Russell Hobbs RHM2076B Review: The £70–£95 Microwave Most Kitchens Already Own
A mirror-fronted 20-litre, 800-watt solo microwave that sits near the top of almost every budget list and has collected thousands of buyer ratings. The praise is consistent and unexciting, which is what you want from a microwave. The questions that decide whether it suits you are the plate, the price and the guarantee — so those are what we checked.
Where the reviews line up
The evidence comes from three places: Mumsnet's editorial roundup, which names it the best solo microwave overall; the very large buyer-rating pools at Currys and AO; and the smaller pools at Very, Argos and Amazon, read alongside HotUKDeals price history. None of them contradicts the others on the basics.
Three things come up everywhere. It is simple — a dial for time and weight, buttons for the five power levels and eight auto menus. It is compact, at roughly 26 × 44 × 36 cm, with a 25.5 cm turntable in a 30.6 cm-wide cavity. And it is cheap for what it is: we found it between £69 and £94.99 today, and deal posts have had it at £59.99.
The honest limits. It is an 800 W oven, so expect roughly 10–12% longer than a 900 W model on most jobs — Currys lists it as heating category E, the fastest letter on food packs, so use the E times. The mirror door shows every fingerprint, which is Mumsnet's one stated con. And the guarantee every retailer we checked quotes is one year, not the longer cover Russell Hobbs offers on some of its small appliances.
The buying decision is mostly about plates. A standard 26–27 cm dinner plate should turn; anything larger, measure first.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- MumsnetEditorial roundup, updated 23 June 2026: “Best solo microwave overall”. Testing method not stated.
- Currys & AO4.6/5 from 1,924 reviews at Currys; 4.6/5 from 1,925 at AO (silver RHM2076S page). Checked 6 Oct 2026.
- Very, Argos & Amazon4.5/5 from 302 at Very; 4.4/5 from 124 at Argos and 4.6/5 from 595 at Amazon, both via Latest Deals snippets.
Before the review: is it still on sale?
Yes, but it may be winding down. On 6 October 2026 Currys (£94.99), Very (£79, in stock) and YPC (£69, in stock) were selling it new, and AO was selling the silver RHM2076S. Appliances Direct now marks the RHM2076B as no longer available. We could not load Russell Hobbs' own microwave site to confirm it is still a current model — it refused our request — so if it vanishes from shelves, that is the likely reason.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Microwave output | 800 W, 5 power levels | Every retailer. One Amazon listing text, quoted by Latest Deals, also says “741 watts microwave power” — unexplained |
| Heating category | E | Currys spec sheet only |
| Capacity | 20 litres; cavity 306 × 208 × 306 mm (W × H × D) | Currys and Appliances Direct agree |
| Turntable | 255 mm glass, removable, dishwasher-safe | Currys, Appliances Direct, Argos |
| Plate fit | “Fits 10.5-inch dinner plates” (26.7 cm) | Amazon listing via Latest Deals; Mumsnet says “standard dinner plates” |
| External size | 259 × 440 × 355 mm (H × W × D) | Currys. Appliances Direct and Argos: 258 × 445 × 356 mm |
| Clearance | Not published for this model | Sibling RHM2016 manual: 30 cm above, 7.5 cm to side walls |
| Weight | 10.5 kg (12.6 kg boxed) | Currys; Appliances Direct agrees on 10.5 kg |
| Door and vent | Side-opening, hinged on the left; vent at the back; 1.01 m cable | Currys |
| Controls | Digital display, dial, 8 auto menus, weight and time defrost, 95-minute timer | Currys |
| Child lock | Yes | Currys and Mumsnet |
| Noise | 54 dB | One source only (Testix), method not shown — treat as unverified |
| Guarantee | 1 year | Currys, Appliances Direct, Argos. No registration extension found |
| Typical UK price | £69–£94.99 today; was £109 at Very | Four retailers, 6 Oct 2026 |
Mumsnet
Mumsnet's Swears By roundup puts the RHM2076B at the top of its solo microwaves. Be clear about what it is: an editorial pick in a buying guide, and the page does not say how, or whether, this model was tested in use. What it does give is a straightforward case — sleek and compact for smaller kitchens, a mirrored finish, easy dial controls, a removable dishwasher-safe turntable that it says takes standard dinner plates, and a child safety lock. Its single con is the one owners mention too: the door needs cleaning often, although the surface wipes easily.
One other buying guide, Testix, also ranks it first and does report figures — 54 dB, and 400 ml of chilled soup heated to steaming in 2 minutes 10 seconds over a week's use. We could not establish how that was measured, and the page carries two conflicting dates, so we print the numbers here for completeness and lean on neither.
Watch: Russel Hobbs RHM2076B Microwave In the Real World Kitchen Environment
An owner's look at the unit in an ordinary kitchen — the best way to judge how much worktop it takes and how the mirror door looks day to day.
Watch on YouTube ↗Currys and AO
These are the biggest rating pools we found for the model, and they are hosted by shops that sell it, so read the number, not the verdict. Two cautions. The AO page is for the silver RHM2076S, the same microwave in another colour. And the two counts are one review apart, which strongly suggests a shared, syndicated pool rather than two independent ones — so treat this as roughly 1,900 ratings, not 3,800.
