Nope. I use my microwave to warm and defrost food. The only non-eat item that i will put in there is a bowl of vinegar to help me to clean the microwave itself from time to time. I must be one of the people, like those who don't think anything but dishes should go in a dishwasher, that really thinks my kitchen cookware should be reserved for cooking. ( I wash my sponges along with my dishtowels in the washing mashine, adding a little bleach. My heating pad is electric; my crayons, I tend not to break them. Now I'l consider the citrus fruit and plate warmer ideas because we're still within the "eat" circle there. But towels, mascara, candleholders? No, ma'am.

You can make archival paper by putting it in the microwave with a slice of Wonderbread.

I didn't grow up with a microwave either. I think I was in grad school the first time I used one. That hasn't stopped me from adapting to its ease of use. How exactly do you reheat coffee without it tasting cooked?

Regarding the other uses, I would rather have a dry towel than a damp hot one.

i use our microwave to store bread and the plates that are too deep for our (very shallow) upper cabinets. it is unplugged and gets no play as a defroster or a cooking device. i find it just as easy to warm something on the stove.

i don't even like to be in the room if anyone is using one. the radiation thing freaks me out.

I like the heating-plates idea, and I'm sure I'm gonna try the citrus thing...

but I'm not sure about the warm towel thing...

how would that work?? You say "after a bath" so I guess you mean to dry yourself with it? But if you heat a towel before taking a bath, it would cool while bathing.. and you're sure as h3ll not gonna rush to the kitchen all wet after a bath to warm a towel. And the link says it's for warm moist towelettes. But that would be more of a "during-bath" thing right? Could you tell me more about the towel thing Abby? Cuz it sounds just purrrrrrr to be able to dry yourself with a warm towel!

@mellow yellow design - that's just silly.

While it's true that microwave ovens generate an electromagnetic field (like ANY electrical appliance), your microwave oven will not be "leaking radiation" and cooking you alive - people would feel it every time they looked into the microwave, no?

Ever wonder why it's hard to look into a microwave oven? There's that annoying looking sheet of metal with tiny perforations over the window. That isn't just some ill conceived aesthetic design, those holes are small such that they are many times smaller than the wavelength of the microwaves, so they work as an effective shield. However, visible light has much shorter wavelengths, and can pass through the grating easily allowing us to see when our TV dinner has started to smoke.

With that said, my favorite non-standard use of a microwave oven will always be shrinking those PET chip bags down to GI Joe size.

90% of my microwave use might be for heating pads. Those kind of heating pads are the best because you can go to sleep without worrying about burning yourself.

Dry Clothes in an emergency!
My Niece came to visit and we played with water, I knew my sister was going to get really mad at that, so I put the clothes on te microwave for a few minutes and problem solved!

good ideas! However....

1. Heating a dried up tube of mascara is a bad idea. It's just going to get gummier and the compromised formula will smudge MUCH easier. They're not that expensive. Buy a new one and stop pumping it.

2. Heating creams is a luxurious idea...DO NOT HEAT ANYTHING WITH AN SPF. Unless you don't want the sun protection factor.

:)

our microwave broke a little over a year ago. decided to not replace it, and after a week or two of growing pains, haven't missed it since! more counterspace, the incentive to cook more naturally + from scratch, etc.

pretty much all of the things listed above can be done on the stovetop - placing a small glass container in a larger pot of heated water.

@Plink, are you sure? I wouldn't expect SPF to be bothered by microwaves. The wavelength of microwaves, as Andrew pointed out, is very long and the wavelength of visible and ultraviolet light is very short so I would expect the SPF stuff would be "invisible" to microwaves. Am I missing something?

As for mascara, I could only see bothering if I hadn't worn mascara in months and suddenly found myself going out and in need of impressive eyes.

I don't use my microwave much but it's awfully nice to have when it's 10pm and I just got home from work and just want something hot quickly.

How to reheat coffee without it tasting cooked.
1. Don't make the coffee too strong to begin with.
2. Turn off the coffee machine the moment it finishes and let the coffee cool in it.

Re: Makeup in the microwave
One good tip is to remove the remaining end of broken-off or mostly-used lipstick, press it into an empty makeup compact (available at many makeup counters) or similarly small plastic case with depressions (which you can purchase at many craft stores), and nuke for a few seconds. The heat from the microwave will slightly melt and "set" the lipstick into the depressions, thus keeping you from throwing out the otherwise worthless bits!

Also, you *should not* nuke your mascara. Due to bacterial growth, mascara should be replaced after three months. Yes, we often stretch it to six months, but once it seems dry it should definitely be trashed. Continued use could increase your risk of an eye infection! You may be able to kill the bacteria by leaving it in the microwave long enough, but it seems better for your eyes and the quality of your mascara to just junk it and buy a new one.

My son cooked his Tonka truck -

Why on earth would someone want to warm a plate? That sounds like a waste of energy to me.

I warm my plates in the m/o when I've guests so the food won't get cold before I finish serving.

Kudoz for the mascara tip... though some comments seem to dislike the idea... Mascara is quite expensive in my country (well... everything's expensive right now...) so I'll give it a try. I've nothing to lose.

I agree with CrystalC_DC.

And, I'm sure on the SPF. With the exception of physical sunscreens (titanium dioxide, zinc oxide) chemical sunscreens will deteriorate with extreme heat. :)

bikini wax!

fixing your pencil crayons! When your prismacolor coloured pencils keep breaking you can gently melt the wax back together by nuking for 12-15 seconds at a time.

I find it amusing the person writing this post disposes of a kitchen sponge after a week, but will use mascara long enough for it to dry up and then want to melt it and continue use.

If you don't use the microwave for your food, why not get rid of it instead of trying to find a lot of nonsensical ways you can use it for non-food things?

@ mellow yellow-

Why do you even HAVE the microwave if you don't use it for what it was designed for?!!
Plenty of other people use their ovens and dishwashers for "extra storage space" but, seriously-- You can't find room for those few things stored in your microwave?

My parents have a wood stove, and it has a seperate plate warming compartment under the oven. I'll often warm plates by putting them in the oven for half a minute, after I take whatever's in there out and turn it off.

Unless it's really cold, you can do the citrus trick by putting it under your palm and rolling it really fast back and forth on the counter - like you are making a play doh snake ;)

The last thing I used my microwave oven for: I made pancakes and we weren't ready to eat them yet so I put them under a teatowel in the microwave. It kept them pretty warm until we were ready.

Thing I use my microwave for the MOST? Telling the time!