Silencing Microwaves: Easy guides for every brand

How can you turn off the sound of a microwave?

To silence your microwave check for a sound, mute, or volume button. You can also try pressing and holding the 0, 1, 8, STOP or CANCEL buttons. If none of these work, you will need to enter your microwave’s settings or your microwave is not mutable.

Microwaves beep when you press their buttons and also when they are done cooking your food.

Why do manufacturers of microwaves do this though? It seems like everyone hates the beeping that some microwaves make.

Some microwaves even beep after you have opened the door when they are done cooking. Who designs these things?

There are even whole Reddit threads with hundreds of comments about how terrible microwave beeping is.

If you look at some of the YouTube comments at videos about silencing microwaves it really does seem like everyone hates the beeping! Check some of them out:

There are some microwaves that will literally beep until you open the doors (our apartment has a washer like this too that we can’t stand).

Some manufacturers are even advertising now that they have a silent button. But what they actually have is just a number that you press and hold for few seconds.

3 Easy Things that May Silence Your Microwave

If you’re tired of the beeping you can try each of the following very easy ways to stop the beeping. They’re each super easy.

The following techniques may work, especially with Toshiba and Comfee brand microwaves. If these approaches don’t work, you can click the links below to individual brands of microwaves like LG, Samsung, or Panasonic.

Here’s how to silence a microwave:

1. Look for a mute or sound button on your microwave’s control panel
2. Press and hold either 0, 1, or 8.
3. Press and hold the stop or cancel buttons.

Now try pressing the buttons again to see if your microwave still beeps.

Microwave still beeping? Click one of the links below to choose your brand. You’ll be taken to those brand’s instructions:

1. How to silence Bosch microwaves
2. How to silence Frigidaire microwaves
3. How to silence Panasonic microwaves
4. How to silence Hamilton Beach microwaves
5. How to silence Amazon Microwaves
6. How to silence LG Microwaves
7. How to silence GE Microwaves
8. How to silence Farberware microwaves

Why do microwave companies make them beep so loudly?

Microwave manufacturers make microwaves beep for two reasons:

1. To remind you that your food is ready
2. To reduce the cost of manufacturing the microwave

Making a microwave beep is cheaper to do than creating buttons that provide haptic or physical feedback to your fingers when you press them.

Just like how a smartphone vibrates or clicks when we press a button on them, microwaves also need a way to confirm to us that we have pressed a button.

How to silence a Kenmore Elite microwave

1. Press the Clock/Settings button 4 times
2. That’s it. You’re done. You’re welcome.

Silencing Whirlpool Microwaves

• WMH31017As-2

WMH31017As-2

1. To remove the tones of the buttons only, press and hold the 1 button for 3 seconds (this will leave the end of cooking cycle tones)
2. To silence this model completely and to also remove the end of cooking tones press and hold the 2 button

Thankfully, once you know how to stop the sound it only takes a few seconds to accomplish this goal.

1. To provide feedback to you the user that it received the signal of the button you pressed
   Buttons that beep instead of providing a clicking or other form of confirmation are much cheaper to make
2. So your food doesn’t go cold after it is done cooking

While some microwaves do actually have a volume setting that allows you to turn down the volume, most just have an on/off switch.

How to silence a microwave without a sound button

If your microwave doesn’t have a sound button you can try going through the options we listed above.

The approaches are pressing and holding the 0, 1, 8 (for Toshiba microwaves) stop or cancel. Try these options before you spend time looking up your model number.

How to silence your microwave after your power goes out

Does your power go out often or did you just experience a thunderstorm, tornado, or hurricane?

Most microwaves go back to their factory settings after the power goes out. We know that this is a very frustrating thing to have to go a silence your microwave again every time this happens.

But unfortunately, you do need to go through the process again. Go through the same steps above that you initially did to silence your microwave.

We suggest going to the top of this blog post by clicking here and starting over with the process.

If you remember how to silence your microwave then great, just do that (obviously).

Some microwaves don’t have a silent mode

Can you believe that there are some manufacturers that don’t install a mute button or even a silent mode? Some that don’t have this feature even though the cost to add it would be pretty low.

In fact, no Panasonic microwaves offer silent mode. So if the sound matters a lot to you, you probably don’t want a Panasonic microwave.

Even some name brand companies like Black and Decker. For example, this Black and Decker microwave does not have the option to turn off the sound!

There is some medium to high-end microwaves like this Panasonic microwave that retail for between $200 and $300. According to the manufacturer, you can just not mute it.

Are better microwaves more likely to have a silent mode?

Yes, it is true that the better the microwave you buy, the more likely it is that there will be a silent mode. Although I have seen some quite expensive ones that you simply can not turn off the sound.

Some microwaves just make it easier to silence them. Some have actual silent buttons and some require you to press a certain number or other button to silence them.

Microwaves that do have silent mode

What microwaves come with silent mode?

1. Toshiba EM131A5C-SS Microwave Oven with Smart Sensor, Easy Clean Interior, ECO Mode and Sound On/Off, 1.2 Cu Ft, Stainless Steel
   • Amazon Link
   • Walmart Link
2. Toshiba EM925A5A-BS Microwave Oven with Sound On/Off
   • Amazon Link

The above microwaves are just ones that allow you to silence them.

The holy grail of microwaves are ones with mute buttons

The holy grail of microwaves has to be ones that come with a proper and easy-to-use mute/silence button.

