Best Countertop Microwave When Counter Space Is Tight

The best countertop microwave for two people is the Chefman 1.1 Cu. Ft., because it pairs 1000W of output with a 15.1-inch depth that still clears a standard 24-inch counter with room behind it. If you want the machine to judge reheat times for you, the TOSHIBA EM131A5C-BS steps up to 1.2 cu. ft. with a humidity sensor instead. The figure that splits this field is not capacity. It's wattage per cubic foot, and it explains why the 0.7 cu. ft. models feel slower than their size suggests.

Best countertop microwave for two people at a glance

Who each of these five picks is actually for

I sorted these five by the buyer, not the brand. Two people cook in wildly different ways, so the same cubic-foot number lands differently depending on whether you reheat or actually cook.

• You reheat single plates and mugs. The 0.7 cu. ft. pair covers it. The BLACK+DECKER EM7P01P7 is the shallowest at 12.3 in, and the COMFEE' EM720CPL-PMB is the cheapest of the five.
• You cook from frozen a few nights a week. You want 1000W. That's the Chefman RJ55-11-V3 or the TOSHIBA EM131A5C-BS.
• You batch cook on Sunday and reheat all week. Big dishes need volume. The 2.2 cu. ft. TOSHIBA ML-EM62P is the only pick here that clears a 16-inch pizza, by the manufacturer's own claim.
• You'd rather not think about power levels. Both TOSHIBA models list a humidity sensor that sets time and power for you.

Three of the five are black, one is black stainless steel, and one is stainless steel. That matters more than it sounds, because a microwave sits at eye level on most counters.

1. Chefman Countertop Microwave Oven 1.1 Cu. Ft. — Best overall

A 1000W machine in a 15.1-inch-deep body is the sweet spot for a two-person kitchen, and nothing else here matches that ratio.

Best for: a two-person kitchen with limited counter depth Skip it if: you reheat 16-inch leftovers or full casserole dishes

The RJ55-11-V3 gives you 1.1 cu. ft. and 1000W in a cabinet measuring 12 x 15.1 x 20.1 in. Compare that with the 1.2 cu. ft. TOSHIBA at 20.5 in deep, and the difference is over five inches of counter you keep. That's the whole argument for this pick. You get full-power heating without the footprint that usually comes attached to it.

Chefman lists six presets covering popcorn, pizza, beverages, veggies, potatoes and leftovers, plus 10 power levels. The brand describes the low end as fine enough to melt butter without scorching it. There's a memory function for programming a routine you repeat, a mute button, and a child safety lock on the handle plus a control panel lock. Two locks is more than most listings in this set describe.

At 30.9 lb it's the middle weight of the five, so one person can shift it to clean behind it. Warranty is stated at 1 year, matching every other pick. The trade-off is honest: it's the newest model here with no release year published, and it has no humidity sensor, so you set the time yourself.

Pros:

• 1000W in the shallowest 1-plus cu. ft. body here
• 15.1 in depth clears a standard counter easily
• 10 power levels and six one-touch presets
• Child lock on the handle plus panel lock
• Mute button and eco mode both listed

Cons:

• No humidity sensor, unlike either TOSHIBA
• No published release year to judge how long it's been sold
• Only two sellers list it
• 1.1 cu. ft. won't take a large casserole dish

2. TOSHIBA Countertop Microwave Oven — Runner-up

The sensor is the reason to pick this one, and 1.2 cu. ft. at 1000W is a genuinely capable middle capacity.

Best for: someone who wants a humidity sensor doing the guesswork Skip it if: your counter run is under 18 inches wide

The EM131A5C-BS is the one buyers choose most often out of these five. TOSHIBA lists 1000W output against 1600W input, a 12.4-inch glass turntable, and Smart Sensor Technology that the brand says adjusts time and power based on food humidity. That's the feature the Chefman lacks. For reheating rice, pasta or vegetables, a sensor beats guessing at 90 seconds and coming back to a cold centre.

Capacity is 1.2 cu. ft., the second-largest here, and the black stainless steel finish is the only one of its kind in this group. Six presets, 10 power levels, a clock, a kitchen timer, and defrost by weight or by time round it out. Released in 2017, it's the oldest model in this set, which cuts both ways: a long production run, but an older control layout.

The catch is the footprint. At 12.8 x 20.5 x 17.1 in it's deeper than the Chefman by more than five inches, and at 34.6 lb it's noticeably heavier to lift onto a shelf. It also sits in the more expensive half of this group. You're paying for the sensor, not for extra volume.

