The Kenmore Elite 2.0 cu. ft. Microwave with Sensor 66463 provides a wonderful assortment of easy-to-use Quick Touch sensor buttons for cooking and reheating. The sensor touch system effectively detects the vapor inside the oven and chooses the optimum time and power level for perfect results with a variety of foods. There are nine Quick Touch Sensor Cook and four Sensor Reheat programs -- enough to satisfy all your cooking needs.

The Kenmore Elite 66463 is attractively styled with a brushed stainless steel front and a black control panel. The cabinet measures 23 inches wide by 19 inches deep by 13 inches tall. The oven can also be installed as a built-in unit by using an available trim kit purchased separately. A pushbutton door release provides easy access to the roomy 2-cubic-foot interior. The unit comes with a 16-inch glass turntable, which can easily accommodate a large pizza. The large electronic display screen, backlit in blue, shows the time of day, as well as selected cooking time and function settings. Built-in smart programming assists the user by delivering instructions via a scrolling a message display.

The Quick Touch sensor options include potato, rice, popcorn, fresh vegetable, frozen vegetable, frozen entree, canned vegetable and fish/seafood. There is also a Reheat function, which does a splendid job reheating room temperature or refrigerated foods. The Reheat touchpad has four categories: dinner plate, soup/sauce, casserole and pizza. The category codes can be found in the Reheat Table located in the manual. After entering the correct code, the microwave will begin reheating the food inside after a momentary pause to detect the vapor level. We loved the convenience of simply choosing an option and letting the microwave determine the correct cooking time and power.

The Kenmore Elite features an Auto Defrost option for defrosting up to 6 pounds of frozen meat, poultry or fish. An Express Defrost touch pad is designed exclusively for defrosting 1 pound of frozen ground beef. An extra function is the Bread Defrost touchpad, which is designed specifically for defrosting 1-pound loaves of bread. To defrost something other than meat, poultry, fish or bread, you can enter a time and power level manually.

We particularly liked the Soften and Melt controls, which eliminate the guesswork for softening items such as ice cream, cream cheese, frozen juice or butter, or melting items such as chocolate, cheese, marshmallows or butter.

The Auto Cook function is a bit more complicated and requires the use of codes to select a function. A handy reference table is provided in the user guide. The Auto Cook Table has six categories: bacon, frozen roll/muffin, fresh roll/muffin, beverage, chicken pieces and hot cereal, each with its own code to allow you to cook without entering a cook time or power. A bowl of hot cereal takes just over 1 minute to cook.

Other convenient features include a Countdown Timer, a Cook Time option that lets you manually enter the desired cooking time, and an Add Minute touchpad, which lets you start cooking immediately at 100 percent power for 1 minute. The button can be pressed repeatedly to obtain as many minutes as needed (up to 99 minutes). An Option touchpad allows you to change the oven's sound, scroll speed, Lbs/Kg, and clock default settings. With so many sensor cook and reheat options, this powerful 1,200-watt microwave may get more use than your traditional oven.


Pros: Roomy interior, nine Quick Touch Sensor Cook and four Sensor Reheat programs
Cons: Uses codes for some functions, occupies extra counter space

Warranty
1 year