It is now an appliance present in many kitchens and for many people it has become almost indispensable. The microwave oven allows you to quickly heat a dish, defrost food and, in the most complete models, also cook and perform functions that go well beyond simple heating. A convenience that explains why it is so widespread in European homes.
But when the time comes to buy a new one, which brand should you choose? Price, programs, power and available functions can guide the purchase, but there is another aspect that we often tend to underestimate: how reliable is the oven over time and how satisfied are those who have already purchased it?
Try to answer these questions Altroconsumowhich compared the main brands of microwave ovens by combining the results of its own laboratory tests with the experiences of thousands of European consumers. An interesting ranking emerges, in which it is not necessarily the most famous or most expensive brand that takes first place.
The ranking of the best brands of microwave ovens
Second Altroconsumo, this is the ranking of brands with at least five models tested, ordered based on overall judgment:
There is therefore no single winner: Beko, Panasonic and Bosch share first place with 64 points. However, the three brands show slightly different characteristics. Beko stands out above all for its reliability, with an index of 89 out of 100, the highest among the brands analyzed. Panasonic reaches 86, while Bosch stops at 83.
However, if we look at user satisfaction, Bosch obtains the best result among the three, with 85 points out of 100, followed by Panasonic with 84 and Beko with 82.
Samsung and AEG, with 62 points respectively, also achieved an overall positive result and positioned themselves immediately behind the leading trio.
It should be noted that some brands were excluded from the main ranking – including Daewoo, LG, Siemens, Whirlpool, Electrolux, Ariete, Miele, Severin and Toshiba – because they did not reach the minimum number of five tested products necessary to be evaluated.
@Altroconsumo
So, which microwave to choose?
The ranking of Altroconsumo offers a useful indication especially for those who are looking for a brand to orient themselves on: Beko, Panasonic and Bosch are the three brands that achieve the highest global score, while Samsung and AEG follow closely behind.
But before purchasing it is important to remember that the ranking concerns the brands and does not replace the comparison between individual models. Capacity, power, dimensions, cooking methods and price can in fact change a lot even within the same brand.
For those looking for a new microwave oven, therefore, the advice is to start from the reliability of the brand, but then compare the characteristics of the individual appliance based on your real needs, avoiding paying more for functions that will probably never be used.
How long does a microwave oven last
On the durability front, the data is interesting. According to the investigation of Altroconsumoa microwave oven is replaced on average after 10 years and 8 months. A duration that is anything but negligible, especially considering that it is a small appliance used very frequently in numerous families.
Precisely for this reason, when buying a microwave, looking exclusively at the price can be reductive. If a model costs a little more but guarantees greater reliability and allows you to avoid early replacement, its cost may prove more convenient in the long run.
How the microwave oven test was conducted
The ranking of the best brands of 2026 was born from the union of the results of the comparative tests of Altroconsumo and a large survey conducted among members of Euroconsumers organizations in Italy, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Hungary.
For microwave ovens, over 25 thousand ratings on reliability and over 25 thousand on consumer satisfaction were collected, referring to the last two annual surveys.
The final score does not depend on a single parameter. Altroconsumo in fact, it attributes a weight of 45% to the results of laboratory tests, 25% to reliability, 20% to consumer satisfaction and 10% to the percentage of products that achieve excellent quality in the tests.
Overall, 126 models tested between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2026 were considered.
