Hi, I just read your posting that said you loved this microwave. Now that you have had it for a while, how do you feel? I think we are going to get one, but I can't find anyone who has one or any reviews on it. I wanted a convection microwave and this looks like it has that plus the Speedcook bonus.

Thanks!

Jill

After having it for a while, I still like it. The best part of having it is being able to bake potatoes in a reasonable timeframe. It also serves nicely as a second oven, although it is a bit on the small side as an oven. So far, I haven't had any complaints about my purchase.

Sean---

I recently purchased the above mentioned oven and am still trying to get used to it. I tried to preheat it to 450 but it wouldn't go that high so I tried to preheat to 425 and it still wouldn't work so I settled for 400 and finally it worked. Any suggestions on what I should do before I call in a problem?

We just installed our 4th oven this weekend (they keep going totally dead and the repair guys cant fix them) and my wife cooked fishsticks at 450 in convection mode and it died again. Kinda funny since last time it broke right before Thanksgiving I was also cooking fishsticks. I have to say, they are sweet when they work, but unless you feel like taking it down off the wall every two months and exchanging it I dont recommend you buy one. We had a seperate line installed to accomodate this oven and am pretty well disgusted at this point. Think this time Im getting my money back.

Just a follow up to my previous post....the repair man came out this weekend to take a look at #4 and told us to return it to the store again. To be clear, this is the Kenmore Elite Model 363 with Advantium 120 technology.

This oven looks great and also cooks food very well. It can save you a lot of cooking time. This is the good news. The bad news is that the unit overheats and shuts down. The first time I brought my oven to 450 to cook it went totally dead. It was off warranty so I called GE to see if this was a manufacturer defect. They advised me that no defect was documented. They are useless!! I'm handy and have knowledge of electricity so I troubleshooted and found that the thermal cutoff(TCO) oven cavity was blown. Unfortunately GE does notstand behind it's product.

My TCO base hood cut off blew out while at 375 degree convection cook! My unit is locked in by tile, so I can't just yank this thing out at will. Does anyone know if it is pssible to just bypass this cut off. The oven cavity cut off will still be there for safety and it is easily reachable without removing the oven? I absolutely love the oven and have had no trouble with until now - but have now read all the stories about these cut offs and am worried.

The interior light continually burns out. First call couldn't fix it. Second call, 2 guys show up and remove it from wall, take cover off and repair. Light burns out in 3 mos. Third call, one guy shows up and can't remove it. Fourth call, two guys show up and remove it from over the stove and install light and new circuit board. Light burns out in 3 mos. Fifth call, one guy shows up and says can't lift it by himself (all these calls were set up for 2 persons). Sixth call, one guy shows up again and says company screwed up and sent one man. Ten minutes after he leaves, Sears calls and says repairman is on his way. I inform them he had already been there and failed again. Seventh call, SAME repairman shows up solo again and fixes it without removing from wall. Light was incorrect wattage but am living with it. Do not buy an oven that takes a repairman to replace a $16 bulb every 3 mos.

Guess it's time to add my comments since my husband and I are about to blow a gasket at this moment! We purchased our first Advantium about 3 years ago. Problem #1: A couple of months later the interior light blows out! They send a service man to look at it and he, no one at the repair center, no one at the store, and several people at the factory can not even find a diagram of or a mention of a light bulb to replace in the interior. The same gentleman comes back after trying to research this and he cannot take the microwave down himself so he calls for another man to come help him. They take it down and still can't find anything. They put it back up and upon more investigating, decide they need a whole new circuit board unit so they order that. A few weeks later 3 men come back and they take it apart and replace it with the new circuits. Seemed to solve the problem. Problem #2: About 9 months later, I'm cooking a pizza at 450 after preheating it and it goes completely dead! We take it to the service center who in turn sends it to the Chicago repair service and tells us it will be back in about 2 weeks. 2 1/2 weeks later we get it back, only to find out that the repair center lost part of our mounting hardware. We take it back to the service center who says they have to return it to the repair center again. It should be back in 2 weeks again. After calling them 4 times wondering where it is and being told it's on the way, we contacted the contract sales manager who coordinates appliance orders for contractors of new homes. Then someone from management calls to say that it was put on a return truck and lost. After much arguing with the service center, Chicago people and anyone else who would listen to us, he spoke with several people who were trying to give us less money back than we paid for the unit and finally, they agreed to give us a new unit. However, we then find out that our exact unit was discontinued - we had to wait a couple of weeks for the "new & improved model" to be released and shipped. This was going to be the end of our problems or so we thought. Problem #3: Well, we've had the new unit now for about 3 months and we were cooking another pizza tonight - dejavou! It stopped dead again! We love this oven, it has been so awesome for just about everything we have ever used it for but wish we had seen the comments on this website sooner. Now we don't know whether to pursue the same oven or not. Since GE manufactures this oven, it makes a person wonder whether the models sold under their own name have the same problems as well. Guess we'll call our contract sales manager again Monday morning!

