Microwave Oven NN-SN686S Stainless Steel Countertop/Built-In with Inverter Technology and Genius Sensor, 1.2 Cubic Foot, 1200W

I absolutely LOVE this inverter microwave!! I used to sell appliances, and we also sold these (in a larger size). I always knew that when my old GE microwave crapped out, that I wanted a Panasonic inverter microwave next. FIRST, an inverter microwave is SUPERIOR to a regular microwave. It’s more powerful, cooks faster, doesn’t change the texture of your food (ie- frozen bread can be thawed in it and it comes out soft and not ruined), it does a great job with defrosting overall, and doesn’t turn hot dogs into rubbery sticks. Time to heat a cup of coffee to a perfect hot temperature is only slightly more than a minute. I have a small shelf built into my kitchen cabinets on which a microwave sits. It really only can accommodate a small microwave with a small interior. But this fits and it has a nice big interior in which I can put full size plates and casserole dishes. Now let me address some negatives. The sensor technology, which senses steam, doesn’t work the greatest. You have to leave the food uncovered to get it to work its best, which means the possibility of food “popping” and getting all over the interior of the microwave. If you cover the food, even loosely, the steam sensor can’t pick it up. With foods that I can put in without any cover, I often find them not hot enough, even with the additional time feature, but sometimes it’s perfect. So the sensor is hit or miss. One disadvantage is that the directions on frozen foods don’t work with this, so you have to learn how long to cook things. So if your Marie Calander’s meatloaf dinner says 4 minutes on high in a 1200 watt microwave, that’s going to be too long in this one! I did buy the extended warranty (through Amazon) because when I used to sell the larger version of these, I had more than one customer who told me theirs died after a couple years. But the inverter technology is so superior to a regular microwave, that I wasn’t discouraged by that. If it dies after my extended warranty, I”ll just buy another! This was made in Communist China for Panasonic, which is a Japanese company.

So far, it works as intended. This inverter Panasonic Microwave Oven NN-SN686S replaced our old model NN-SA651S. TLDR (Too Lazy Didn't Read): - Peel off the thin plastic protective film (if applicable) from the interace pad. If you don't, you'll see annoying plastic bubbles pop up from repetitive button pressing with your oily fingers. - Disable safety(child) lock by pressing Defrost, Timer, then Popcorn. This way you won't have to press 0 first to unlock the door. Note: A power outage or unplugging the Microwave will re-enable the safety lock by default. Hopefully, this lasts 7-10 years.

Attractive unit with excellent performance. One little problem: the control panel is not backlit, so midnight snacks are a bit problematic!

This Panasonic microwave oven replaced our 30-year old Panasonic microwave oven, which was having a lot of issues with the closing of the door, but otherwise still worked fine. We finally decided to get a new one. This one is 1,200 Watts and slightly smaller than the previous one, but is also an inverter microwave and has many more features than our older one. I like the gray interior which will make cleaning better compared to our older one which had a white interior. Some reviewers complained about the child lock feature which requires an extra button to be pressed to unlock the door upon cooking. Seriously! The manufacturer shows how to disable this feature, but even without disabling it, it’s just a matter of pushing one button to unlock the door. I have no issues with this issue which is apparently required by law. Finally, the price from the seller, Four Seasons Trading Company, is well below other sellers like Walmart and Home Depot, making this an excellent value for the money. They shipped it by FedEx and it arrived within three days in perfect condition! 4/13/2026 Couple of additional points. 1) The microwave has a small LED light bulb to light up the inside of the microwave. This will mean that the bulb will never need to be replaced as LED bulbs last for thousands of hours. 2) The owners manual doesn’t mention it but there is a thin plastic film over the keypad which should be removed by peeling it off. This is typical of many electronic equipment.

Is that even a thing? Yeah, my wife and I have had to relearn how to cook with our microwave. We had a Sharp Carousel 1100w thing, of which I have always had them, 3 different iterations. The newest one tanked in less than 2 years, a mere fraction of the life span as their old ones. So I went on the look for a different brand, I don't stick around when brands start building their products to fail. Then I found this one. Great price, slightly higher power, not so huge like our previous was. It made some bold claims about even cooking, this "inverter" thing that I had no idea what it did, it just seemed too good to be true. Turns out, after using this for a while, it actually does the things it says it does. The inverter is there to modulation the motor power, making it do what most can't, actually lower its cooking power. Most other microwaves, when you have to turn the power down, e.g. not cook on HIGH the whole time, the microwaves just turn the motor on and off to simulate the lowered power. This microwave just....lowers the power. And it works. It's even. I haven't had to pull the lifehack and core out the food I nuke, I can just slap a plate of food in there, cook it not nearly as long as I keep wanting too, and it's hot and ready to eat. If you get this, be conservative with microwave directions. I had to cut out about 3 minutes of cook time on my Stouffer's Mac n Cheese, which astounds me. That's it. Good nuker, go ahead and buy it.