Pros:

• Humidity sensor sets time and power automatically
• 1.2 cu. ft. with 1000W output
• 12.4-inch glass turntable, the largest figure published here
• Defrost by weight or by time
• The one buyers choose most often in this set

Cons:

• 20.5 in deep, over five inches more than the Chefman
• 34.6 lb makes shelf mounting a two-person job
• Oldest design here, dated 2017
• Sits in the more expensive half of this group

3. COMFEE' Countertop Microwave Oven — Best budget pick

The cheapest of the five, and the only entry-price pick that publishes an eco mode with a stated power saving.

Best for: reheating coffee, oatmeal and single plates Skip it if: you cook from frozen more than twice a week

The EM720CPL-PMB is 0.7 cu. ft. and 700W, and it's the only pick in this roundup filed under compact microwaves rather than the full-size category. Dimensions are 10.2 x 13 x 17.3 in and it weighs 20.3 lb, so two hands and a short walk get it into place. For a couple who mostly reheat, that's the entire job description.

COMFEE' claims the eco mode cuts standby power by 50%, which is the only quantified energy figure any of these five listings publishes. There's a mute function activated by holding the sound button for three seconds, a two-step child lock, one-touch express cooking from 1 to 6 minutes, a +30 seconds key, and two defrost settings. Included components are the oven and a manual, nothing else.

The honest limit is 700W. Frozen meals with a 1000W instruction on the box need longer, and you'll be adding time and stirring halfway. Interior height at 0.7 cu. ft. also rules out tall covered dishes. Against the BLACK+DECKER, it's 0.7 in deeper and 1.3 lb heavier, so it wins on price and loses slightly on footprint.

Pros:

• Cheapest of the five picks here
• Eco mode claimed to cut standby power by 50%
• 20.3 lb, light enough to reposition alone
• Two-step child lock and mute function
• Defrost by weight or by time

Cons:

• 700W means longer times on frozen food
• 0.7 cu. ft. won't take tall or covered dishes
• No humidity sensor at this price
• Dated 2018, the second-oldest design here

4. TOSHIBA Large Countertop Microwave Oven with Smart Sensor — Best premium

At 2.2 cu. ft. and 1200W, this is the only pick that solves the big-dish problem, and it costs you a lot of counter to do it.

Best for: two people who batch cook in big dishes Skip it if: your counter is shallow or your cabinets hang low

The ML-EM62P(SS) is the outlier: 2.2 cu. ft., 1200W, and the highest wattage in the group by 200W. TOSHIBA says it fits a 16-inch pizza or a whole chicken. If you cook a tray of something on Sunday and reheat it in the same dish through the week, no other pick here will take the dish.

It's also the only one listing 23 one-touch menus against six on three of the others. The humidity sensor carries over from the 1.2 cu. ft. model, and there's auto-defrost by weight or time with dedicated programs for meat, poultry and fish. Sound on/off, memory, eco mode and a child lock are all listed. Stainless steel is the finish, and it's the most recent model here at 2021.

The cost is physical. Dimensions run 13.6 x 19.6 x 24.4 in and it weighs 49.2 lb, which is 30 lb more than the BLACK+DECKER. That's 24.4 inches of counter width gone and a height that can foul a low upper cabinet. It's the most expensive pick here and the slowest seller of the five, which fits: most two-person kitchens don't have the space for it, whatever the wattage says.

Pros:

• 1200W, the highest output in this set
• 2.2 cu. ft. takes dishes none of the others will
• 23 one-touch menus, most of any pick here
• Humidity sensor plus weight and time defrost
• Newest model in the group at 2021

Cons:

• 49.2 lb, by far the heaviest here
• 24.4 in wide and 13.6 in tall, so check cabinet clearance
• Most expensive pick in this roundup
• Slowest seller of the five
• Oversized for a household of two

5. BLACK+DECKER Countertop Microwave Oven 0.7 Cu.Ft — Best for beginners

The smallest footprint and lightest body here, with multi-stage cooking that the other entry pick doesn't list.

Best for: a first apartment kitchen with the shallowest counter Skip it if: you want the fastest heating in this group

The EM7P01P7 measures 9.5 x 12.3 x 17.1 in and weighs 19 lb, making it the smallest and lightest of the five on every published dimension. If your counter is interrupted by a sink at one end and a hob at the other, this is the one that fits the gap. BLACK+DECKER also calls the black finish fingerprint-resistant, which is a fair thing to want on a surface you touch daily.

