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I love my microwave. I use it a lot, but rarely for actual cooking. I use it to reheat stuff (but not bread, pizza, etc. as it destroys the crust), boil water for tea, and to soften stuff like butter. And of course, zapping Stouffer's Mac and Cheese. Oh wait, I do use it for cooking. Bacon. Makes the best bacon in the world.

Popping popcorn. And melting butter for the popcorn. That's pretty much it.

Just reheating, that's about all. A couple weeks ago I saw where Bobby Flay was giving a tour of his home kitchen. His microwave is in the pantry, as he says he only uses it for popcorn.

reheating leftovers, steaming veg, and melting butter. that's it.

I use mine to store bread & cookies. I've never actually used it for what it's intended!

Melting chocolate is a biggie. I've never been able to soften butter without melting part of it. (Any hints?) Corn on the cob is perfect in it, and so are artichokes. Bacon for one or two of us; more than that, I use a skillet or the oven. Warming milk or cream that's going to go into a bechamel sauce, so it cooks more quickly. Warming syrup to go on pancakes or waffles. And, oh, yes, finishing up a hollandaise that didn't thicken properly.

I didn't want one, either, but had to take custody of one, along with two cats, when my son and d-i-l took a 6-month road trip. It made a believer of me.

Butter
Cream cheese (cheesecakes)
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (I know, I know)
Re heat coffee
Warm ice cream toppings up
Popcorn, which I always burn

I went without for a long time when I caught one on fire; family members who can't believe I don't like it keep buying me new ones

my nuker makes a great place to keep things away from the cats too! other than that it reheats stuff and works great for frozen veggies. the main thing about it that i love though, is the timer. its too big to lose like i keep doing with the little ones.

Popcorn, of course.

Our family mainly uses it to reheat leftovers, especially rice. When you cook rice for 4 people there's always going to be leftovers.

We don't use it for much else. Sometimes, we use it to defrost frozen meat, yes.

Cooking veggies (fresh or frozen)
popcorn
melting butter
reheating leftovers
sometimes I make eggs in the microwave
oatmeal
melting chocolate
heating liquids
thawing the occasional piece of meat
melting cheese on toast

The microwave is good for nuking yams and squash before transferring them to the oven or stove top, cooking my quick cook (but not instant) oatmeal. Or making hot chip dips with unheathy ingredients.

We use ours to reheat leftovers, melt butter and chocolate. I also use it to cook rice. Yes, rice. In a plastic rice cooker that my neighbor gave me for a birthday present. It works surprisingly well.

Is anybody else having a feeling of deja vu?

From all of these responses it seems that many of you use the microwave for similar cooking tasks..I am surprised that only one of you has mentioned the potential health consequences..

There isn't that much info available but some research seems to indicate that it may diminish the nutritional value of foods...

http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm

If that is the case, would you keep or toss yours? I am happy with the extra counter space myself.

Melting butter for air popped popcorn. Melting chocolate. Nigella Lawson's recipe for millionaire squares. Oh, and the top is covered in the papers I use for writing lists, and some dried seeds from my garden that I haven't done anything with yet.

izzy's mama, after taking a look at the link you provided, and then doing a very quick Google re microwave studies, I was able to find a number of indications that the studies Mercola references on his site are not scientifically valid and/or substantiated. Some are considered outright bogus.

However, a number of reliable sources indicate that nutrients are very stable (e.g., not heat-sensitive, etc.), and are lost to cooking as a result of being cooked in liquid. Apparently microwaving actually preserves more nutrients than most other cooking methods because so little liquid is needed.

The only real health dangers that I could find had to do with (1) using inappropriate materials that could transfer toxins to food, such as non-microwave safe plastics, and (2) uneven heating which could leave cool spots where bacteria might thrive.

My microwave is used primarily for reheating food, quickly heating broth, milk and other ingredients for recipes, and for simple cooking (steamed vegetables, etc). I don't use it for water -- have an electric kettle for that (which I love). It doesn't cost me any counterspace because it's a cabinet built-in model (at the perfect height). Using it saves me washing extra dishes since I don't have to transfer food from storage container to pan for stovetop reheating. It's cheaper than running the oven if I ever used that for reheating. And everything in my kitchen that's microwave safe is also diswhasher safe, while many of my (Calphalon) pots and pans are not.

It's also much safer for inexperienced cooks (kids) to use than an oven or stove.

I could easily live without it, but I'm glad I've got it.

Use mine at least several times a day. All of the above uses , except popcorn (pop on the stove). Great for thawing everything, cooking veggies, melting, reheating, heating milk without burning like it would on a stove. I love to wrap russet potatoes in white paper towels and nuke. Baked potato in 5 minutes. Also good to partially cook potatoes (or other things) prior to baking or frying. If you have bread type products, a few seconds of nuking freshes and moistens them if you eat immediately- longer turns them into rubber. I roast the whole pound of bacon in the oven now, but did you know you can stack it between paper towels in the microwave? I used to do a layer at a time. I refrigerate or freeze it and it's ready when I need it with no mess. I always nuke my kitchen sponge - wet it and "cook" for 2 minutes to kill any bacteria.