This review could change in the future, depending on my experience going forward.

Have had this for a few days now. So far, it's the best microwave I've ever owned. I replaced a smaller 700 watt microwave, so naturally the extra wattage of this one makes reheating food, which I what I primary use a microwave for, so much more convenient. I like the sensor heating function although it doesn't work well for coffee or reheating mashed potatoes, but that was to be expected because the manual doesn't recommend the feature for liquids. It didn't mention mashed potatoes but I can tell you, that doesn't work either. However, using sensor heating for reheating meats is perfect. The microwave is very quiet. Seen a review on here from someone saying it was loud. Not sure what they're used to but this one barely makes a noise. My last microwave lasted 10 yeaars. We'll see how long this one lasts.

Heats food evenly, fits perfectly on our counter top and fits our Corelle dinner sized plates perfectly. The door handle has trigger finger feature to be depressed to open that I wasn’t expecting as I was used to an over the oven where you just pull the microwave open. No issue so far with use 2-4 times daily for 2 months. Color matches our stainless appliances perfectly. Contains the smell of the food well, although we haven’t put anything particularly smelly in it.

We got this to replace a multi-function microwave that had ceased to multi-function after just a year. This is just what was needed - a microwave that has enough power to heat foods quickly and isn't cluttered up with a lot of unnecessary functions. This oven is simple to use, has a large cooking space, and plenty of power. The interior is clean, white and brightly lit. A good reliable unit for those who just need the basic functions.

Love this air-fryer/broiler/microwave & it’s multi function. Microwave is not small but not huge. Comes with turning plate, two grill plates and two wire wracks, instructions and cooking guide. Love the look, love the spaciousness of the microwave, love the child safety handle button under the microwave handle and love how it heats food evenly in little time. Delivery was fast don't sleep on this product. So far so good!! I recommend this buy.

Wow - I'm impressed.
Some background so you know we're I'm coming from: Our Tappen digital microwave from 1993 finally died - if only all my appliances had this sort of life! It was a 1000 watts with a turntable, but nothing fancy beyond that. For 32 years it served us well but one of the high-powered diodes died. Time to replace it.

We didn't want a convection oven microwave combo, we already have a great convection oven. But I did want a microwave that used Inverter technology and had a few additional sensors. For me, it came down to a Panasonic or the Toshiba. They had nearly identical features, stats, and comparable dimensions. The deciding factor was the door handle - we wanted a door with a real handle, not one of the "push-button, pop open" doors. The Toshiba fit all criteria.

The model we chose was the Toshiba ML-EM45PIT In black stainless trim. 1250 watts, inverter technology, temperature AND humidity sensors and several built-in cooking algorithms. This thing is practically silent. The first time we fired it up with a mug of water we both worried that we'd received a defective unit. But, in 20 seconds we had a steaming mug of water. It worked.

Our second test was a medium-sized potato. For this I just pierced the skin a few times, placed it on a small ceramic plate and simply pressed the "potato" button. It didn't ask the size, it just put some numbers on the screen and the moisture sensor indicator lit up. In four minutes that oven stopped, I left the potato alone in the oven for another minute with the microwave off, then took it out. It was as close to great as I've ever seen from a microwave. No burning, perfectly cooked with only one tiny dry area. 9 out of 10 - I pressed one button and the microwave did the rest; the result was good.

Next up was microwave popcorn. We don't eat it much, but I was in an experimenting mood. The oven has a popcorn button, you press it once for 1.75 oz size, twice for 3.0 oz size, and a third time for a larger size that I don't remember. Of course, ours was 2.5 oz and didn't fit any of those choices. So I selected the 3.0 oz size and figured I'd stop the oven when the popping stops. That ended up being 2 minutes - the popcorn was perfect with only 3 unpopped kernels and no burning whatsoever. I was impressed. 7 out of 10, nice job - but I did have to stop it myself.

My last experiment was reheating a plate of food - leftovers. The big size comes into it's own here; it easily fits a large dinner plate. The oven has a sensor-driven "reheat" button that uses a temperature sensor to automatically adjust the cooktime and power. The manual says not to open the oven part way or it will throw off the temperature sensor ...so I didn't. I just let the oven do it's thing. The plate came out pretty good, all of the food was reheated, even without stirring or futzing - though some parts were not as hot as I would have liked. Another 10 seconds on high fixed that problem. 8 out of 10, the automatic setting was impressive, but I like my food very hot.

Overall I'm impressed. The intelligent features and sensors are very nice and do a fairly good job - but they are not perfect. The inverter claims to be more even heat, that seems to be the case - but remember, my point of reference was a 32-year-old microwave. Still, it does appear to cook evenly. Appearance is subjective but I like the dark stainless. The real door handle is a winner for me... I hate those push-button doors. It's powerful! that 1250 watts shines when you want to heat water in very little time. Operationally - the thing is practically silent. Normally you hear fans, or a motor turning the turntable, but you really have to strain to hear those things with this Toshiba. Honestly, it's the biggest talking point in my house is how nearly silent it is. I guess our life just isn't that interesting! Recommend the Toshiba, and I do recommend the inverter technology. I can see a difference.

