Microwave ovens are now a hugely important part of every professional kitchen. As a standard a microwave-only oven perform essential functions such as safely re-heating frozen or chilled food. Where they get much more versatile in when they become a combination microwave oven.

The combination is the addition of convection hot air and a grill, this transforms the microwave  into a multi-function cooking oven. Jacket potatoes can be softened then crisped, pastry dishes can be reheated and crisped, in fact almost all of the functions of a standard oven can be performed in the combination microwave oven. The main limitation is of dish size and the absence of steam. Although it is possible to buy a combi-oven which incorporates microwave energy.

A general rule of thumb is that microwave only is for re-heating, combination microwave ovens are for reheating and primary cooking.

There is a myth that all microwave ovens are the same and  the only difference between commercial ovens and domestic ovens is the price. This is completely untrue. There are clear cooking, construction and food safety differences between microwave ovens designed for domestic use and those designed for the professional kitchen. Domestic microwave ovens are often low power and are not designed for freqent use. While domestic ovens have a power rating from 600 watts to 900 watts, commercial microwave ovens can be up to 2000 watts.

To get technical, the device which produces the energy waves in a microwave oven is called a magnetron. Domestic microwave ovens usually just have a single magnetron while commercial microwave ovens usually have two magnetrons which are built to a much higher specification.

Most commercial microwave ovens have a much larger cavity space of ½ gastronorm, but they are also available in 2/3 gastronorm and full-size gastronorm.

Manufacturers group commercial microwaves into four power bands.

Light-duty - The oven will have a power ranging between 900 watts and 1100 watts. This is suitable for use where demands are light, such as a café, satellite kitchen or petrol filling station.

Medium-duty – A power rating of 1100 to 1500 watts, proportionately more robustly built than a light-duty oven and suitable for restaurants where the microwave is only in occasional use, busy cafes, pubs or leisure centres.

Heavy-duty – Powered from 1500 to 1900 watts and the most popular power range used in catering. Suitable for busy pubs, hotels, busy restaurants or staff catering. Built to withstand hard and heavy use.

Extra heavy-duty – these are usually where large quantities of food are needed to be reheated quickly rather than just individual portions. They can take up to a full gastronorm tray. While all other power bands are connected to a 13amp socket, this very heavy duty oven will need hard wiring into the mains.

Look After It!

Like everything else in our kitchen the microwave oven can become quite dirty and will need a full clean down at the end of each day. When in operation food will often splatter inside the oven its good practice to whipe the oven cavity clean when the food is removed. If this is not wiped out regularly, but left, it will bake on with the heat of the microwave and give an even greater cleaning problem. 

You should take care to folow the cleaning instructions of the manufacturer but simply speaking a cleaning down with a mild detergent on a non abrasive cloth, then sanitising.