No more rummaging around looking for that one button that you have to hold for some random amount of time that you totally forget each time your power goes out.

If you live in Florida or somewhere that experiences frequent thunderstorms you may have to turn off the sound every few weeks. Regions like this experience many power outages per year!

Thankfully microwaves that come with an actual sound or mute button make this super easy!

Microwaves with volume control

Some microwaves even allow you to control the volume of the beeping but not turn it off entirely.

So how do you turn down the volume on your microwave?

Adjust your GE microwave’s volume

These could be useful if you do want to be notified about when your food is done cooking but don’t want to wake up the baby.

Some people who are hearing impaired also want an extra loud sound level.

Negative mental effects of microwave beeping

While for most people beeping microwaves are just a major annoyance, for some people it is more a matter of life and death.

For instance, who wants to wake the sleeping baby that is sleeping on them because something that their spouse started was left in there.

And some autistic people are very sensitive to noises in general.

Autistic people are sometimes very sensitive to noise

How to Silence Bosch Microwaves

The “button tone” or noise is a basic setting in most Bosch microwaves.

HMT85ML53B and HMT85ML63B Bosch microwaves:

1. First access the basic settings by pressing the clock button 
2. Now turn the rotary dial until you see “c3”
3. Press 2 to turn the button tone off
4. Now press and hold the clock button for a few seconds to apply the settings

Check out the owner’s manual yourself visit this link.

Frigidaire Microwaves

The following instructions apply to many Frigidaire microwaves, not just the model.

How to Silence a Frigidaire FFMV1846VW

1. Press the settings button once. This should display the sound option
2. Press START
3. Press START again when OFF is displayed on the screen

Hamilton Beach Microwaves

Unfortunately, not all Hamilton Beach microwaves can be silenced. The company even says so in some Amazon question and answers.

Hamilton Beach calls the sound a voice and evidently, these microwaves will speak to you.

How to silence the model 87108

1. Press the “Voice on/off” button
2. The microwave should say “Voice off”

How to silence the Hamilton Beach model 87014

1. Evidently this model is not able to be silenced unless you open up the microwave and disconnect the beeper

Silencing LG Microwaves

How to Silence the LG LMV2031ST Microwave Oven

Unfortunately, the steps to mute this microwave are a bit difficult to understand.

Basically you enter the settings and then press numbers that correspond to different features (like sound, click, display speed and weight).

Then you press another number to change each setting.

Here are the instructions to silence the LG LMV2031ST:

1. Press Custom Set
2. Press 1 to enter the settings for sound
3. Press 2 to turn the sound OFF

Below is the image for this part of the LG LMV2031ST’s instruction manual.

You could also use this image to change other settings that you may not know are available. Simply modify the instructions above and change the number that you press in step #2 to the corresponding “No.” or the number in the image below.

Download the LG LMV20131ST owner’s manual yourself if you want to read more.

How to Silence Panasonic Microwaves

Remember that some microwaves have a built-in silence button. Panasonic is something that often do.

So be sure to check if yours has one of these before spending any more time on this.

1. Silence the Panasonic NN-SN966S
   • To silence this microwave do the following:
     • Press Start once
     • Then press timer/clock/less to cycle between beeping on or off
     • 
2. Silence the Panasonic NN-SU696S
   • Unfortunately, the manual for this microwave does not say how to silence it

Silencing GE Microwaves

First, some GE microwaves (like the PVM9215SKSS model) may have a “mute” button. So first check if yours has one of these.

This button looks like this on some models

How to silence GE microwaves with a SOUND LEVEL button

If your GE microwave doesn’t have a mute button but DOES have a SOUND LEVEL button do this to silence yours:

1. Press the SOUND LEVEL button
2. Press 0 to silence your microwave

See the below if you are trying to set your GE microwave to a particular volume setting. They often have 3 total volume levels.

Adjusting the beeper volume on GE microwaves

GE microwaves are one of the few brands that sometimes offer volume control. These will let you turn down the beeper volume instead of fully silencing your microwave if that’s something you’re into.

Keep in mind that GE says that this will only adjust the cooking complete beeper.

And GE microwaves do not come in the loudest setting. So if you are hard of hearing and want to turn up the volume on your microwave, these instructions are also for you.

GE microwaves usually have 4 volume levels (including silent) that you can set your microwave’s volume to.

How to turn down the beeper volume of a GE microwave:

1. Press SOUND LEVEL
2. Press 0 to silence your microwave
3. Press 1 set to the lowest level of sound
4. Press 2 set a medium level of sound
5. Press 3 for the highest volume (good for the hearing impaired)

Silencing Rival Microwaves

Can you silence Rival microwaves?

We looked and some appear to not be silenceable.

If you are trying to silence a Rival microwave we suggest googling for the owner’s manual. You can do that by clicking here.

Silencing Farberware Microwaves

Unfortunately, some Farberware microwaves like the FMO11AHTBKB do not have silence/mute/sound buttons on the control panel. Nor could we find an option to mute it in the settings.

We suggest you consult your Farberware owner’s manual to find out how to silence yours. You can google it by clicking this link.

Silencing Amazon Microwaves

Ok, hopefully, Amazon microwaves are easy to silence.

It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to know that many people want this feature and Amazon is often a customer friend.

But unfortunately, some Amazon microwaves like this Amazon Basics Microwave cannot be muted! You can talk to that one but not mute it.

That is the only Amazon microwave I can find at this time. So it looks like all Amazon microwaves cannot be muted.