GE JES1097SMSS Review

COMPLETE REVIEW

GE Appliances is based in Kentucky and it is well-known for its wide range of home products. The company manufactures everything from kitchen appliances (dishwashers, microwaves, refrigerators, wall ovens) to washing machines, water heaters, water filters and more.

Their countertop microwaves selection consists of both high-end models and budget-friendly ones, such as the GE JES1097SMSS. The JES1097SMSS is a great value for the money, as it offers high-end features (such as built-in WiFi and Amazon Alexa support) at a real decent price.

The JES1097SMSS has the following specifications:

• Overall width: 19 in
• Overall height: 11 ½ in
• Overall depth: 14 ½ in; Depth with the door open at 90 degrees: 25 5/8 in
• Turntable size: 10.5 in
• Net weight: 28 lb
• Power: 900W
• Power cord length: 39”
• 10 power levels
• Built-in WiFi
• Works with Amazon Alexa
• Preset buttons for pizza, beverage, popcorn and others
• Child lock
• Express cook

The JES1097SMSS is not the largest microwave out there. It has a capacity of 0.9 cu. ft. and it has a stainless steel finish. It has touch controls, a LED digital display and a glass turntable. There is also a feature for clock display.

The GE microwave has 10 power levels, express cook and 7 presets for dinner plate, pizza, reheat, potato, popcorn, beverage, vegetable.

One useful feature is the ‘Add 30 sec.’ button. You’ve also got a Defrost option, a button for the Power level, a Timer and on the bottom row the Cancel/Off button, Start/Pause and Wifi Connect.

In order to benefit from the WiFi capabilities and the voice control, you have to first setup the microwave.

First you have to download the GE Appliances Kitchen app, which is compatible with both iOS and Android. You then have to follow the steps and also press the ‘WiFi Connect’ button on the JES1097SMSS.

The smart features on the JES1097SMSS go even further. If you have an Amazon Alexa device, you can use it with the JES1097SMSS. And there is yet another useful feature you can use with the app, the ‘Scan to cook’ function. What this does is it acts as a barcode reader. There are several food brands with barcodes that the microwave can scan and then it will give you cooking time/instructions for that specific food. You can access a list with thousands of foods that work with this app’s feature, from soups to snacks and so on and you can purchase whatever catches your eye.

There are some minor glitches GE didn’t really take into consideration, such as the fact that some foods have to be cooked in a 1,100W microwave, while the GE JES1097SMSS only has 900W, but overall, this is a cool and useful feature to use.

The app’s notifications might be annoying for some after a while, as you can expect to receive notifications even when you are not using the microwave and you are hundreds of miles away from home, but someone in your family/household is using it. You do have the option to disable the notifications, but you have to get familiar with the app to find the setting.  

Other functions worth-mentioning are the Child lock, the Express Cook, the Kitchen Timer, the Sound On/Off, the Defrost function (which can be set to Auto or manually).

Overall, we find the GE JES1097SMSS a great value for the money, as it comes packed with features you normally find only in high-end microwaves. With the GE JES1097SMSS you get to benefit from a lot of useful features, without breaking the bank.