Once you enter the realm of the microwave combination and digital oven, you may just as well don your space suit before entering the kitchen. Either that, or try brushing off your PHD in Kanji for Manuals not often read. There is nothing better, though, than an oven that is intuitive, easy-to-use, and with a little more to give than a knob and a dial. We’ve scoured around to find those few ovens that will please you with how they work and what they can do.
Table of Contents
The Semantics of Oven and Microwave
The unnecessary complexity of ‘combination ovenry’ begins on a very basic level. A microwave oven is what it is— it’s just a microwave or a 電子レンジ. An oven microwave is a combo microwave which can also function as a standard kind of countertop oven, otherwise known as an オーブンレンジ.
Why Get an Combination Oven Microwave?
Considering how much space a microwave appliance takes up, a more multifunctional oven makes ergonomic sense. If you’re certain you’re never going to use anything other than an oven toaster, then economically it makes a lot more sense to just stick with a basic microwave which costs around ¥5 000.
You can pick up a decent oven microwave that costs the same as a dedicated multi-functional microwave— around ¥10 000 or a little more. So, if you want a multi-functional microwave with convenient presets, you may just as well go for an oven microwave and get more value.
The other consideration, even if you never actually cook anything, is that a microwave oven doesn’t do justice to some types of food. Pizza, fried foods, tempura, and breads all come out better when reheated in an oven. Also, a combination oven microwave is roomier than an oven toaster, and you can use it to bake bread and cakes.
Choices for a Combi Oven in Japan
A combination oven can include any dual functional oven like a convection oven toaster, or even a steam oven. Apart from the oben renji, other microwave combos in Japan include particularly the superheated steam combo oven, and the simple steam oven microwave.
One combination oven that is not so well represented in Japan is the convection oven microwave. One of the few easily obtainable is the Sharp Steam Convection Oven Microwave (price link). For whatever reason, manufacturers such as Toshiba, Panasonic, and also Sharp all sell convection oven microwaves, although in a rather different design aesthetic, on the North American market.
Distinguishing Features of Your Oven Microwave
Apart from good looks, attractive pricing, and user-friendliness, there are a few things you need to pay attention to when picking out your best oven microwave.
Microwave Power Settings
The first to note are power ratings. Most microwaves these days will have at least 800 W as the maximum power level, so that’s pretty standard. Microwaves running to 900 W are nice, but generally that upper limit can only be run for two to three minutes. More importantly, are the number of power gradation levels for the manual microwave. A low of 150W or 200W can be used for manual thawing and 300W can be used to cook things that go pop like eggs and squid.
Oven Capabilities
Secondly, for the oven function, it’s best if the oven settings reach at least 220 ℃ to 230 ℃. Some ovens have settings up to to 250 ℃, but the temperature will cycle up and down once reaching about 210 ℃ for overheating safety protection. Most of oven microwaves will only allow you to increase the temperature in 10 ℃ increments, which is no problem for most types of foods.
It’s quite common these days for ovens to have a proofing or fermentation setting at 35℃ and 40℃. The higher temperature of 40℃ is ideal for the more commonly used dry yeast. Live yeast works better at 35℃. Most breads can easily be proofed at a stable room temperature, but seasonal fluctuations make a proofing oven the ideal choice.
Griller and Toaster
If you want to use the upper element alone, then essentially you’re looking for an oven microwave griller. Not every oven microwave has a separate grill function, so always check if this is what you want. Some ovens will only only grill for 30 min, others a lot longer.
If you need an oven microwave for making toast and other kinds of surface grilling, 900 W is the best you can get with smaller or less complicated ovens. For a grill over 1 000 W or equal to that of a good oven toaster, your best bet are the large oven microwaves or steam oven ranges. Toasting, though, can only be done one side at a time.
A Short Guide to Good Microwaving
Microwaves have been around so long that most people would generally seem to understand good microwave etiquette. Surprisingly, there are quite a few things worth knowing that could up your game in this department.
To Wrap or Not to Wrap
- Generally you don’t wrap (miso) soups, rice, or whole food items like shrimp or a chicken breast.
- Wrap oily or buttery foods, stews, curries, cream soups, soups with chunkies in like corn or asari.
- Wrap lightly with plastic film, and loosen lids on tupperware.
- Consult the cooking and wrapping guide in the manual.
Potential Trouble Foods
- Use the drinks menu to heat up drinks or use medium manual settings.
- Never cook whole eggs on high heat or auto menu in your microwave.
- Food with little water content like shumai, sweet potato, breads etc. should be heated on lower manual settings and not the fast auto menu.
- Any foods with membranes like squid or shells like chestnuts should first be cut or cracked open.
