Best Microwave Splatter Covers for Quick Weeknight Meals

How the Five Compare on the Numbers

Every one of these covers publishes a diameter, and on a weeknight that is not the figure that decides anything. What decides it is the third number: how much room there is between the plate and the inside of the dome once the cover is sitting down. A bowl of chili with the spoon still in it needs that room. A flat plate of rice does not.

So the ladder below is built on the clearance each maker states, and it runs from 3.4 in up to 5 in. Neither of the top two listings describes a folding mechanism. The three below them each solve storage a different way, and two of them put a ceiling on the temperature and the running time as well.

What the table cannot tell you is whether the clearance figure is measured to the underside of the dome or to the vent on top of it, because not one of these five says. It also cannot tell you how a cover behaves on a plate that is wider than the rim. The clearance only applies over the part of the plate the dome actually sits around, and no maker here says whether its stated diameter is measured inside or outside the rim.

Clearance, and What Actually Fits Under Each Dome

Five Inches, and Four and a Half

ACTIVITYYA publishes 11.5 in across and 5 in of height, and it writes the reason into its own bullet: the cover is meant for large diner plates or tall soup bowls and food containers. That is the whole case for a rigid dome. There is no hinge to collapse under a mug, and nothing in the listing suggests the figure changes with use.

Tusjiain states its cover at 11.5 x 11.5 x 4.5 inches in two separate bullets. Its published dimension fields say 11.02 x 11.02 x 4.72 inches instead, and where a maker’s own sentence disagrees with the field, this page uses the sentence and says so. On either reading it clears a standard soup bowl, and its own bullet describes enlarged perforated steam vents.

Three and a Half Inches That Folds to One

GLICPIX gives up clearance for storage and is explicit about the trade. The cover pops up to 3.4 in, folds down to 1.1 in, and the listing says it can also be used flat over a large bowl. No other cover on this page publishes a folded figure at all. For a plate of leftovers it is enough, and for a full bowl of soup it is tight.

HOVER COVER sits between the two camps at 4 in of stated clearance and 12 in across. It collapses, but the listing never says what height it collapses to, which is a gap worth knowing about if the plan is a shallow drawer. It states 12 in across the rim, and it is the one cover here whose storage method depends on what your microwave ceiling is made of.

Heat Ceilings and Running Time

Three Listings Publish a Limit, Two Publish None

MAGJIUKE states heat resistance up to 392 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest ceiling published on this page. HOVER COVER and GLICPIX both state 300 degrees Fahrenheit. ACTIVITYYA and Tusjiain publish no temperature at all, and both simply call the material food safe and BPA free. On a reheat that is usually academic, and on a long run at full power it is not.

Only GLICPIX caps the running time, at 10 minutes of continuous heating. Nobody else on this page states a time limit in either direction, so there is no way to compare them on it. If you habitually run a bowl of soup for eight or nine minutes, the one listing that tells you where its own limit sits is the one you can plan around.

The Two Covers That Rule Out a Mode

Tusjiain says plainly not to use the cover in grill or convection mode. MAGJIUKE goes further and names grills, light waves, combination modes and hot air conversion. Both warnings matter in a combination oven, which is exactly the appliance a small kitchen is most likely to own, and neither maker explains what happens if you ignore the instruction.

HOVER COVER’s restriction is a different kind. Its magnets need a flat, smooth metal ceiling, so the listing excludes microwaves with stainless steel interiors and tells you to check with a magnet before buying. That is a compatibility limit rather than a heat limit, and it turns on the microwave you already own.

What Arrives, and Where It Goes After Dinner

A Mat, a Water Tank, or Just the Dome

MAGJIUKE is the only listing here that ships a second item: a 12 in silicone mat alongside the cover. It also publishes something no other cover on this page has, an integrated water storage tank with a transparent vent, which the maker says keeps food from drying out. That is two parts to wash instead of one, and the published weight of 1.21 lb reflects it.

The other four ship the dome and nothing else. ACTIVITYYA, Tusjiain and HOVER COVER all publish a grip handle and vented holes and stop there. GLICPIX adds a second use rather than a second part: the perforated top doubles as a colander for rinsing produce, which is a real step saved if the same cover is going over the plate afterwards.

Magnets, Folding, and the Cupboard

Storage is where these five genuinely diverge. HOVER COVER states that the cover attaches magnetically to most flat, smooth metal microwave ceilings, and asks you to wipe the ceiling dry first for a reliable hold. Nothing leaves the appliance, which is the fastest arrangement on a weeknight and the one most dependent on your particular microwave.

GLICPIX folds to 1.1 in and names the dishwasher or a closet as its home. ACTIVITYYA and Tusjiain publish no storage instruction at all, and as rigid domes of 5 in and 4.5 in they need shelf height either way. MAGJIUKE publishes none either, and with a mat in the box there are two flat objects to find room for rather than one.

Which One Fits Your Kitchen

Soup and stew reheater. ACTIVITYYA states 5 in of clearance and says in its own words that it is built for tall soup bowls. Nothing folds, nothing adjusts, and the dome is the same height every night, which is the point if a deep bowl is the usual load.

Wide dinner plate household. Tusjiain states 11.5 in across the rim with 4.5 in of clearance, and calls out enlarged vents as the change from its previous design. Treat the published dimension fields with suspicion and use the maker’s own figures, which this page does.

Rice and pasta reheater who hates dry food. MAGJIUKE is the one cover here with a water tank and a 12 in mat in the box, and it states the highest temperature ceiling on the page at 392 degrees Fahrenheit. There are two pieces to clean, which is the cost.

Counter with nothing spare on it. HOVER COVER keeps the cover inside the microwave on magnets, so it never occupies a shelf. Check the interior with a magnet first, because the listing rules out microwaves with stainless steel interiors.

Shallow drawer, one plate at a time. GLICPIX folds from 3.4 in to 1.1 in, publishes a 300 degrees Fahrenheit ceiling and a 10 minute running cap, and doubles as a colander. The clearance is the lowest here, so a tall bowl is the wrong load for it.

What We Could Not Verify

These are the figures we went looking for on the manufacturer listings and did not find.

• Whether the stated clearance is measured to the underside of each dome or to the top of its vent. No listing says.
• The folded height of the HOVER COVER cover, which the maker describes as collapsible without publishing a figure.
• A temperature ceiling for the ACTIVITYYA or Tusjiain covers. Both describe the material as food safe and publish no number.
• The named polymer in the Tusjiain and HOVER COVER covers. Both say food grade or BPA free without naming it.
• A running time limit for any cover except GLICPIX, so the 10 minute figure cannot be compared with anything.
• Whether the MAGJIUKE cover is 10 in or 10.5 in across, because its own title and its size field disagree.
• Whether the doubted weight fields on the ACTIVITYYA and Tusjiain listings belong to the cover or to something else in the carton.