Here’s the fact most people miss: every microwave sold in the UK — the £40 solo and the £500 combi alike — plugs into a standard 13-amp socket. No cooker circuit, no electrician, no landlord’s permission. If your kitchen has a socket, it can run a microwave.
That makes the microwave the quiet workhorse of cooking without a cooker circuit, and the combi microwave is the version worth taking seriously. A combi isn’t just a microwave with a grill bolted on: the good ones add convection — a heating element and fan that circulate hot air — turning them into a genuine miniature oven. Roast a chicken, bake a sponge, crisp a frozen pizza: all from a socket that’s already in your flat.
New to cooking without a built-in cooker? Our renter’s guide walks through the options, and seven plug-in setups show where a combi fits. This guide is the deep dive: what the three types do, what you can cook, the specs that matter, and what to check before you buy.
The Combi Microwave: Three Types Explained
| Type | What it does | What it’s good for | Typical price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo microwave | Microwave energy only — reheats, defrosts, cooks | Leftovers, ready meals, veg, rice, defrosting | £40–£90 |
| Grill microwave | Solo plus a top heating element (usually quartz) | Browning and toasting: cheese on toast, garlic bread, crispy potato skins | £70–£150 |
| Combi microwave (with convection) | Microwave + grill + convection fan, so hot air circulates like a fan oven | Roasting, baking, crisping — a genuine mini oven | £120–£500 |
Solo microwaves are brilliant at exactly one job: reheating. Fast and cheap, but they cannot brown anything — no toast, no golden cheese, no crisp top on a lasagne. Fine as a reheating machine; never an oven replacement.
Grill microwaves add a top element so you can finish dishes with colour and crunch — cheese on toast, toasted sandwiches, crispy potato skins. But the grill heats from above only, so it still can’t bake; that needs heat from all directions, which is what convection provides.
Combi microwaves are the ones that genuinely replace an oven for everyday cooking. In convection mode the fan circulates hot air around the cavity, so the inside behaves like a small fan oven; in combi mode you get microwave speed and oven results together — a roast that cooks in half the time of an oven but still comes out brown, not grey. Bigger and pricier than solos, but for anyone without a full cooker they’re a microwave and an oven in one plug-in box — which is why they lead our list of five plug-in oven replacements.
What You Can Actually Cook in a Combi
The honest answer: most of a normal weekly menu. Here’s what works, with realistic expectations:
- Roast chicken — a 1.2–1.5kg bird fits a 25L+ combi: combi mode for speed, then convection to crisp the skin, in roughly half the time of an oven.
- Jacket potatoes — microwave to cook through in minutes, then convection or grill for a crisp skin. Better than a solo, faster than an oven.
- Baked goods — sponges, brownies, scones and small loaves bake properly in convection mode. Rotate trays mid-bake and skip full-size sheets, but results are genuinely oven-like.
- Frozen pizza — on the crisper plate or low rack in combi mode for a crisp, not chewy, base.
- Grilled cheese, toasties and garlic bread — the grill handles these in minutes, with less smoke and splatter than a grill pan.
- Roasted veg, sausages, meatloaf — anything you’d roast at 180–200°C works on a tray in convection mode.
One caveat: combis aren’t for huge batches or deep-fried-level crisp — that’s air fryer territory, below — and a small budget combi will struggle with a whole chicken where a 30L model won’t.
The Specs That Actually Matter
Combi microwaves look similar on the shelf but differ wildly underneath. Take this table to the shops:
| Spec | What to look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity | 20–32 litres | 20L is reheating-only; 25–28L fits a small chicken; 30L+ fits a 1.5kg bird. |
| Microwave power | 800–1000W output | Most combis sit in this range; ~900W+ feels properly quick. |
| Grill wattage | ~800–1500W | Higher wattage means faster browning; quartz elements heat up almost instantly. |
| Convection wattage | ~1000–2000W | The oven function — whether your roast actually roasts or just warms. |
| Inverter vs traditional | Inverter models | Traditional microwaves pulse power on and off; inverter delivers continuous power for gentler defrosting and more even cooking. Panasonic pioneered it. |
| Sensor cooking | Humidity/steam sensors | Detects when food is done and stops automatically — useful for rice, veg and reheating. |
| Steam function | Steam-only or steam-assisted modes | Great for veg, fish and rice, and keeps bread moist when reheating. A nice-to-have, not essential. |
| Auto menus | One-touch programmes (popcorn, pizza, jacket potato) | Handy defaults, but don’t pay a premium for fifty menus you’ll never use. |
| Cavity vs exterior size | Check both dimensions | A 30L cavity often means a 50cm+ wide, 12kg+ body. Measure your counter and vent clearance first. |
Two deserve extra detail. Inverter power is the biggest difference between a £130 combi and a £300 one: traditional microwaves pulse power on and off, so defrosted food comes out cooked at the edges and frozen in the middle, while inverter models run continuously — gentler defrosting, more even baking. Worth the upgrade if you’ll bake.