Faux Pas
- Be careful not to chuck in retort packs with inner metallic filming.
- Remove aluminum twisties used to seal bread packs.
- Always place food as centered as possible.
- Don’t cram the microwave – divide up large portions.
- You cannot real thaw anything below a 100g.
- Don’t heat anything smaller than a half-eaten onigiri.
- Remove precooked dinners from plastic covering and place in a container.
See reviews for the best microwave cookware in Japan
Overview of The Easiest to Use Oven Microwave Combos in Japan
Twin Bird DR-E852W: A good value oven with only 7 easy one-touch-menus to navigate. The 900 W grill is a real bonus, and the fry setting uses the oven and microwave. There’s a doneness setting, the timer is longer than most, and you can mute sounds for a flashing light: READ MORE
Balmuda The Range: From one of Japan’s premium designer-appliance manufacturers, Balmuda is a high quality and dependable oven. You can customize sounds, volume, and lights. For the price, though, it just lacks a grill and could offer more on power ratings: READ MORE
Sharp RE-F18A: An affordable oven that offers a lot for the price. It has a special toast function, frozen bake oven options, and preheating. It also proofs at two temperatures and has doneness settings. There’s a bit more button pushing involved: READ MORE
Panasonic NE-FS300-W: A good basic option for a larger sized oven. The interface is simple and time settings are the easiest to use by far. Power ratings are rather average, but it has an infrared grill and the microwave can slow cook up to 300 min. It has mute and control locks: READ MORE
Twin Bird DR-E852W – 18 L Oven Grill Microwave
This Twin Bird from Nigata is one of the best deals you can get for a small oven. It’s comparatively quite affordable and has some nice specs. It’s really easy to use, preset menus are just what you need, the grill is pretty good at 900 W, and with the microwave you get shiagari-chousetsu or a doneness setting.
Getting Started
Like most ovens, you need to do a dry bake at 200℃ for 20 min. To do this, just press the [オーブン/グリル] button three times so that [グリル] appears in the screen. Turn the dial to set the time at 20 min, and then press [ あたため /スタート ]. Make sure your windows are open and kitchen ventilation is working.
When cooking finishes the oven will beep 5 times and [出来上がり] will appear on the display. However, if you press on [オーブン] and [グリル] at the same time for 2 seconds, you can mute the sounds. In this case, the display will flash when cooking is completed.
How the Auto Menu Works
- User-friendly interface
- Attractive yellow backlit light.
- 7 auto one-touch menus
- 95 min timer
- Sound mute
- [仕上り調節] doneness temp.
- Grill 900 W
- Proof 40℃
- In use function display
- Remaining time display
The [1 自動あたため] menu at the bottom simply requires you to pop in your food and press the [ あたため /スタート ] button. Infrared sensors do the rest.
For menus [2. ごはん] rice ; [3. 飲み物] drinks ; [4. おかず] deli ; which also use infrared sensing, you can just hit start or turn the dial to select doneness [仕上り仕上り調節]. The default is medium [中] heat, which is not shown on the display, but you can adjust to [弱] low or [強] high.
Option [5. 解凍] thaw does not have any customization, so you just press start. For custom thawing you can use the manual microwave at 200 W.
Option [6. フライ あたため ] fried food uses both the microwave and the oven function— so you CANNOT use the baking tray, plastic wrap, or aluminum foil. You can also choose the doneness temperature.
Pizze mode [7. ピザ] uses the grill function and you can set the doneness level. If the pizza contains raw shrimp or squid you should choose [強] high for doneness. Shellfish like scallops you can select [弱] low. You can use the baking tray, and some pizzas may overcook so you should keep an eye on things, or use the manual oven.
Frozen pizza should be thawed first either naturally or using the microwave [5. 解凍] function. Make sure NOT to use the oven tray when doing this.
Manual Microwave
The nice thing about this oven design, is that manual functions are positioned underneath the settings dial, separating them from auto settings. On the left is the selection for [レンジあたため], or the manual microwave.
By just pressing the button you can select 500W, 600W, or 200W in a rotating order. Next you turn the dial to set the time from 10 sec up to 15 min and press start. 800 W is reserved for the fast auto-menu options.
Oven and Grill
If you press on the [オーブン/グリル] button once, you enter the [予熱あり] or pre heating mode which is clearly shown on the operational screen. Turn the dial to set a temperature between 110℃ and 200℃ and then press start.
Preheating, of course, is done without the baking tray. When the beep alerts you the preheating is done, open the door and slide in the tray. Next, set the time from 10 sec to 95 min, and press start.
