Breville the Combi Wave 3-in-1 BMO870

The Combi Wave is Breville's attempt to solve the three-appliance problem that kills Australian kitchen bench space. Microwave. Convection oven. Air fryer. One 52cm wide box. On paper, that is the dream. In practice, it is a compromise appliance that does three things above-average and none of them as well as a dedicated unit.

You pay for what it is. $649 street, $799 recommended retail price (RRP). At that money you should expect a proper inverter microwave plus something the $250 solo units cannot do. That is what you get. The question is whether you will actually use the convection and air fry modes enough to justify the premium over a straight Panasonic NN-ST665B at half the price.

What it is like to actually use

The touch controls are Breville's usual: responsive, sensible, and they fingerprint like a crime scene. The turntable takes a 320mm plate, so every dinner plate in the cupboard fits. The crisper pan is the accessory that sells the unit, and it is also the first thing that breaks. Multiple owners on ProductReview report the plastic legs warping or melting after a few months of air fry duty at the 220 degree setting. Breville has been quietly replacing them under warranty.

Convection mode is where it earns its keep. You can bake a 10-inch pizza, a tray of scones, a small lasagne, a handful of sausage rolls. It gets to 200 degrees and holds it. It is not a replacement for a full-sized oven, but for a single person or a couple, it covers most of what you would otherwise fire up the main oven for. Air fry mode is genuinely slower than a dedicated Breville Smart Oven Air: expect around 25 minutes for a batch of chips that a dedicated air fryer does in 15.

Torture tests

Defrost 500g of mince evenly without cooking the edges. The 1100W inverter handles this well. Set to the defrost auto-program at 500g, come back in 8 minutes, the outside is still raw but yielding, the centre is soft. No cooked rim. This is what you are paying inverter money for.

Reheat leftover pasta without a dried-out ring. Covered bowl, sensor reheat, 3 minutes. The edges stay saucy, the middle is hot, no sad crusty ring. Beats every solo magnetron microwave in this review.

Microwave popcorn without burning a single kernel. The sensor popcorn preset works. One unpopped kernel at the bottom, no burned smell, no scorched bag. Better than the Samsung, on par with the Panasonic.

The reliability picture

This is the bit the glossy reviews skip. ProductReview.com.au sits the BMO870 at 2.6/5, and the recurring theme is the EO-5 magnetron error code appearing somewhere between 18 and 24 months of use. The unit locks up, the display flashes EO-5, and it is a service-centre job. Breville's 1-year warranty has expired by then, so you are into consumer guarantee territory. This is why the ACL section below matters more for the Breville than for the cheap Samsung.

The good news: Breville has an actual Australian service network. Parts are stocked locally. Repair turnaround is measured in weeks, not months. Try getting a magnetron replaced in a Panasonic NN-ST665B in regional Victoria and see how that goes.

Who it is for

Small apartment kitchens that cannot fit a separate microwave and air fryer. Couples or single people who want to replace a never-used wall oven with something more practical. Anyone who genuinely uses convection mode more than twice a month. If all you want is to reheat coffee and defrost chicken, buy the Panasonic NN-ST665B and save $300.

Your rights under Australian Consumer Law: At $649 to $799, the Combi Wave sits firmly in the premium combi-appliance tier. A reasonable consumer would expect 6 to 8 years of usable service for that money, and the ACCC backs that expectation. Breville's 1-year manufacturer warranty is the absolute floor. If the magnetron fails with the EO-5 error at 20 months, if the convection element dies at three years, if the crisper pan plastic legs warp in the first six months: every one of those is a consumer guarantee claim, not a warranty question. Take it back to the retailer that sold it to you. Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Appliances Online, Breville Australia boutique, whoever. Bring the receipt, explain the fault, and ask for repair, replacement or refund depending on severity. Retailers will try to fob you off to Breville's warranty line; you do not have to accept that. Your contract of sale is with the retailer, and the ACL obligations are theirs first.