It heats up food well. Very poorly designed control panel. 1) the shade of the font used for the settings is not bright enough to read unless the ambient light in the room is bright; we like to use the timer even when we're not microwaving, as a kitchen timer. The control for the timer is arrayed among the seldom-used controls such as "popcorn", "snack", and the like. We cannot figure out the "Settings" control at all. Owners manual is worthless, but that may be due to governmental safety regulations and not GE's fault.