The LG LMV1762ST is poised to take a lot of the guesswork out of the cooking process. The Auto Reheat feature helps you prepare foods without entering a cook time or power level. The unit will sense doneness on its own and make adjustments.
There are also several preset food buttons that offer one-touch preparation for pizza, frozen entrees, potatoes and popcorn. You adjust quantity by just pushing the appropriate button. The settings for power levels and cooking times are programmed into the microwave for those foods.
We looked for units with warm hold and quick cook features and this one has neither. That is not necessarily a deal-breaker. Not everyone would even use them, but they can make life easier, especially quick-cook buttons, which make it possible to start a cycle for a specific amount of time with just the push of one button. This one will require a bit more effort to input the time, every time you are not using the presets for auto reheating functions. There is one quick cook button if you count EZ On, which starts a 30-second cycle with one button push. That can be handy to add to the end of a cycle.
This one also lacks the ability to shut off the turntable and the sound. Neither of those is a huge drawback either, but we prefer to have those options. A loud signal is less than ideal if you have napping kids and the turning of the turntable will cause the largest trays to run into the walls over and over again on some cycles. You won't notice unless you cook large quantities of food in your microwave often. If you want those features, check out the Kenmore 80333.
Matching appliances is not the goal of every microwave purchase, but most people prefer it. This is not the best for color selection, but you can get it in a very-respectable three finishes – stainless steel, black and white. That covers most design scenarios. We like that you can opt to turn off the LED display for energy savings when not in use.
The interior has some nice features that many competing units did not have, including easy-clean coating and a shelf. The theory is that microwaving some lemon juice will loosen everything in any microwave enough to just wipe clean. That's not always the case, though. If you have a heavily-trafficked microwave an easier cleaned surface will be helpful. The optional shelf is nice for adding capacity to the microwave; you can heat two dinners at once.
The range hood portion of this appliance will move 300 cubic feet of air per minute, which is great. There was not a huge difference in this number among the ones we compared but this one tied for the most air moved. You can choose from two different fan speeds but there is just one light setting for the cooktop. Other units offered more lighting level choice.
The LG LMV1762ST has stronger warranty coverage than our top two, which makes it feel safer as a long-term investment. This microwave has the same wattage, interior capacity and airflow numbers as the winners in this category, so if you are willing to live without a couple of preferred-but-unnecessary features this will be just great, for many years.
The LG LMV1762ST comes with 10 years of coverage on the magnetron. That is the most important and most expensive part of the microwave. If it breaks it can cost as much to fix it as buying an entirely new microwave so we were sort of surprised more units don't offer extended coverage on it. There is one other unit we compared that also offers a 10-year magnetron warranty, but it had fewer of the other features we were looking for.
The LG LMV1762ST lacks a few of the features that are convenient, including warm hold and quick cook, but the most important factors all are in place. This microwave stands out in a good way by having a strong warranty – fully 10 years of coverage on the magnetron.
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