Farberware FMO07ABTBKA Review

The Farberware FMO07ABTBKA was not perfect in our tests, but it was quite good and the price is nice. We found it for less than $70 on some sites. At only 0.7 cubic feet, this tied for being the smallest microwave we tested.

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

The Farberware FMO07ABTBKA turned in a solid performance on our tests and it costs very little.

Pros

  • +

    The low price means you can afford to replace your old microwave sooner.

Cons

  • -

    The smaller size might not be the best if you use your microwave for family meal preparation.

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The Farberware FMO07ABTBKA was not perfect in our tests, but it was quite good and the price is nice. We found it for less than $70 on some sites. At only 0.7 cubic feet, this tied for being the smallest microwave we tested. Things did seem a little tight inside on some tests, but if you just use your microwave for heating up individual portions it will work fine. This might not be the best if you prepare large family meals in the microwave. If you know you need more capacity, check out the Hamilton Beach EM0331MZC-X2.

The FMO07ABTBKA tied for second best on the potato test. It produced a thoroughly-cooked finished potato and it did that when using the Potato button. That was definitely not the case with some of the microwaves, which produced uneven results when using their Potato option. This one struggled quite a bit with popcorn. It had almost the most unpopped kernels at the end. It did a lot better on the second round, though, popping more of the bag and producing no overdone spots.

When we tested heat consistency with pizza rolls, the results were not stellar. The pizza rolls on one side of its tray were about 15 degrees hotter than the ones on the other side. That's not great, but there were microwaves that did much worse – some with more than a 50-degree difference from one side of the tray to the other.

There is a decent selection of cooking options with the FMO07ABTBKA. You get presets for popcorn, potato, pizza, frozen vegetables, beverages and dinner plates. You can also use the six express options and get cooking for between one and six minutes with the touch of one button. This is not one of the microwaves that will sense the moisture levels and adjust cooking times automatically, but it does have a memory button for saving often-used settings. For instance, if you often cook something at 80% power for 2 minutes and 10 seconds you can avoid inputting those time and power level settings every time. You can save that setting and push one button.

Aside from the cooking options you can defrost by time or by weight with this microwave. A keypad lock will keep the kids from accessing any of the features.

This microwave is lackluster in terms of its warranty. There is just one year of coverage on all parts. That is not as impressive as the ones that guarantee at least their magnetrons for more time. Since this one represents less of an investment overall that is a little less troubling.

The FMO07ABTBKA has just 700 watts and that is the lowest of all the ones we tested. It really wasn't noticeable during our testing, or at least we couldn't directly connect a weaker performance to the lower wattage. Other microwaves of the same wattage had their own unique scores for everything and they outscored the units with more watts on some tasks. That’s not to say that you may desire a more powerful microwave during some cooking tasks.

The Farberware FMO07ABTBKA ties for the smallest size and lowest wattage of all the microwaves we compared. It has a very small pricetag to match, and we found it to be competitive, even if not perfect, during our testing. It cooked our test food thoroughly and evenly for the most part. If you planned to use your microwave for preparing large quantities of food, this is not the best option, but it will heat up individual portions fine and for less than $70.

Angie Parkinson

A contracted writer for TTR, Angie has been reviewing vacuum cleaners, countertop appliances and other home goods for more than eight years. Her spare time often goes to planning improvements for her quirky 103-year-old home or hiking in the gorgeous Utah mountains. In her past role, she was a newspaper journalist and she has a bachelor's degree in Technical Writing.