If you press on the [オーブン/グリル] button twice, [予熱なし] will appear and this is the no preheating mode. By turning the dial, you can select 40℃ for proofing (there’s no 35℃) or any other temperature between 110℃ and 200℃. You press start and then turn the dial again to set the temperature.
If you press on the [オーブン/グリル] button three times, [グリル] will appear in the menu window. All you can do here is to set the temperature in the usual way. There is no special for toasting feature.
Balmuda The Range – 18 L Oven Microwave
- Two sound choices
- 4 volume levels and mute
- 4 lighting levels and dark
- Display backlight 3 levels
- Preheating & Proofing
- Auto & manual microwave
- 100W, 500W, 600W, 800W
- 12 kg
- White, black, or dark grey
- NO GRILL OR TOASTER
Balmuda is a premium Japanese designer-appliance manufacturer. Their products are top quality and usually bring something unique to the table, as well as looking good for your kitchen.
This is probably the easiest oven microwave to use because it doesn’t have a myriad of sub options to navigate— just those that really matter. It’s operational features are somewhat similar to other ovens reviewed here.
The microwave has a doneness selection and you can choose between [低 / 標準 / 高] or Lo-Med-Hi. The oven has a preheat mode, which is nice, but only ferments at 40℃, and not an addition 35℃ like some ovens.
One thing this oven doesn’t have is a grill or a toaster mode. The Balmuda steam oven toaster, though, is one of their most sought after products.
Getting Started
First you have to dry bake your oven to get rid of manufacturing residue. To do this, read below how the oven works and use the oven mode without preheating at 200 ℃ for 20 min. Make sure windows are open and kitchen ventilation is on.
To adjust the general settings of sounds, lights, and volume control, press the [Cancel] button and hold for two seconds. Use the scroller dial to view options and press [Start / OK] to select your choices. If you want to use [低 / 標準 / 高] temperature options in the auto microwave, switch from [オフ] to [オン].
How the Oven Microwave Works
For all functions on this oven you follow the same procedure. Once you select an oven mode, use the scroll dial to select the first parameter, and the press [Start / OK]. If there’s a second parameter, it will automatically appear next, or you just turn the dial.
Some functions on the microwave have a cooked temperature mode or finished temperature mode. [ 仕上がり温度調整]. By default this option is off, so if you need it, you have to turn it on in general settings.
Once you have started cooking, within the first 15 seconds, if you turn the dial, a temperature dialogue will appear. The next step is to select one of three option: [ 低 – 標準 – 高 ] or low-med-high. Finally, press the [Start / OK] to resume cooking.
* The user interface displays most options in the Katakana script.
Microwave Cooking Modes
Auto Mode: This mode is for room temperature or refrigerated foods, okazu deli foods, and bentos etc. Just place the food in the oven, close the door, and use the dial to select [AUTO] mode, and press start. This mode has the doneness temperature option.
Manual Mode: After selecting this mode [M], turn the scroll dial to select the wattage, press OK and then do the same for the time setting. Time increments typically vary, and 800 W can only be set to a maximum of 3 min.
Drinks: You can select up to three cups and three general drink categories— coffee, milk, atsukan— and opt for the temperature settings of hi-med-low.
Frozen Rice: For this, you can choose a bowl of typically 150g or 2 bowls of 300g. Remember to turn the dial within 15 sec of pressing start if you want to set doneness temperatures.
Defrost: The first dialogue to choose is [カイトウ] defrost or [ハンカイトウ] partial defrost. Next, you set the weight from 100g up to 500g and you can choose your doneness temperature. There is no time setting here as the function uses heat sensing. However, if the oven interior is hot or even still warm, you cannot thaw.
The Oven
- For the oven, the first dialogue options you can choose from are [オーベン] oven or [ハッコウ] proofing or fermentation.
- If you choose [オーベン] , the next dialogue is [ヨウネツ スル] preheat or [ヨウネツナシ] no preheating.
- You follow the usual procedure to set the temperature and then the time. The maximum on the timer is 60 min.
- Only the oven mode can use the included baking tray.
Preheat Mode: Preheating is done without the tray inside. The temperature can be set up to 250 ℃, however, once the temperature reaches 200 ℃, the thermostat stops and the inner temperature cycles around 210 ℃.
No Preheating: Similar to the above, you can set the temperature in 10 ℃ increments to 250 ℃. The thermostat cycles for temperatures above 200℃.
Proof Mode: There’s no temperature dialogue because the thermostat is set at 40 ℃. The timer can run up to 60 min.
Sharp RE-F18A – 18 L Oven Grill Microwave
This 18 L Sharp RE-F18A is quite a popular oven microwave especially for its size. The user interface is very intuitive but a little more complex than other ovens reviewed here.