UPDATE 4-November-2025:
Now we've had this Toshiba ML-EM45PIT for about a month and a half. I have to say, we still love it. HOWEVER, this thing is powerful... maybe too powerful. We've learned there are very few things we can actually cook on high for amount of time without it absolutely irradiating it. It's not a bad, we simply select 80 or 90% power and things cook very well. But whenever any packaged food calls for xx-minutes on "High", we adjust it for the same amount of time on 80 or 90% power to get good results. The defrost feature is adequate, but nothing more. The oven is still super-quiet, it still amazes us how quiet this thing is ...it's spooky. Nevertheless - still recommended. It's a great microwave.

After 5 years, 1 month, and 3 weeks of daily use, our favorite kitchen appliance has bit the dust. After we stopped crying and said thank you to our dear friend for its years of service, we searched our Amazon purchase history and were elated to see this microwave is still available for purchase. It will be a long two days without it, but we're excited to welcome Toshi Junior to the family.

Why are we repurchasing this Toshiba countertop microwave? Until today, it worked perfectly every time, heating food evenly and maintaining its power over the years. It's a nice size. I would consider this full sized (I've never not been able to fit something in it), but it's compact enough to fit on a shelf in our pantry. It's simple to use, the buttons make sense. The glass turntable is nice and easy to clean. The interior never stained even with a certain family member never covering their dish and splattering sauces everywhere on a regular basis. And it's a great value.

Highly recommend.

Update: The new microwave arrived. I literally clicked "purchase again" from my order history, so we expected to receive the same product. It's slightly different. A little smaller. The handle operates differently (you can't just pull the door open anymore) and the add 30 seconds button doesn't work the same as on the older model. We find this irritating, but if you're not used to the old function, you might not find the new limitation annoying. We still endorse this microwave. It's a good value and it works well. Hopefully this one lasts at least 5 years like the last one did.

Hey folks! I just picked up the TOSHIBA EM131A5C-BS Countertop Microwave Oven, and I’m pretty stoked about it.

First off, the size is spot on. At 1.2 cubic feet, it fits nicely on my countertop and can handle everything from reheating leftovers to cooking a good ol’ frozen pizza. That 12.4" removable turntable is a bonus because it makes sure everything heats evenly. Plus, it’s super easy to clean—just pop it out and give it a wash!

Now, let’s talk price. This microwave is a steal! For all the features it comes with, I was pleasantly surprised at how affordable it was. With 1000 watts, it heats things up quick, which is perfect when you're in a rush (hello, busy weeknights!). The smart humidity sensor and those 12 auto menus are handy, too—just press a button and let it do the work!

I also appreciate the ECO mode, which helps save a bit on energy when it’s not in use. And the easy clean interior? Huge win for keeping things tidy!

Overall, I highly recommend the TOSHIBA EM131A5C-BS. If you need a reliable, spacious, and budget-friendly microwave, this one’s definitely worth checking out. Be blessed!

Purchase 11/2022 Reviewed 2/2024. One+year review. Model: EM131A5C-SS. Very pleased with this purchase. Was afraid after reading reviews what condition this might arrive in but as you can see from pics. this product arrived well packed inside a separate box from the actual product box. No damage. Features I like:
1. Definitely #1 on the list is the sensor keys that allow the m/wave to sense how long to cook the food, most of the time I cook frozen packaged meals & this m/wave will determine how long no matter what the package instructions say with regard to the m/wave wattage. So It will adjust the time whether the instr. are for a 1200 or 800 watt instructions -- no more trying to convert the time to set the timer - M/wave does it for you.
2. With regard to the sensor keys, I can also cook different frozen items on one plate, like vegs with a frozen entree & make my own meal combos & it again determines time for food to reheat properly.
3. I do what is called mug meals - add ing. to a mug, heat/steam, add more ing. & have a nice single serving meal. I've done spaghetti/meatballs, phillycheese steak, soups, omelets, all kinds of individual meals in this & they've turned out properly cooked & not overdone. You can set the cooking time from 30-60 sec. at a time.
4. The m/wave is not excessively loud. It beeps when done. Nice large turntable inside, the whole inside is large so putting a large item inside is possible. I am not a fan of the short electric cord - these are meant to be plugged into a countertop outlet, I have mine on a steel worktable but fortunately my outlets are a bit above the floor so it reaches. Cord is about 4ft long. It is not a small m/wave but Possibly a medium sized one. Anyway, I like it.