Currys supplies the most complete specification we found, and the one that matters most to how you will use it: heating category E. That letter, printed on ready-meal packs from A to E, rates how quickly an oven heats small portions of up to 500 g; Sharp's manuals describe it as based on the IEC 60705 standard, with E needing the least time. So follow the E instructions on packs — and if a pack gives only wattage, use the 800 W line, not the 900 W one. Currys also lists the input as “800 W maximum”, which looks like the output figure repeated; a sibling Russell Hobbs 20-litre manual gives 1,200 W input against 800 W output.
Watch: Russell Hobbs RHM2076B 20L Digital 800 W Solo Microwave Black
A general walk-round of the black model, its controls and its display.
Watch on YouTube ↗Very, Argos and Amazon
Argos and Amazon both block or script-render their pages, so the Argos and Amazon figures come from Latest Deals' copies of those listings, and we cannot tell you how old those copies are. Very we read directly. The three pools agree within a fifth of a star of each other and of Currys, which is the useful finding: there is no hidden pocket of unhappy owners at one retailer. The comments quoted are thin — “really nice and great value”, “just perfect” at Argos — and none of the snippets we could read mentions noise, beeping or failures either way.
The Amazon listing text supplies the one direct claim on plates — it “fits 10.5-inch dinner plates” — and an odd figure, “741 watts microwave power”, that appears nowhere else and that we cannot explain. HotUKDeals adds the price history: deal posts at £59.99, £67.99, £69 and £70 at Amazon, and free click-and-collect offers at Argos. All of those deals have expired, but they show what this model sells for when it is discounted.
Watch: Russell Hobs 850 W Microwave RHM2076B Opening
An unboxing, useful for what is in the box. The title says 850 W; the RHM2076B is sold as an 800 W microwave.
Watch on YouTube ↗Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Consistently rated around 4.5/5 across roughly 2,900 ratings in four separate retailer pools.
- Heating category E, the fastest letter printed on food packs, per Currys.
- Compact footprint for a 20-litre oven: about 44 cm wide and 36 cm deep.
- Simple controls with eight auto menus, weight or time defrost and a child lock.
- Removable, dishwasher-safe glass turntable.
- Often discounted — £59.99 to £70 in past deals.
What people complain about
- The mirror door shows fingerprints and needs frequent wiping.
- 800 W rather than 900 W: roughly 10–12% longer on most jobs.
- A 25.5 cm turntable leaves little margin for large or square plates.
- One-year guarantee; we found no registration extension for this microwave.
- Solo only — no grill, so it reheats but does not crisp.
- Price varies by more than £25 between retailers on the same day.
800 W, plates and running cost: the sums
800 W against 900 W. Coolblue's indicative timings give soup at 4:30 at 800 W against 4:00 at 900 W, and a ready meal at 5:35 against 5:00. Roughly half a minute on a typical reheat — noticeable, rarely important.
Will a dinner plate fit? Our arithmetic: the cavity is 306 mm wide, so a plate that turns needs to clear the side walls, not just sit on the 255 mm turntable. A 26.7 cm plate leaves about 2 cm a side. A 28 cm plate leaves about 1.3 cm, and any lip or tilt can catch. Measure your largest plate before you order.
Running cost. Russell Hobbs does not publish the input power for this model. Using the 1,200 W input of its sibling RHM2016, a three-minute reheat uses about 0.06 kWh, or roughly 1.6p at the October 2026 Ofgem cap of 26.32p/kWh. That sum is ours, not the maker's.
Space. No clearance figure is published for the RHM2076B. The RHM2016 manual asks for 30 cm above and 7.5 cm to side walls, and this model vents at the back — so do not push it hard against a wall or slide it into a tight cupboard.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you want a plain, compact microwave for reheating and defrosting, your plates are standard size, and you can get it near the bottom of its £69–£95 range. For a first flat, a student kitchen or a replacement for a dead one, it is the obvious safe choice. If you want something that crisps rather than reheats, an air fryer such as the Salter Dual Air Pro does that job better, and it sits happily alongside the Russell Hobbs Inspire kettle and Dualit Lite toaster we have also covered.
Look elsewhere if you have large or square plates, if you want a grill or combination oven, or if a longer guarantee matters to you — in which case check the cover on the specific alternative before you pay more for it.
What we could not check
- Russell Hobbs' own product page. Its microwave site refused our request, so we could not confirm from the maker that the RHM2076B is current, or read its own specification, RRP or guarantee terms. Appliances Direct lists it as no longer available.
- Guarantee extension by registration. Every retailer we checked says one year. We found nothing showing an extra year for registering this microwave.
- Input power and standby use for this model. Our running cost uses a sibling's 1,200 W figure.
- Installation clearances for this model; the figures above come from the RHM2016 manual.
- Noise. The only figure, 54 dB, comes from a buying guide whose method we could not verify.
- The “741 watts” figure in the Amazon listing text, and the minor dimension differences between Currys (440 mm wide) and Appliances Direct and Argos (445 mm).
- Whether Mumsnet tested it in use; its page does not say.
- Argos and Amazon ratings were read from Latest Deals snippets, not the retailers' own pages, and may be out of date.
- Owner forums. HotUKDeals deal pages would not show their comments to us, and we found no owner thread with readable reply counts.
- The three videos were confirmed by search listings, not by opening them, and the channels were not named in those listings.
Sources last checked 6 October 2026. Prices change daily — check the figure in front of you before ordering.