Expert review Panasonic NN-CS88LBEPG

The combi steam oven has a sleek design and looks nice on my counter thanks to the black frame. It doesn't have any protruding buttons, but it does have a LED touch panel that's user-friendly. The combi steam oven is large, it has a 50cm width and a 48cm depth. I don't mind it, because it fits exactly in the corner of my kitchen on the counter. In addition to the combi steam oven, you'll find a drip tray, water tank, enameled sheet, 2 racks, and a glass tray in the box.

With the Genius Sensor, you can heat up cold or frozen meals without having to choose the power level, weight, or preparation time. That's useful, because I often eat leftovers the next day for lunch. The setting isn't suitable for rice, noodles, and potatoes. So I unfortunately can't use the setting for half of my lunch, but that's what the microwave function is for. I quickly heat up my leftover lasagna and pasta, and the food comes out of the oven evenly heated. And I don't have to check if it gets too hot. The Genius Sensor also allows you to prepare full meals with steamed vegetables and meat or fish.

You can easily set up the appliance with the touch panel. I can bake a red velvet cake with the fan oven setting and it comes out of the oven perfectly. After use, the appliance keeps buzzing for a couple of minutes to cool down. If you have a closed kitchen, you won't be bothered by that.

You can choose from various complete steam programs. You can use a the steam function in combination with the microwave, grill, or fan function, for example. In addition, you can choose a high or low steam level per steam setting. So you have lots of choice in the way you want to prepare your meal. This does make it difficult to choose the right setting. I steamed my broccoli at 'Steam level 2' and it came out of the combi steam oven cooked with a nice bite. Because you can steam at 2 levels, you can prepare 2 complete dishes below each other in the oven.

With 36 automatic preparation settings, there was a lot to test. I tried the pizza setting with a pizza with a thick crust. Even though I entered the weight, the pizza was soggy and wasn't crispy. Later, I found out that the microwave has an extra pizza setting. So make sure to carefully read the manual before you choose the setting. With a thin pizza crust, the pizza setting does work well. My burritos and nachos had a crispy layer thanks to the grill setting. And to heat up a latte or chocolate milk, I can choose a setting that properly heats up drinks.

The combi steam oven has a high-end build and preparation quality. This means that it has a good score based on the requirements Coolblue has defined for a combi steam oven. If the build quality is high, the combi steam oven will last for years to come. Thanks to the high preparation quality, the microwave heats up my meals evenly and quickly. This is because of the inverter motor, the distribution of microwaves, and the power of the microwave. This makes this combi steam oven a very good product.

Carefully read the manual before you get started with the combi steam oven. It's very clear and easy to read. I enabled the child safety lock on the combi steam oven right away and couldn't disable it again without reading the manual. in the manual, you can also read which accessories to use when. Because some accessories aren't suitable for certain oven settings, I was afraid to make mistakes sometimes. Luckily, the baking sheet clearly states that you can't use it with the microwave setitng.