The black model with bronze knobs is the most popular, the other option is white (price link). The bottom dial is used to select parameter options including times and temperature. You simply press the knob to make your selection or to initiate start.
The lower [とりけし] button can stop any cooking cycle at any time. However, if you open the door, close it and then press [スタート], you can simply resume the cooking program.
- Moisture sensor
- Auto cook
- Proofing 35℃ / 40℃
- Preheating mode
- Toast preset
- Auto & Manual Microwave
- 200W, 500W , 600W, 900W
- Grill 830W
- Baking tray 295×295 mm
- 11 kg
Getting Started
When you first set your oven, you may need to reboot the display. To do this, you open the door, turn the dial to the [レンジ] microwave function and press the start button until you hear the beep. Repeating the same procedure will turn the display back on.
Next, you need to dry bake your oven [庫内をカラ焼きする] to remove manufacturing residue. To do this, remove the tray, close the door, and turn the dial to the oven function. The [角皿] dialogue will flash with the temperature of 170℃. Turn the dial slightly and press start.
Following that, set the temperature to 200℃ by turning the dial and then press the dial to select. Lastly, do the same to set the timer to 20 min and press to start. Make sure any window is open and the kitchen ventilator is on. Fumes and chemical odors may be released. The oven wall may expand a little and even make a popping noise.
The Menu Button
* The preset menu has 15 options to choose from:
These menu options are for when you need to reheat or warm up specific popular foods. The dial scrolls either way, so toast as a popular option is easily accessible by turning the dial anticlockwise.
Whatever menu you choose, once selected, it will tell you clearly on the display whether you are using the oven [オーベン] or the microwave [レンジ]. If you see [オーベン] display, then you can use the baking tray, but not of course for the microwave.
The special bento setting [2 お弁当あたため] has high or low heat, and [10. 3分どんぶり] is a custom 3 min setting for donburi.
Potato fries and tempura [3 フライあたため] use the oven and there’s also a frozen option for stuff like frozen croque and takoyaki. Karaage is a separate function [7 から揚げ] followed by tonkatsu at [8 ひとロとんかつ]. Pizza [14 ピザ] has a setting for frozen [冷凍] and refrigerated [冷蔵] pizza.
For the drinks menu [1], you can heat up to 4-cups. You can also select or high or low heat. Select [牛乳] for milk and [酒] for atsukan or hot sake.
The Toaster
You can only toast one side of the bread at a time [15 トースト熱裏返し] and up to two slices at a time. Using the lower dial you can switch between one [1枚] or two [2枚] slices and then press start.
As with other functions, within 30 seconds of pushing start you can use the dial to select high [強] or low heat [弱] . For toasting just one side select [弱]. If you select [強] the oven will beep half way through to alert you to turn over the toast. After closing the door, press start to resume.
Automatic Warming
The [自動あたため] is a microwave function using sensors to gauge water content in order to determine the heating parameters. You simply place the food in the oven and press start.
This function is only meant for moist foods with sufficient water content. It shouldn’t be used for frozen rice, beef, raw foods, whole foods, or foods that easily burst their skin. For these foods use the [レンジ] function, and for drinks you the [1] function in the menu setting.
Frozen Dinner Warming
This dial position is [冷凍食品あたため]. It’s meant for typical one serving (partially) frozen food dinners such as pasta, bento, omu rice, pilaf, shumai, fried rice, yakisoba etc. that you purchase from your local supermarket.
After removing from their packing, place in a microwave dish, cover lightly with the lid or wrap. This function also uses sensor technology, so there is nothing for you to do except to press the start button.
Defrosting
Defrosting [解凍] has can either be complete [全解凍] or lightly thawed [サックリ解凍]. Like other microwaves, you thaw in grams from 100g to 500g. Once you select the [解凍] dial, you use the setting dial to choose either [全解凍] or [サックリ解凍] and press start [スタート]. Next is to enter how many grams, and then press start again.
The Manual Microwave
The microwave [レンジ] function is for manual microwave settings using power settings in watts. The settings available are 500W/600W for 20min → 200W for 60min → 900W for 2min. Just select the wattage you need, press start, and then do the same for the time you need. 600W is the default.
The Oven
When you switch the dial to the oven function, the default temperature is 170℃ and the timer to 20 min. The thermostat runs from 100℃ to 250℃ in 10℃ increments. The timer is 90 minutes and sets in 1 min increments up to 30 min, and the rest is in 5 min increments.
For preheating [予熱 ], you should take the tray [角皿] out of the oven and close the door. Once you click the dial to the oven function, the default temperature will appear. Simply adjust this and press start. The alarm will beep when the preset temperature is reached, and the oven will maintain that temperature for 20 minutes.