Forgot to mention in my original write-up that the reason we were given for our Advantium dying the first time was that a wire on the wiring harness had come off.

We bought this great microwave as well and like most of you we are now extremely frustrated!! First off SEARS Service is TERRIBLE!! THEY NEED AN OVERHAUL!! My microwave like most of you just went out. I called Sears Service and was told that it would take a week to get a service guy to look at it...when I complained and asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that there was a 3 to 4 hour wait and my name would have to go onto the waiting list...UNBELIEVEABLE!!! At this point I called our local sears and got results faster. They sent out a technician the next day and he said that the cavity fuse burned out and we were better off to replace the unit. Ok..now I am going somewhere right? Nope! I called my friendly Sears store and was told to bring the microwave into the store and they would replace it...as you know this is a big task with it being an over the range unit..so my husband told me to double check to make sure they had the unit in stock...guess what? none in stock and it would take them 2 to 3 weeks to get one...ok now I am really mad but to top off my day I had a rep from sears to call and leave a message saying that they would be more than glad to replace the oven within the 2 to 3 week time frame and if I needed it any sooner they would be more than glad to charge it to my credit card!...now I am from being mad to furious!!!!!!!!so I called the store manager...this did get me a microwave delivered but it still took almost 2 weeks. I can tell you that if this new one blows, I will be on the phone and emailing every news media I can find letting the world know that this product is a "Lemon" and the manufacturer is refusing to fix the problem.

Waved up in the East!

My problems with this machine are similar to the ones others have reported here. I've now had to call Sears twice for service, and it's still under warranty. The first time I was using the convection oven and it died completely. The serviceman said the thermostat was bad and, presumably replaced it. Now when I try to use the convection oven, The power goes off for a few minutes, and then it comes back to life and asks me to set the time. The problem is getting progressively worse; it shuts down at lower and lower temperatures; at 400 degrees it doesn't finish preheating before dying. The repairman who came hadn't a clue, and called someone else. That guy was loud enough that I could hear him saying that the convection oven isn't really meant to be used as an oven -- just to heat up sandwiches, etc. And it can't handle high temperatures. Talk about false advertising. There is apparently some kind of fan kit that is on order for me, that is supposed to help. I got this oven mainly to use the convection oven to bake small things and not have to use the large oven. This Kenmore Elite has turned out to be a total lemon.

I bought this oven in 2003 for a new house. It broke down numerous times. I cannot tell you the hell Sears put me through! National headquarters sent me a $20 gift card for my trouble after they told me there was nothing they could do and before the oldest repairman came out, replaced the last possible new part and it has worked fine until today! Now I dread even calling! Just may buy ANYTHING BUT SEARS instead! I have never been subjected to such bad service with included very rude and even abusive behavior. Sears does not care as long as gullible people who remember when it was a good brand keep buying! NEVER AGAIN!!!

We've had ours for 2-3 years and although it is still working, I do have two significant problems.

One, the exhaust venting system is USELESS. The amount of smoke/steam that actually makes it into the vent is practically imperceptible.

Two, the fan goes on automatically and WON'T TURN OFF for 15-30 minutes if you've cooked anything for an extended length of time (meaning 15 minutes or so) And that applies even to when it's been used in microwave mode alone; such as when we defrost marinara sauce. We're then stuck with the fan on high, LOUD mode going throughout our entire dinner time.

It is a beauty and so far has worked without a hitch but I end up frying onions, sauteeing chicken, and cooking eggs outside on a hotplate to avoid a smelly house.

Would not recommend.

I was just looking for info on how to change the inside lightbulb, and wow, did I stumble onto the right site! Almost forgot what I was looking for! I've only had it 3 months,(got it from a person remodeling and upgrading.) Must be the bulb has a strict 3 month expiration date. Hopefully I will escape the cutoff switch issues, but if I don't, at least I have a good idea of whats wrong.