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  • Design and Usability

  • Performance

  • Before You Buy

  • Cooking Performance

  • Sound

  • Heating and Defrosting

  • Design and Usability
  • Performance
  • Before You Buy
  • Cooking Performance
  • Sound
  • Heating and Defrosting

However, it's also expensive. Even on sale, prices rarely dip below $700, and for that money we would've preferred to see faster reheating and defrosting performance.

If you already own an Electrolux range, the EI30BM60MS is a fine choice to go over it. But don't overlook less-expensive alternatives.

Design and Usability

Forward Thinking

Like other Electrolux appliances, the EI30BM60MS features a modern, streamlined interface. Not only is the microwave beautifully designed, but it will match your existing Electrolux ranges and cooktops. Features include numerous presets, a shelf that lets you cook two things at once, and a quartz grill that helps brown foods.

The Electrolux E130BM60MS over-the-range microwave.

The Electrolux E130BM60MS over-the-range microwave.

Another welcome touch is the horizontal control panel on the bottom of the unit. This allows for easy access to presets, and creates a pleasing symmetry with your range's control panel. The unit features the same IQ Touch panel as many Electrolux ranges and wall ovens. While that name may sound impressive, it means very little: An IQ Touch control panel basically means that the user can always see all available options, as you would with any other standard control panel.

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Performance

Slow and a bit unsteady

The EI30BM60MS didn't exactly blow us away with its overall performance in our tests, but it did well enough to be worth your consideration.

For instance, the sensor-based cooking modes performed well, and the Popcorn setting—often a wasted function on microwave ovens—shined. However, reheating and defrosting took a long time and didn't always offer even results. You should have no trouble warming your coffee, but other microwaves do this better.

The microwave's convection settings impressed with some surprisingly even cooking, particularly in the case of our test cookies. Most combination microwave/convection ovens don't cook this well.

Before You Buy

If it matches the range, it's a good choice

Considering that over-the-range microwaves sell for between $200 and $2,000, it becomes challenging for consumers to determine value for money.

With that in mind, we think the Electrolux EI30BM60MS may be a good fit for some consumers despite its high price tag. While it is by no means a perfect appliance, its admirable performance, many features, and good looks make it a good choice for Electrolux range owners who don't want to compromise on style.

Cooking Performance

One area where the EI30BM60MS did well was in its sensor cooking performance. Popcorn settings often fail, but we were pretty impressed with this one. We found no burnt kernels post-cooking and only a few (65 out of about 310) kernels remained unpopped. The baked potato setting was also fairly good. It heated the potato with little trouble, though it wasn't as evenly cooked as it could've been.

The convection cooking settings were pretty good for a microwave/convection oven combo. For instance, we baked some cookies and found little inconsistency from top to bottom. We did not notice any difference due to the quartz grill, however.

Sound

The EI30BM60MS is one of the quietest microwaves we have seen, with normal cooking operation at a gentle 46.1 dB. The extractor fan was also one of the quieter models we've tested, at 61.2 dB.

Heating and Defrosting

The EI30BM60MS impressed early in this category with some excellent water heating performance. The microwave took only 3 minutes to heat our cup of water to 211°F. Unfortunately the EI30BM60MS struggled to reheat food effectively. We noticed a wide variance in temperature when reheating some mac and cheese. Furthermore, the defrost setting left behind a number of frozen sections after a 10 minute defrost time.

Meet the tester

James Aitchison

James Aitchison

Editor

@revieweddotcom

Aside from covering all things sleep, James moonlights as an educational theatre practitioner, amateur home chef, and weekend hiker.

See all of James Aitchison's reviews

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