I normally don't do too many reviews but if you're like me and you scour the review section for purchases like this, then I feel I should report back on a few weird issues with this microwave. I bought this to replace my favorite microwave of all time, which isn't manufactured anymore, so I had high hopes it would be sort of as good as the one I had. I plan to get rid of this when I can and find a different one. To me, this microwave feels cheaply made. It arrived in pristine condition, the box was strong and intact, no damage at all, looked good setting it up but it felt lighter than our previous one. It doesn't heat evenly. Even with taking care to prep left-overs, not heating things in blocks but stirring the food from time to time. There are weird cold spots right next to a burning hot spot. Baked potatoes have uncooked sections. The push latch to open the door takes a few tries. It's not broken, it's just cheap? The 30-second button can only be used once, meaning, you can't add an additional 30 seconds to whatever your heating. You have to either let the 30 seconds run down, or hit stop and hit 30 seconds again. It's loud. I hadn't realized how quiet our other one was until we got this one. But I can hear it running 2 rooms away, and even upstairs. It makes our kitchen lights flicker for a second, not all the time, but once in a while when I turn it on, the ceiling light flickers. That's prob something related to our electrical wiring, but nothing has ever done that before, and we use professional electricians to code, so don't know. It disrupts bluetooth signal. This is a BIG deal to me. Devices near the microwave when it's running will glitch out. I wear my airpods a lot, and they glitch and go in and out when i'm standing near the microwave (when it's running). My husband uses different earbuds, and his buds completely lose connection. You can bet I researched this bc it's freaky to walk in front of it and your buds make a loud record-scratch noise. Apparently, microwaves and bluetooth use the same frequency and interference can be a common thing - not a good thing - but not unheard of. It's evidence of a leak - and that makes me feel WEIRD. It's probably fine healthwise, but it's a strange feeling to have to stand away from the microwave because it's leaking. I know there's a certain FDA allowance for that - but still. The door is oddly not opening all the way. I can push it all the way open, but it's an extra nudge past where it normally wants to stop halfway open. Again, doesn't feel broken, or misaligned or unseated somehow. Just cheap. I don't think we got a lemon and I don't think it's broken. But buyer beware on this one.

The best part about this brand of microwave is that it works - no hassle. My first Panasonic Inverter lasted 15 years. Replaced it b/c I wanted a smaller one. Gave it away to a coworker who says it’s still working 5 years later. Still looks new. So, instead doing the smart thing + buying another one, I bought a Toshiba based on the over 15k reviews. First one came dented. Sent back. Reordered and hated it. Cheaply made, door was noisy to open + close and within a year had to throw it in a dumpster. The back blistered and the inside was stained (could never get any food stain to go away). Idk if I just got a bad one or not, but this Panasonic is hands down a superior machine. Pros: minimalist look, no handle, easy to use, reheat option - did I mention it works??? My fridge + stove are black stainless, but my dishwasher is reg stainless, and the microwave sits right above it on the counter. I was thinking about replacing the dishwasher to match the rest, but the microwave kind of pulls it together, + the look is aesthetically pleasing now, so saved some $ there. Cons: in dim light, the operating panel is harder to see, and I still haven’t figured out how to permanently disable the child lock, but tbf, I haven’t spent any time reading the manual other than having to press 0 to open the door. I think that a child safety lock should be something you have to purposefully activate, not come already enabled. So, if you want a reliable, attractive, microwave that has an inverter and multiple cooking options, I cannot recommend Panasonic enough. The LG models are more expensive and aren’t nearly as attractive. I was tempted to buy the small Breville, but reviews were mixed. Btw…if it matters, Panasonic is one of the few microwave brands that isn’t made in China. That was a nice bonus for me. I’ve had this model a month with no issues. Some ppl didn’t like the dark gray interior, but I do. It’s different and makes it look more expensive than it is. Honestly, if I became a millionaire overnight, I’d still buy Panasonic microwaves. They’ve never let me down.

Bought this to replace almost identical Panasonic that failed to operate after 5-6 years. The great thing about Panasonic inverter style microwaves is that they don't regulate the power lever by cycling the unit off and on from full power to no power every couple of seconds (called duty cycle controlling) which can lead to very uneven cooking and overcooking edges. They actually proportionately throttle down the power at lower and lower settings while maintaining the power level constant at whatever level you choose. Interface is excellent although I never use anything but timer and power level most of the time. Internal light comes on when you open door, and stays on while you're cooking. Tucked unit away in the kitchen dual door pantry at eye level, ran the cord through a drilled hole, out the side to an outlet hidden behind the refrigerator. Unfortunately if the refrig, side by side freezer, and the microwave at 8 setting or higher all run together, the basement breaker trips, but only every few months on average. Beats leaving it out on the counter. You just leave the pantry doors open of course when you're cooking. Something to remember: You need to avoid closing the door of the microwave when you have steam condensation left inside. The paint will eventually chip and rust will occur in places over the years. On this one we always wipe off inside the box, inside door, and on bottom of box beneath rotating glass plate when done cooking anything that creates steam. I guess at this price you shouldn't expect stainless interior.

excelente horno. todo lo calienta muy rapido y bien solo hay que calcular el tiempo de calentamiento de alimentos si te pasas te puedes llevar una no muy grata sorpresa. SOLO PRODUCTOS INVERTER

Very happy with microwave. Works great, looks great. Exactly as I expected. Great and efficient service

Had a Panasonic very similar to this that burned out. This is apparently a common issue with ALL microwave brands.... none of them have perfect review scores due to this or other issues. Debated whether to even get a Panasonic again, but it is still rated better than many other brands. So far the new one is working well. Very powerful, probably more than our last one. Hopefully it has a longer lifespan.

Me gusta porque está mejor que el que tenía viejo, pero no aporta tanto como para decir que es mucho mejor, calienta rápido pero no es tan homogéneo, si es algo sólido como frijoles congelados es lo típico que calienta lo exterior más que lo interior, y si le pones más tiempo pues arde lo exterior y deja tibio lo interior, es la misma tecnología que un micro de toda la vida.

Powerful and good looking appliance.