After extensive research and reading many reviews we bought the TOSHIBA ML-EM45PIT(BS) Countertop Microwave Oven with Inverter Technology, 1.6 Cu.ft, 13.6" Turntable, 1250W
Our evaluation is
1- The not so good display that is high on style and low on visibility. Numbers and functions grayed out to blend in but not every one has a twenty something eye sight. During the day it is fine in most cases, at night you have to focus to see it. A simple low tech hack we did was to add two colored yellow and red dots at the cook time and start button that helped a lot! As you can see in first foto

2- The size is awesome having come from 1 Cft to this 1.6 Cft (calculations comes up to 1.57 close enough). Our old Sharp 1 CFt Carousel Microwave had a turntable of about 11” and this one has it at 13.6” good enough for 99% of what we need. Both turntables are overlaid on top of each other as you see in the second foto

3- Inverter technology works! It actually starts high then tailors the wave power downwards. Standard Microwaves control power by on off switching thus less controllable and less smoth transitions. We Defrosted two t-bone 🥩 steaks to perfection with zero over heating and no burnt marks. If the weight is 4 pounds for example I suggest entering it less at 3 pounds until you have experience with it.

4- Sensor functions worked great: we tried Reheat drinks and plates, frozen vegetables, and baked a potato all with excellent results. A tip put a timer till you feel comfortable that you are not over doing things. Also never use sensor functions on very small portions as the machine sensors will not have enough steam and heat to work with and it can burn the small food portions.

5-We decided against the extra functions of air frying, convection oven , broil etc … to avoid smells and for ease of cleaning. We let the Microwave be a microwave for the daily uses only.

We wanted to knock a star due to low controls visibility, but being an excellent Microwave for what we need, for a reasonable price, we kept it at 5 ⭐️

I bought this microwave to replace a very old microwave that had issues. My old microwave's keypad was failing and the paint on the inside was badly rotting away. So it was time to buy a new microwave.

I also purchased a microwave plate cover to protect this new microwave from splatter. The splatter is what caused my old microwave's paint to chip away. If you have food splatter (like pasta sauce) inside the microwave, then you turn the microwave on. You'll cook the paint job. Over time the paint will start to chip away.

So i bought this plate cover and so far it's keeping the microwave clean:
(i included a photo of the plate cover inside the microwave)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KVK337M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pros:

- Cooking -
It cooks really well. I was surprised to find out this cooks a bit better than my old microwave. Seems to cook more evenly. Cooks just as fast as my old microwave (similar wattage)

My old microwave: 1,000 watts
This Toshiba: 1,100 watts

- Touch pad (East To Use) -
Nice simple touch pad. It works well. Lots of quick touch options. The "One touch start" is great, press 1 for 1 minute, 2 for 2 minutes, etc... good for older people. Not complicated to figure out.

- Instruction Label -
It has a label on the inside the microwave with info / instructions for cooking different things (defrost, melt, popcorn, etc) so you have that info available to you anytime.

- Noise Level (Cooking noise) -
It does make noise like all microwaves do but the noise it makes is actually pretty quiet. Much more quiet than my old microwave.

The noise it makes is an odd buzzing noise when you turn it on to cook. At first i thought that buzzing noise it was making was a bad sign but that's just the noise it makes. Not an issue. Just a new sound to a different microwave.

- Keypad Beep noise -
You can turn off the beep noise of the keypad. I turned it off to test it, it works. But i turned it back on just because i then realized i enjoy hearing the beep noise feedback.

- Child safety -
There is a safety option, at first i thought if i activate it, it would prevent the door from opening but that's not how it works. If you activate it, you can still open the door. But the microwave won't function until you turn off the lock via the keypad. A little lock icon will appear on the LCD screen to let you know it's locked.

So after every time you finish using the microwave you will have to turn the lock option on. When you want to use it, turn lock option off. If you have kids it might be worth the extra steps to lock / unlock it, otherwise it's not worth using.

- Microwave color -
It looks stylish. Especially if you have black / chrome around the kitchen. It's also fine with white also.

Cons:

- The stainless steel on the door is a "finger print magnet". If you touch it, it will create smear marks. The handle has the chrome also.
(i included a photo of that)

- Color options -
One thing i noticed when trying to buy a microwave. The color options are very limited.

I do wish this microwave had more color options. I originally was hoping to get a 100% white microwave or at least get this same color microwave but have the black be in the color of white or even 100% silver but it's not an option. It's fine though. It still looks pretty good.

- Clock -
Not really a huge complaint, but if you unplug the microwave, the clock gets reset automatically. I think this is an issue with all microwaves. Would be nice if it could save the time when not plugged in. Because if you accidentally unplug it, then you have to set the time again.

Summary:
I haven't fully tested ALL the cooking features. But for basic everyday use of quickly heating / cooking things, it works well, cooks well. Great microwave. Worth spending money on as it's an investment that should last for many years.