that require longer cooking times, for most cooking, heating, and defrosting tasks, this microwave performs exceptionally well. We must note that this is common with drawer microwaves and not a problem only suffered by Bosch appliances.

Should you buy the Bosch 800 Series 1.2 Built-In Drawer Microwave?

At first glance, the gorgeous Bosch 800 Series drawer microwave is extremely expensive compared to other brands and models of built-in drawer microwaves; this one is reasonably priced. While it’s not the most efficient appliance at dealing with large jobs, it performs well everywhere else. 

Specifications

• Type: Built-In / Drop Down
• Dimensions: 29.7 x 19.6 x 19.6 inches
• Appliance Weight: 75lbs
• Capacity: 1.6 cu.ft
• Turntable: No
• Available Colors: Stainless Steel
• Wattage: 950 Watts 

Design, Construction & Capacity

Having a drop-down door is a nice touch; however, a small minority of consumers have complained that the hinges on the appliance’s door have failed within a few years of use.

Bosch designed this striking stainless steel appliance to match other kitchen appliances in their range, particularly the ‘Bosch Wall Oven.’

The responsive touch control panel looks sleek, though there are known issues with the display dimming over time, making it difficult to read. A small number of consumers have reported a complete failure of the LCD.

With a 1.6 cu.ft capacity, there’s plenty of space for cooking, defrosting, and reheating foods, and it’s one of the larger microwaves available from Bosch.

Features

• Sensor Cooking: Bosch ensures this appliance delivers results that are ‘just right’ with a sensor cooking system that auto-regulates the power and time settings.
• Delay Start: You can plan ahead of time with the ‘delay start,’ which will activate the microwave at your preferred time.
• Pre-Programmed Settings: A set of one-touch buttons for ease of use, the presets include; soften, melt, popcorn, auto-defrost, and beverage.
• Keep Warm: Ensure your food is still warm when you’re ready to eat it with the ‘Keep Warm’ feature.
• Control Lock: Deactivate the control panel to guard against accidental use at the touch of a button.
• Add 30 Seconds: If you’re not quite sure if your food is ready, add extra time in increments of 30 seconds.  

Performance

Despite having an increased capacity and lower power output than the 800 Series drawer microwave, the 500 Series drop-down appliances performs equally well, if not better than its more expensive brother. This is presumably thanks to the turntable that rotates during operation for more evenly cooked foods.

Though it has less power, it’s noticeably louder, which is not uncommon for small kitchen appliances, and though annoying, it doesn’t negatively impact the overall results of this Bosch microwave.

Should you buy the Bosch 500 Series 1.6 Built-In Drop Down Microwave?

The 500 Series 1.6 microwave is a beautiful appliance superior in performance and capacity to the considerably more expensive 800 Series Drawer model from Bosch. However, several build-quality issues make the overall experience not quite as positive.

Don’t get us wrong, it’s still a superb appliance that’s well worth the reasonable price tag and is an excellent choice of premium appliance, especially if you’re on a tighter budget.