Sure, microwave ovens rule the roost when it comes to nuking food in a hurry. But can pricier new models with convection and other premium features finally serve up a roast chicken that's also crispy and juicy? To find out, we took two 4-pound birds and pitted our top-scoring, $500 Kenmore coil-top range against the brand's speed-cook-equipped, $630 over-the-range microwave oven (model 8082).

As the photo on the left shows, our range-cooked chicken was noticeably browner, crispier, and juicier. The Kenmore microwave oven has a speed-cook setting for chicken that's designed to save time and effort. But our "cooked" bird reached only 140º F to 158º F in several tests with that setting—short of the 165º minimum needed to kill bacteria. While the microwave sliced 25 minutes off our range's time, cooking still took 45 minutes, including the extra time required to fully cook our chicken.

CR's take. Convection, auto-cooking, and other features can help speed microwave cooking from scratch. But for the crispiest, most succulent roast chicken, in this case, the range still ruled.