Watts of microwave ovens

A Microwave oven has an output of power which is measured in watts. The higher the watts level, the quicker a microwave oven can cook food.

Generally speaking, the more watts a microwave oven has, the more expensive it will be and it will generally combine the higher wattage with more advanced features.

The power output range is somewhat as follows,

600 watts, entry level microwave
700 watts
800 watts, average microwave
900 watts
1000 watts
1000 watts, high end microwave

The wattage power can be misleading however. A microwave oven is never 100% energy efficient. Therefore, if a microwave oven produces one thousand watts of electrical energy, it may, on average, only use six hundred watts of energy for microwave power.

The rest of the watts is needed to perform other functions such as the LCD display, lamp, electrical circuits and so forth. Rarely will a manufacturer publish an exact breakdown of how their machine uses it's watts.

So, a 900 watts microwave may be less efficient with it's energy than an 800 watts microwave. At this point it's handy to read respected review magazine's such as What?, who will perform in-depth efficiency tests of reviewed appliances.

The organisation responsible for standardising the watts output for microwave ovens is the International Electrotechnical Commission 'IEC'. It is their job for developing standards for all electrical technologies, which of course includes home appliances and kitchen appliances such as the microwave oven.