Microwave ovens.

In which year did the microwave oven make its debut?

And I guess, in which year did it also go mainstream.

I'm thinking, 1985/6/7 for debut,

1991/2/3 for mainstream.

I remember getting our first one from Boots in about '81, and they'd been around for at least a couple of years.

Bit on here suggesting 25% os US households had one by 1986. I would guess we were a couple of years or so behind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_ovens

I remember our first one was second hand and can't have been later than 85/86, they were definitely pretty commonplace by then. We were never the earliest with stuff, I remember we didn't get a colour telly until about 1983 and didn't have a telephone in the house until about 1979.

Earliest I remember them is being in the film Time Bandits.....

Mid 80's I remember getting our first one and we needed an extension for it, or the work surfaces re-enforced!!!!!

I still believe that the film Gremlins has made the best cinematic use of the microwave.

Microwaves first came to the general public knowledge in the early 70s when some silly old bint in the southern states put her dog into one to dry it off.Story made all the dailies eventually of course and everybody began to know at least what a microwave did.

I had one in about 1976,got it in Japan I think, Hitachi,worked wonders up until about 3 years ago when it went to the great scrapyard in the sky to be replaced with a 69 euros Samsung effort from the local supermarket.