Feature-wise it edges the COMFEE' in one specific way: multi-stage cooking, which BLACK+DECKER describes as programming sequential steps so the machine moves from defrost to reheat on its own. For frozen dinners that saves a trip back to the keypad. Six presets cover popcorn, potato, pizza, frozen vegetables, beverages and a dinner plate reheat, and there's express cooking plus 10 power levels at 700W.

Two drawbacks are worth stating plainly. Only one seller lists it, which is the thinnest supply of any pick here. And it's the slowest seller of the five by some margin, so it has less of a track record than the older COMFEE'. At 700W it shares the same speed limitation as the budget pick without undercutting it on price.

Pros:

• Shallowest body here at 12.3 in deep
• Lightest pick at 19 lb
• Multi-stage cooking automates defrost-then-reheat
• Fingerprint-resistant black finish claimed
• Six presets including a dinner plate reheat

Cons:

• 700W, so slower than the 1000W picks
• Only one seller lists it
• Slowest seller of the five here
• 0.7 cu. ft. limits dish size sharply
• No release year published

Does "for two people" mean anything on a microwave listing?

Not directly, and this is worth being straight about. None of these five listings states a household size or a number of servings. Manufacturers describe capacity in cubic feet and power in watts, then let you work out the rest. So when you search for the best countertop microwave for two people, the results you get are just microwaves that happen to suit small kitchens.

That means you have to translate. Here's the rough mapping I use when reading capacity figures:

1. 0.7 cu. ft. takes a dinner plate and a mug. Fine for reheating, tight for anything covered or tall.
2. 1.1 to 1.2 cu. ft. takes a plate plus a side bowl, or a medium covered dish. This is the practical range for two people who cook.
3. 2.2 cu. ft. takes a large baking dish or, per TOSHIBA's claim, a 16-inch pizza. Useful for batch cooking, oversized otherwise.

The pattern in this group is clean: capacity and wattage move together. Both 0.7 cu. ft. picks run 700W, both mid-size picks run 1000W, and the 2.2 cu. ft. pick runs 1200W. You can't buy small and fast in this set.

Capacity or wattage: which one should decide it?

Most guides to the best countertop microwave for two people lead with cubic feet. That's the wrong headline. Cubic feet tells you what fits. Wattage tells you how long you'll stand there waiting, and that's the thing you notice every single day.

The useful measure is wattage per cubic foot. Run it across this set and the picture changes:

• COMFEE' and BLACK+DECKER: 700W across 0.7 cu. ft., so roughly 1000W per cubic foot.
• Chefman: 1000W across 1.1 cu. ft., about 909W per cubic foot.
• TOSHIBA 1.2 cu. ft.: 1000W across 1.2, about 833W per cubic foot.
• TOSHIBA 2.2 cu. ft.: 1200W across 2.2, about 545W per cubic foot.

The two 700W models look efficient on that arithmetic, but 700W is still 700W in absolute terms. A frozen meal labelled for 1000W needs meaningful extra time in either of them. Meanwhile the 2.2 cu. ft. TOSHIBA has the most watts and the lowest density, which is exactly why it comes with a humidity sensor: a big cavity heats unevenly, and the sensor is there to compensate.

For two people, I'd read it this way. Wattage decides your weekday experience. Capacity decides whether your favourite dish fits. Get the wattage right first, then check the dish.

How much counter and cabinet space will you lose?

Measure before you order. This is where most microwave regret starts, and it takes 30 seconds to avoid. Here's what the published dimensions mean in practice.

Depth is the number that catches people. A standard kitchen counter is 24 inches deep, and you need a few inches behind the unit for the vent and the plug. The TOSHIBA EM131A5C-BS at 20.5 in deep leaves very little slack. The Chefman at 15.1 in leaves plenty. The BLACK+DECKER at 12.3 in barely registers.

Height matters if your upper cabinets sit low. Across this group the figures run from 9.5 in on the BLACK+DECKER to 13.6 in on the 2.2 cu. ft. TOSHIBA. That four-inch spread is the difference between sliding under a cabinet and not.

Then there's weight, which decides where the thing can live. At 19 lb the BLACK+DECKER goes on a shelf if you want. At 49.2 lb the large TOSHIBA is a counter-only appliance and a two-person lift. The Chefman's 30.9 lb sits in between and is manageable alone.

Tape the footprint out on your counter before you commit. Cardboard cut to the width and depth works even better.

