Top 10 Hamilton Beach Compact Microwaves
for September 2023

Between this microwave plate replacement and the microwave turntable in our top pick, KWESOR has our vote for the microwave glass plate replacement that's easiest to install. It is one of the easiest glass plate replacements to put in place: Just align the holes, push in the four screws, and you're done. It is sturdy, too: The glass is thick, and the holes seem to line up very precisely. It's an aftermarket plate, so it doesn't come with any mounting hardware, but (as with the other replacement), it ships with four screws and a little gasket. The replacement plate fits our microwave perfectly, and we barely had to bend the corners to line them up. The glass plate replacement from Kwesor costs less, too. It cost us $10 less than the replacement in our top pick.

The Hamilton Beach 31127D countertop toaster oven has a spacious interior, so you can cook everything from snacks to side dishes. It has two rack positions, so you can easily accommodate different sizes of items. The Roll Top Door moves up out of the way so you can safely access your food. The Hamilton Beach 31127D is also easy to clean and has a three-year warranty. One negative: the included baking pan is a bit small, so you won't be able to fit much in it. The Hamilton Beach 31127D also doesn't work with convection cooking, and it can't preheat for more than 15 minutes, which is a bit limiting. Overall, the Hamilton Beach 31127D is a reliable toaster oven with a spacious interior, and it's fairly easy to use.

The Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Countertop Toaster Oven is compact, easy to use, and surprisingly versatile with 6 variable cooking functions. The Easy Reach's 6-setting dial lets you choose among convection, bake, broil, toast, warm, and defibrillate. The controls are intuitive and easy to use. The 6-slice capacity lets you bake 2 slices of toast, 12 inches pizza, or 9 inches X11 inches bake pan, and thanks to the roomy interior, there's plenty of room inside for a variety of foods. The roll-top door ups the Easy Reach's convenience factor, and rotates back out of the way to allow you to easily check on the cooking progress without opening the door, or to remove cooked food from the Easy Reach. The oven is easy to clean, and the glass cooking surface makes monitoring the cooking progress easy. The Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Countertop Toaster Oven is a great deal for the price, and it's a great option when you want a compact, countertop toaster oven for occasional use.

The Toshiba ML2-EM12EA is one of the better-performing microwave ovens we've tested, and it features a convenient touch pad to set cooking times and power levels. This microwave also features a large 1.2 cu. ft. interior (larger than most others we've tested) and a convenient turntable, which rotates in either direction. The microwave's cooking performance is excellent. The defrost setting is reliable, and you can also adjust the amount of power used to cook each item. The microwave is also quiet, and the noise suppression feature does a great job of eliminating fan noise. The touch pad is simple to use, and it's also handy that you can add 30s each time to the delay setting. However, the microwave's controls are a bit awkward to reach, and the timer lights are hard to see. The microwave has a warning light that is supposed to alert you to food that's about to boil over, but the light is so dim that it's not useful. The microwave's exterior is glossy black, and it's very attractive. The microwave comes with a one-year warranty and is sold at a decent price.

The Hamilton Beach Glass Electric Tea Kettle is fast, safe, and easy-to-use, and it boils water in less than a minute. The kettle has a one-liter capacity, and it boils water faster than a microwave and safer than a stovetop kettle. The kettle comes with a removable limescale filter to prevent mineral buildup, and it has a boil-dry protection feature, which automatically shuts off the kettle when the water is hot and ready to serve. The kettle has a cordless base for serving. The kettle's interior LED lights illuminate to let you know when hot water is on the way and automatically shuts off when it boils. The kettle has an auto-off feature to prevent overheating and boil-dry. The kettle is dishwasher safe, and it comes with a removable limescale filter to prevent mineral buildup and boil-dry protection.

The Farberware 1.1 Cu. Ft. Stainless Steel Countertop Microwave Oven with 6 Cooking Programs is a good start, but its small size makes it unsuitable for larger kitchens. Its 1.1 cubic foot capacity is too small for large amounts of leftovers, and you can only cook in 1.1 cubic feet at a time. The digital clock is bright, and the buttons are large and easy to find. The 6 cooking programs are convenient, and 6 minutes is plenty of time to cook pizza and other frozen foods. The 1,000-watt power level is adequate for most microwaves, and 10 power levels provide flexibility for a variety of foods. The 600-watt microwaves are adequate for smaller homes.

Nostalgia's Retro 0.9 Cubic Foot 800-Watt Countertop Microwave Oven looks great, has lots of power, and is simple to operate. Its 800-watt cooking power makes it easy to cook and reheat foods, and its 0.9 cubic foot capacity has plenty of room to cook several meals at once. One downside: the old-style microwave door is difficult to open, and we found pushing the envelope too hard several times. Also, the controls could be better. The Retro 0.9 Cubic Foot 800-Watt Countertop Microwave Oven's control panel is large and easy to read, but it's often covered in grease. There's also a button that cycles between five cooking levels, but it's unlabeled, so we had to trial and error to find it, and it's a bit awkward to use. The display also isn't very bright, and it only illuminates the cooking setting you're currently using. We also wish the Retro 0.9 Cubic Foot 800-Watt Countertop Microwave Oven had an automatic cooking completion signal. Overall, though, this microwave has lots of power, looks great, and is easy to use.

The RCA RMW953 doesnt have a ton of extra features, but it has enough to get the job done. Its 0.9 cubic foot capacity makes cooking for larger groups a snap, and the oversized 4.3-inch touchscreen display makes it easy to navigate, even for larger groups. The display is bright, clear, and responsive, and while its interface isnt the most advanced, it gets the job done. The oven comes with 6 one touch functions, including pizza, popcorn, baked potato, and warm plate, but you can add others via the RCA RMW953s App Link. The microwave has three cooking functions: microwave, convection, and grill. The convection function is a great option for when you want food cooked more evenly, and the microwave mode is good for reheating foods and defrosting frozen items. The grill mode is good for cooking foods like pizza and roasted vegetables, which is a nice feature. The oven comes with a 12-minute quick cook setting, but it comes with four additional custom cook settings: 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 6 minutes, and 10 minutes, so you can easily customize cooking times. The oven also comes with a timer and kitchen timer, a kitchen timer for setting time, and a kitchen timer for setting cook time. The oven comes with 10 different power levels, so you can adjust the power level depending on the type of food you want to cook. The oven comes with a 12-month warranty.