And cavity versus exterior size is the trap that catches renters with small kitchens: a 32L combi is a 50–55cm wide, 10kg+ box that needs vent clearance. Measure the counter and the space under wall units first — if counter space is the problem, our compact appliance guide for small UK flats covers tighter options.
Which Brands Are Worth Looking At
We don’t do model-level recommendations because stock changes constantly, but the brand landscape is stable. Roughly: £120–£200 buys a competent combi, £250+ buys inverter power and a bigger cavity, and £400+ is diminishing returns unless you bake or roast most weeks.
- Panasonic — the name most associated with inverter technology, and generally the benchmark for even cooking and gentle defrosting. Premium pricing, strong reliability.
- Samsung — ceramic enamel interiors that wipe clean easily, plus smart features. Mid-to-premium.
- LG — Smart Inverter models with good even-cooking credentials, several with steam functions. Mid-to-premium.
- Sharp — one of the combi pioneers; high-end models use superheated steam.
- Russell Hobbs — solid mid-range value: decent combis at sensible prices, without the premium features.
- Cookworks — the budget option, widely sold at Argos. Fine for occasional combi use, but expect a smaller cavity, lower grill wattage and no inverter.
Combi vs Air Fryer vs Halogen Oven
These three are the usual shortlist for plug-in cooking — and they overlap more than the marketing suggests. Our halogen oven vs air fryer guide does the full comparison; here’s how a combi fits:
- Air fryer — the crisp king — the best chips and frozen food, and cheap to run. But small, a poor reheater, and it can’t bake a cake or defrost a joint.
- Halogen oven — a glass dome with a halogen bulb and fan — roasts and bakes decently, you can watch the food, and it doubles as a steamer. But bulky, slow to crisp, and the bulb burns out.
- Combi microwave — the all-rounder — fastest, reheats and defrosts properly, grills, and bakes and roasts with convection. Its weakness is trying to do everything: it won’t crisp as hard as an air fryer at the same price.
Buying one appliance for a no-cooker kitchen? A combi is the most versatile. Mostly frozen crispy food? An air fryer is better value. Already own one of the three? A combi makes the best second appliance, filling the reheating, defrosting and baking gaps the others can’t.
Buying Checklist
- Capacity: 25L minimum if you want to roast; 30L+ if you cook for more than two.
- Microwave power: 900W+ output for decent speed.
- Inverter: strongly worth it if you’ll defrost or bake — the feature that most separates good from great.
- Turntable vs flatbed: flatbeds are easier to clean and fit bigger dishes; either is fine, just know which you’re getting.
- Easy-clean interior: enamel or ceramic coatings wipe down far better than bare metal.
- Controls: physical dials beat fiddly touch panels.
- Measure the space: cavity size is not exterior size — check width, depth and vent clearance.
- Wattage reality check: a single 13A socket supplies ~3,000W total. A combi pulling 2,000W is fine on its own socket, but don’t run kettle, toaster and combi on the same circuit at once.
- Warranty: look for at least two years; combis have more failure points than solos.
The Bottom Line
A combi microwave is the closest a renter gets to a real oven without a cooker circuit: it reheats like a microwave, grills like a toastie maker, and bakes and roasts like a small fan oven — all from a 13-amp socket that’s already in your kitchen. Buy one with 25L+, 900W+, inverter power and a genuine convection element and you’ve covered most of what a full cooker does, for a fraction of the cost and none of the rewire. It won’t crisp like an air fryer or feed a family of six — but as the centrepiece of a 13-amp cooking setup, it’s hard to beat.