What more money buys across these five

The jump from the entry pair to the mid pick buys 300W and about half a cubic foot. That's the most useful step in this group by a wide margin, and it's why the Chefman wins. Going up from there buys features rather than performance.

At the entry level, you get 700W, 0.7 cu. ft., six presets and 10 power levels. Both picks include a child lock and mute. Neither includes a sensor.

In the middle, the Chefman adds 1000W, 1.1 cu. ft., a memory function and a dual child lock. Same warranty length, same preset count.

Above that, the money goes on the humidity sensor and, in the premium case, on volume. The 1.2 cu. ft. TOSHIBA charges more than the Chefman for a sensor and 0.1 cu. ft., not for more power. The 2.2 cu. ft. model charges the most in this set for 200 extra watts, 23 menus and a cavity most two-person kitchens can't house. Every pick here publishes the same 1-year warranty, so spending more buys you no extra coverage.

The verdict

If you cook for two and your counter is a normal depth, buy the Chefman 1.1 Cu. Ft. It delivers 1000W in a 15.1-inch-deep body, which is the best power-to-footprint trade in this group, and it's the middle price of the five. Two locks, 10 power levels, six presets and a memory function cover everything a couple actually presses in a week.

If you'd rather the microwave decide reheat times for you, buy the TOSHIBA EM131A5C-BS. Its exact advantage is the humidity sensor, which adjusts power and time based on moisture, plus 0.1 cu. ft. more room and a 12.4-inch turntable. You pay for that in depth, 20.5 in against 15.1 in, and in weight, 34.6 lb against 30.9 lb.

The cutoff is your counter depth measured with the plug allowance included. Under 18 inches of usable depth, the Chefman fits and the TOSHIBA fights you. Over 20 inches, the sensor is worth having. And if you only ever reheat a plate at a time, drop to the COMFEE' 0.7 cu. ft.: 700W is slow but sufficient, and it's the cheapest way into this category.

FAQ

Is a bigger microwave worth it for just two people?

A bigger microwave is worth it for two people only if you batch cook. The 2.2 cu. ft. TOSHIBA fits a 16-inch pizza by the brand's claim, but it takes 24.4 inches of counter width and weighs 49.2 lb. If your Sunday cooking goes into a large dish that you reheat all week, that's a fair trade. Otherwise 1.1 cu. ft. handles a plate plus a bowl.

What's the best value pick in this comparison?

The best value pick here is the Chefman 1.1 Cu. Ft. It sits third of five on price and delivers 1000W, the same output as the more expensive 1.2 cu. ft. TOSHIBA, in a body five inches shallower. Every pick in this group carries a 1-year warranty, so paying more doesn't buy longer coverage. The step from 700W to 1000W is the one that changes daily use.

Does 700 watts cook fast enough for everyday use?

Whether 700 watts cooks fast enough depends on what you make. Reheating coffee, soup, oatmeal or a plate of leftovers works fine at 700W in the COMFEE' or the BLACK+DECKER. Packaged frozen meals are usually timed for 1000W, so you'll add minutes and stir midway. If frozen dinners are a weekly habit, go to 1000W and skip the frustration.

Chefman or TOSHIBA 1.2 cu. ft.: which should I pick?

Between the Chefman and the TOSHIBA 1.2 cu. ft., the deciding factor is depth against sensing. The Chefman is 15.1 in deep and 30.9 lb with 1000W and 1.1 cu. ft. The TOSHIBA is 20.5 in deep and 34.6 lb, adds a humidity sensor and a 12.4-inch turntable, and costs more. Shallow counter, take the Chefman. Want automation, take the TOSHIBA.

What mistake do people make buying a countertop microwave?

The mistake people make buying a countertop microwave is measuring only the width. Depth kills more purchases, because a 20.5-inch-deep unit plus vent clearance and a plug eats most of a 24-inch counter. Height is the second trap when upper cabinets hang low. Check the published dimensions against your actual gap, and tape the outline on the counter first.

Start with a tape measure, not a shortlist. Once you know your usable depth, height and how far the plug sits from the wall, this decision narrows to one or two picks on its own. For most two-person kitchens the Chefman 1.1 Cu. Ft. is the sensible default, because 1000W in a 15.1-inch footprint is the combination nothing else in this group offers. It's fast enough for frozen food, roomy enough for a plate and a side, and light enough at 30.9 lb that cleaning behind it isn't a chore you keep postponing.

Last updated: October 6, 2026. Product availability re-checked.

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