Seeking to upgrade my 17 year old Panasonic I thought that the CT56 would be a boon. I was dead wrong. Space saving ? The quoted size is 52 x 39 cm - the manual gives a mandatory minimum safe area for the microwave of 77 x 49 cm - an increase of 86%, that's just about double. Then the top is deemed to get very hot - on my old microwave I kept a couple of chopping boards and a couple of knives there - these have had to be relocated. Then there's the enamel tray and wire rack, the pair equate to the whole interior of the oven and space has to be found to store these when not in use. The enamel plate and wire rack are used for roasting and grilling but are not dishwasher safe. (Personally, I don't think they're even safe to use). My old cable was 2 m long, the new is 80 cm. I've had to buy an extension lead. The cable is black, whose kitchen decor matches a black cable? My old manual was a full colour, glossy affair and still in fair condition after 17 years. The new one is plain paper, already tatty and dog-eared. No wonder, it's hard work. You want to cook cabbage? You can do it in 12 minutes on page 98, but if you're in a hurry go to page 81 where it only takes 6 minutes. (Both longer times on this 1,000 W machine than on my old 800 W). The CT56 has small feet. Push the Start or Door Open buttons and the machine slides to the back wall. (I have a normal formica work top). One final whinge - this microwave sits above my Bosch dishwasher. The Bosch sports a beautifully legible display, the Panasonic something more appropriate to the sixties. It's painfull to my eyes. If you're already using a grill/convection microwave then this might be a good upgrade for you. Good luck!

Okay. Firstly it was a lot larger than I thought. I know it gave the measurements but I still live in the world of inches :) . I am used to a small turn dial microwave. This is the first combination I have got. Living on my own I thought using a combination would be better than a huge oven just for one small item. Bearing in mind I am not used to digital appliances I was initially quite confused. The manual is large, I thought covered many languages, but nope was all English. The dial initially confused me because I thought they went in pairs, i.e. the left one going with the right one. Wasn't easily distinguishable (to a non digital person) that it was two independent columns. I thought best to learn the microwave first, which was very easy to use. I have tried one thing in the oven, and that worked great as well and the food came out perfect. The cons about it .... bearing in mind these are just personal points. 1. After each use the fan keeps going for a while, which when you just use the microwave for 15 seconds, is a bit annoying, but am sure will get used to the sound. 2. My biggest annoyance is the microwave cooking settings. Most of the foods I cook that are prepacked give instructions for a combination of 700w 800w and 900w. Now this oven is 1000w. It has three settings: High 1000w; medium 600w; and low 200w. You would think Panasonic would make at least one setting the same as the majority of food instruction settings. I am still trying to get used to how long to cook for. Not sure if its best to set on high and reduce the time, or set on medium and increase the time. Depends on the product. I did some potatos on high, but for 2/3 of the time shown for 900w and they dried right up. So that really is my main annoyance. Would have been so easy for Panasonic to include one of the most common settings, but they didn't. To sum up. It is a great product, just going to take this old fashioned gal a while to get used to it :) :)

Our old microwave needed replacing and this product because the Panasonic combi microwave is amazing. You get a metal friendly baking pan as an accessory which is great for doing pizzas. The one-touch 30 second button, which increases the time each time you press it, gives a powerful 1000 watts. I particularly like the convection button because it’s great for heating plates. Just touch the convection button once (the default is 150 degrees C but you can lower this to 40 degrees) and by the time it has pre-heated to temperature your plates are ready to take straight to the table (about 3 minutes 30 seconds which is much quicker than our fan assisted oven which takes 8 minutes). The defrost function is much simpler because you have pre-set options and all you need to do is input the weight; the same applies to autocook. I weighed two jacket potatoes and left the microwave to combi cook it. I would however recommend putting a slightly lower weight in as the potato skins wrinkled a bit before getting them onto the plates losing some of the crispness of the skin. I have not yet used the baking facility for cakes. The fan can be a bit noisy during the microwave function but shuts off pretty quickly after heating. Similarly the convection function is intermittently noisy whilst it pre-heats but isn’t annoying. The fact that it is space saving means it is a bigger capacity at 27 litres than our old Samsung but takes up the same space. All in all it is a great buy and I would highly recommend it.

We bought this to replace an ordinary microwave. With the price of energy ever increasing, we thought it would be more economical than turning on our main oven to cook food for two of us. Since it was delivered, we have used nothing else. It works well as an ordinary microwave, and is very successful as an alternative convection oven, cooking cakes to perfection. But it really comes into it's own when used in combination mode, the speed of a microwave with the advantages of a fan oven. Dishes like lasagne and pies cook in a short amount of time but with a crispy finish. No more soggy baked potatoes. Would recommend it if, like us, you want to save on electric Bill's.

We purchased this microwave May 2019, it has worked well until today (used maybe 2-3 times a week for reheating food). Today there is no digital display and when you open the door the dish starts to revolve. On reflection, this is not a great product. Our last microwave lasted over 15 years and we only got rid of it as it was starting to look a little tired.

I bought this microwave to replace an older model which decided to die :( Rather than try out another brand I decided to stick with Panasonic as I knew the quality was good and also how to operate it. I am glad with my decision to stick to what I know. The outside has been updated and looks great, and I love the slimline design as it barely takes up any space. I use this every single day and I don't think I could go back to a conventional microwave. Having the oven and grill aspect to it saves so much time, energy and money when you don't have a lot to cook.

Bought this to replace similar Panasonic model that had died after 7 years. Wanted the same power & in particular the combi Jacket potato setting as we use this frequently - much quicker than doing in conventional oven but better skins than just microwaving! Was looking for stainless steel model but didn't want a turn knob so chose this one with one finger touch buttons.This black one looks good in my kitchen & I wont have the problem the last one did with the silver wearing off the 'open door' button. Mostly use as standard microwave but will try out the new functions like Junior menu to cook quorn nuggets & fish fingers. Only complaint is that the power cord is short & on right so I need an extension lead to reach socket on left of where I put it.

Very happy with the combination microwave as it saves heating a large oven. I can do a complete roast chicken dinner in 45mins. Also good for cooking pastry (pies) cooked within 20/30 minutes. Jacket potatoes with a crispy skin in 15/20 minutes. Or just use it like a microwave or oven if not using the combination.