When you open the door and slide in the baking tray, the timer dialogue will appear. Enter your time and press start.
For no preheating[予熱なし ], simply start the oven with the square tray [角皿] inside and the display will flash [角皿]. You adjust the temperature from 170℃, press start , and then do the same for the time.
The Grill
The grill only works when you place the square tray [角皿] in the upper slot and the [角皿] light appears on the menu. All you have to do next is to set the timer and press start.
The maximum grill time is 30 min. Up to 5 min you can set in 10 sec increments, 10 min in 30 sec increments, and to 30 min in 1 minute increments. An alarm won’t alert you, but five minutes before you may need to turn over whatever you are cooking.
Panasonic NE-SF300 – 23 L Oven Grill Microwave
- Moisture sensor auto adjust
- Proofing at 35℃ and 40℃
- Far infrared grill / 760W
- Add 14 secs feature
- 5 microwave power settings
- Front panel time settings
- Mute and control lock
Overview of the Panasonic NE-SF300
The design of this Panasonic NE-SF300 (homepage) is centered around functions and features that are the most commonly used. It’s also comparatively one of the easier ovens to operate.
Simply press the icon button for the function you need, then adjust the few parameters available with the up/down scrolling button. Enter the time with the icons below, and of course hit start. Not many ovens have such a convenient time setting function.
A key feature for the microwave, compares to others reviewed here, is that you can adjust the time during cooking up to 14 seconds. Similar to the other ovens here, you can’t adjust the temperature during cooking.
One nice function is the mute sounds function which you do by long pressing the lower left triangle icon. If you long press the upper scroll button you can lock the controls for child safety. Another feature unique compared to the ovens reviewed.
The Grill
One limitation is the grill (760W), because it’s not as powerful as other ovens, but because it’s a far infrared grill, it works pretty well. You press the grill icon [グリル], then simply set the time with the three time adjustments below the arrows [1 min, 10 min, or 1 sec]. You can grill for up to 30 minutes.
For toast, you can only do one side at a time [uragaeshi / 裏返し] and there’s no toasting feature. For toasting or grilling, the included broiling or baking pan slides into the up rack slot. There’s a lower rack slot of baking.
The Oven
For the oven, you press the oven icon [オーベン], use the scroller below to set the temperature, and then the time icons below that, and finally start. Thermostat settings go to 250℃, but the actual temperature cycles between 220℃ and 250℃ to prevent overheating.
The oven timer can be set up to 120 min and in 1 min increments. You follow the same procedure for proofing at 35℃ or 40℃. This oven does not have a preheat function. By pouring a little water into the baking pan, you can do a little steam baking – which you can do with any oven really.
The Drinks Button
If you hit the drinks button [飲み物] and then the scroller, you can choose between a normal beverages such as tea, coffee, milo, or astsukan for sake. For manual options, there are five beverage temperatures to choose from. As with other settings, the last setting used becomes the default. This function of course uses the microwave.
The Microwave:
There are actually four controls for the microwave. Once is for drinks detailed above, another is the warm function [あたため] with the rice bowl icon, and then there is the manual microwave [レンジ] and the thaw function [解凍]. You never use the included baking or grilling pan when using the microwave.
Auto Warming
For rice, okazu deli foods, or similar preparation, just hit the warm button [あたため] and press start [スタート]. For customization, just press the scroll button and you can select three levels of heating. You can adjust the time up to 14 sec while heating. If you forget something inside, it will beep after two minutes, and again for another two times.
Manual Warming
After pressing the microwave [レンジ] button, you can select 5 levels of heating with an upper time limit for each: 150W→ 300min ; 300/500/600W → 30min ; 800W → 6min.
150W is used for slow thawing and slow stewing. Eggs you cook at 300W, frozen cooked food at 500W, and 600W for parboiled vegetables. There’s a more comprehensive food guide in the manual.
After selecting the power option, you set the time which you can do in minutes and seconds, and the push start. You can stop operations midway by pressing the [レンジ] button again.
Thaw and Defrost
The defrost function [解凍] procedure follows the same pattern. You can choose to wrap or not wrap food, but once you’ve placed it inside, you use the scroll button to enter in the weight. You can defrost between 100g and 500g. For manual defrost, hit the scroller and you can choose up to 5 power settings— or you can use the [レンジ] function of 150W.
Read More About Other Oven Options in Japan
If you’re not sure what kind of countertop oven is the best for you, then have a look at our comprehensive guide to buying an oven in Japan. Appliances similar to an oven microwave are the steam oven range and the super-heated steam oven range.