Panasonic 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.

This seems to be a nice microwave. I am concerned about the many inverter failures I've read about, but in the end I was swayed by the positive reviews overall and from friends who swear by the inverters. It is very powerful, and in fact perhaps too powerful. Even the instructions suggest using a lower power level for most foods. I find myself using power level 8 a lot. Turbo defrost seems to work great. Cooking and defrost do seem to be even, and I think that is why most folks like the inverter models. Like others have said, the instant 30 second button requires a second button to start. I also find that annoying as my prior microwave started immediately upon the first press of the instant (1 minute) button. However in my case it is nice to have the 30 second button..so it is a trade-off for me. What's even nicer is that you can set the power level before using the instant 30 second button. The Sensor cooking option is inadequate. In my experience it barely warms my food even when I press the More button. So I can only used it as a first step, then use normal operation to finish the heating. The popcorn feature allows you to set it for different sized bags. However, in my first use of the feature it ended too soon and stopped before popping had even slowed (yes, I had correctly set the bag size). Appearance-wise, the microwave looks nice from the front, but the sides and top are rather plain. No effort was made by Panasonic to make it look attractive from the sides. I agree with others that it is difficult to read the text on the buttons. Not enough contrast. I guess once you get familiar with it you don't need to read them as much. The button to open the door is stainless steel, so it shows fingerprints all of the time. Why they would use stainless steel for such a button is beyond me. Emphasis on appearance over function perhaps, but in the end it looks ugly due to the ever-present smudges. I gave up trying to keep it smudge free...now only when expecting guests. Be sure to read the manual if you don't need some of the child-safety features that others are complaining about. I bought this to replace a 28 year old Samsung that I bought as a display model. It's too bad that Samsung quality is not what it used to be (I won't consider Samsung appliances nowadays). I'd even bet the 28 year old microwave in its new forever home will outlast this new Panasonic, but hey...it was only 700W, smaller capacity, and had fewer features. Still, I've no doubt it will serve its new owners well.

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.

This is my 2nd Panasonic microwave oven that has inverter technology as my first Panasonic microwave oven is 10 years old so I thought I should update my microwave (still works). Display is easy to read and fits a regular dinner plate quite well. Happy with the product.

Here is the chronology of my experience with three different models of panasonic microwaves, including this model. I had a circa 2007 version of today's panasonic NN-SN966S-1.6cu (sorry, I don't remember if the model number was the same in 2007) which ran absolutely fine till October, 2014. I had to recycle it since it rusted from inside, otherwise no technical issues. I was pretty happy with that product and so went for panasonic again. In October 2014, I got a NN-SA661S-1.2cu from WalMart at $110. This one failed in August 2015 with error code H98 (i.e failure in Magnetron circuit). Luckily, it was under the 1-year limited warranty so the Magnetron was replaced by panasonic service center with free labor & parts. In July 2017, it failed again with error code H98. Since it is no longer under warranty, so I dumped it this time. Next, I wanted to buy a better one which would last longer, and I landed up in NN-SN686S. It looked a bit premium than the earlier model, so I wanted to give a shot at panasonic again. We got this one from amazon at $141 in August 2017. After 14 months, it failed last week (20th October 2018) with error code H98. Our usage is pretty light (not used for cooking but only for warming foods) and we maintained it well, so didn't expect it to fail so soon. I called up Panasonic customer care to check if they would cover the repair, because Magnetron is under 5 year warranty (but labor is limited to 1 year). The automated voice assistant said that it will charge $10 for any out-of-warranty products. I was fine with that too, but panasonic customer care never landed me to a human. I tried with panasonic support live chat, which does not work at all. Basically don't expect any customer support from panasonic. So, I called up the panasonic service center which is now located 20 miles away. They said Magnetron is covered but labor will be $65 and they accept carry-in for repairs only Mon-Wed. I haven't decided yet if I would take this route.... Neverthless, it seems none of the recent panasonic models run longer than 12-15 months. There is definitely a durability issue of the magnetrons. So, if you want to buy a panasonic microwave, consider it as 1 year investment (i.e the warranty period of panasonic). Here is an update. The panasonic service center charged $25 to diagnose the issue. The inverter is burnt out completely. The inverter is not covered by warranty and the price to replace it is additional is $162. The total cost $162 + $25 = 187 is more than the price of the microwave. The inverted burnt out which is not covered by warranty. So I dumped it. Will never buy Panasonic in my lifetime.

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.

Great high power microwave! Love it, and it arrived a day early which was great.

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

This is a great microwave. It warms really well, and works across the board on all food types. Noise levels are medium. Would recommend.

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.