SCA1001KSS - GE Advantium Oven - The first review

I feel natural to start off with one the appliances I've chosen to put in my own kitchen - the SCA1001KSS GE advantium over-the-range (otr) microwave oven. This convection microwave oven from GE is probably my favorite appliance I've got. If it wasn't for the occasional turkey or ham, I could use this completely in lieu of my oven. The SCA1001KSS GE advantium includes four ovens in one (speed cook oven, true european convection oven, warming oven, and microwave oven (900w)). Not only are you able to cut out preheat times entirely with the GE advantium's speed cook feature, the microwave power along with the halogen elements and convection power simulate an oven to near perfection. And here's the kicker - the GE advantium cooks up to 4x faster in 120v configuration than your standard conventional oven.

The SCA1001KSS GE advantium oven keeps it simple and interesting all at the same time for us appliance enthusiasts. It offers 175 pre-programmable recipes that cover near everything you cook on a day to day basis, but also gives you the option to enter some of your own recipes (up to 30) if you're feeling creative. The menu system is easy to navigate, which is all done with the round knob.

Being an over the range microwave, you may wonder how the lighting is and how the ventilation works on the SCA1001KSS. The lighting is nice and bright with two levels available (night light and high) and the ventilation, well, it sucks - literally. The blower comes in at 300 CFM and does an admirable job, even over a gas top (which I have). If you plan on doing grilling on your stove it may be more than the advantium can handle (and any OTR for that matter), but grilling is for outdoors anyways - and look for this topic in the future, because I'll come out swinging.

I've cooked everything from fillet mignon (this had my wife a little ticked off at first - but once the fillet came out nice and tender she calmed down), cookies, bread, casseroles and you can't forget the baked potatoes (4 of them in 12 minutes, and that's not a typo, compared to 82 minutes in a conventional oven). There's also a handy cookbook that comes with the unit, and it's also fairly easy to find the online versions of it.

Going back to the fillet mignon - it did take several minutes longer than the pre-programmed time GE suggested for the SCA1001KSS, but as I mentioned before it was darn near perfect - and a perfect place to cook it when there is bad weather looming outside. The best part about the cookies is you can't do them in mass amounts, which for me means I won't eat near as many - generally I will eat them until they are gone. The timing GE has for them is right on at 11 minutes (remember - the SCA1001KSS advantium oven has no preheat time!).

Despite the great review I've given the SCA1001KSS, there are some common problems people have with this unit, though niether have troubled me : the handle breaking is one and the halogen bulbs burning out is the other.

Price range you should look for : $685 - $749 ($575 - $649 in colors)
My rating : 4 / 5
Would I own it? : I do, and would purchase again even if it went out the day after warranty.
Trendy service issues : handle breaking and halogen bulbs burning out

I'll end with what my wife has said on many occassions 'You better not ever give me any other kind of microwave - I have been spoiled with this one.'.