What PUSH or PSH Means
Built-In Microwave, including the microwave-oven combination: KitchenAid publishes no fault description for PUSH or PSH. What its page carries under the heading "Press Start" is a description of the behaviour: "The Start pad begins any oven function. If Start is not pressed within 5 seconds, PUSH or PSH appears in the display," and "If start is not pressed within 1 minute after pressing a keypad, the function is canceled and the time of day is displayed." A power reset is offered after that. No component is named and no fault is described, so none is asserted here.
Common Causes of PUSH or PSH
- A function selected without Start being pressed within five seconds
- An entry abandoned, which the control cancels after a minute
- A Start pad that is not registering, which is what remains if the prompt never clears
🔧 One Safe Check You Can Try
Press Start. The behaviour KitchenAid describes is a prompt on a timer: you set something up and did not commit to it within five seconds, and after a minute the appliance gives up on the whole entry and shows the clock again. If PUSH or PSH is on the display with nothing being programmed, power the unit down by switching off the circuit breakers for one minute, power it back up, watch the oven for one minute to see whether the code returns, and verify the oven operates.
⚠ Why You Shouldn't Go Further Than That
- KitchenAid publishes no fault description for this message, so any claim about a failed part would be invention rather than documentation.
- If the Start pad genuinely does not respond, that is an interface question, and the interface is behind the panel of a built-in appliance rather than in front of it.
- The high-voltage capacitor inside a microwave can hold a lethal charge after the unit is unplugged and the display is dead, so the inside of the cabinet is not an owner check at any point in this process, whatever the code turns out to mean.
Opening a panel to inspect or repair something yourself doesn't automatically cancel your manufacturer's warranty — but it can risk accidental damage, and some manufacturers do have specific service conditions. Check your product's warranty terms, or ask us, before deciding.