GE Smart Microwave review: Smart capabilities and voice commands make cooking easier and more sanitary

GE's Smart Microwave sends status updates to your phone and uses scan-to-cook technology for effortless cooking. Here's how it works.

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Cooking food in the microwave is an easy, quick way to get dinner on the table, and it's now even easier. The GE Smart Microwave Oven works with Amazon Alexa and, more recently, Google Assistant, so you can warm up food simply using voice commands and monitor your food from your smartphone. 

After many hours of research, interviewing experts, and testing five microwaves from reputable brands in our guide to the best microwaves, I found that the GE Smart Microwave Oven is the best to have the essential features plus smart technology capabilities. Not only can you use it from your smartphone and by voice command, but it also features scan-to-cook technology where you can scan barcodes on pre-packaged foods to instantly display the correct cooking time and settings, so all you have to do is say or press "Start."

How it cooks

During the marshmallow test, I noticed some hot spots: the outer edges and center cooked more quickly than the rest of the marshmallows. Based on my experience testing other microwaves, these results indicate inconsistent cooking. I saw this again when I microwaved frozen mac and cheese according to the package instructions and noted that some parts were undercooked while others were overdone. In order to get consistent cooking out of this microwave, you'll definitely want to stop and stir your food during cooking to prevent hot spots. 

At 900 watts, this microwave isn't the most powerful (an average microwave is around 1,200 watts), but it heats up pretty quickly. Not only did the mac and cheese heat quicker than the package instructions, but the Defrost, Potato, and Dinner Plate presets all heated more quickly than expected.

Smart capabilities

The best part of having a smart microwave is that you can control the settings and check the status of your food from your smartphone or by using voice commands with a virtual assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. I tested the microwave with my Google Home Mini. You can use the voice commands to prompt the microwave to perform different functions including start/stop, set a specific cook time, and ask how much time is left.

Hands-free technology makes cooking more sanitary, reducing the amount of times you touch your microwave. This is especially helpful if you're prepping something like raw poultry. Overall, I find the app and voice commands are more of a convenience and sanitary benefit than a time saver since it doesn't take that much more effort to use the buttons manually. 

Scan-to-cook function

Although it's cool that the cooking time and setting show up on the microwave just by scanning the barcode on the food package, it doesn't take that much longer to manually set the cooking time yourself. My favorite part of the smart feature is the ability to check the status of your food from your phone or by asking your virtual assistant for a status update at any time during the heating process. Plus, as someone who has forgotten their food is in the microwave before I especially love getting an alert on my phone when my food is ready. 

Another bonus of the scan-to-cook technology is the ease of use. If you have a small kid who wants to warm up their favorite frozen meal after school, they can simply scan the barcode instead of trying to read instructions on the package. Of course, we always recommend supervising kids when they're using the microwave.

Cons to consider

Even though the microwave heats quickly, it doesn't cook food as evenly as other microwaves I've tested. I found many hot spots when I experimented with the marshmallow test, and I even felt it warmed up my coffee unevenly. That said, it worked well for defrosting meat, making popcorn, and warming up leftovers.

When GE first added Google Assistant, the voice commands were finicky with my Google Home Mini. It doesn't work unless you say the exact prompts. I actually had to call customer service because I couldn't get the voice commands to work, but their customer service was quick and helpful, and once I learned the exact voice commands, it was easy to use. 

What are your alternatives?

We haven't tested other smart microwaves, but if you're in the market for a smart countertop appliance, you check out the Tovala Smart Oven. The Tovala is our favorite for beginners in the best air fryer toaster oven guide, and it has smart capabilities. If you're looking for just another one of the best microwaves, our top pick is the  Panasonic NN-SN65KB Microwave Oven as our top pick because of its ability to cook food evenly and quickly and for its useful preset buttons.

The bottom line

For the price and brand reliability, this is a good microwave. However, it remains to be seen if any smart microwave is all that helpful for saving time or effort. GE's smart features are limited in their scope and can be a bit finicky, and it's often just easier to press the buttons yourself. If you're just after a great microwave, there are other, better options.

That said, part of the benefit of buying any "smart" device is that it has the ability to get smarter over time with app and firmware updates. Since GE recently added Google-compatibility to this microwave, it's likely that the brand will continue to make improvements that make the microwave more functional and less buggy over time. If you have your heart set on a smart microwave, this is one of the most inexpensive options out there and a solid choice.