The Kenwood R-1000 is a PLL synthesizer controlled double conversion communications receiver covering frequencies up to 30 MHz. It can be operated from different mains voltages and also from 13,8 V DC for mobile operation from a car battery.

The desktop receiver is with it's dimensions (300 x 115 x 218 mm) and weight (5.5 kg) quite compact. To carry it to Your holiday cottage, it has a carrying handle that can be used as a tilted stand.

In the left part of the front panel, You find the mains and timer switch, the buttons to set the clock and a switch to set the display indicating the frequency or the time (the time is indicated in the american format, up to 12:00 and with LEDs indicating AM or PM); just below are the jacks for headphones and a cassette recorder.
In the middle of the front panel, You find the bright blue-green fluorescent frequency display, the signal strength meter calibrated in S units and below two pushbuttons for Noise blanker and a dimmer for dial illumination. Above the big main tuning knob, You find a green backlit analog rotary dial which will indicate the reception frequency with an accuracy of 5 kHz.
At the right, You find the concentric knobs for volume / A.F. gain and tone control, the attenuator, that has to be activated in case of strong nearby signals causing overloading and below the pushbuttons to select reception mode and the 1 MHz range switch.

At the rear of the set, You find the the socket for the mains cable, the set can be operated from 100 to 240 V AC and a connector for 13,8 V DC operation. The set has a koaxial SO-239 antenna socket and connectors for a high impedance long wire antenna, earth; sockets used for muting of the set in connection with a matching transmitter and one to control a tape recorder and jacks to connect an external speaker, e.g. the Kenwood SP-100.

Operating the R-1000 is straightforward: connect a long wire antenna or a random wire length (I use 25 m of long wire connected to a Yaesu FRT-7700 antenna tuner) to the antenna connector, press the power button and adjust the AF gain / volume control for a slight noise. Make sure that the Function switch in the left upper corner is set to display the frequency. The attenuator switch should be set to 0. To receive a broadcast band station, press the mode switch "AM-WIDE". Turn the band segment control to 6 (for the MHz digit), and adjust to 1 5 5 with the main tuning knob - now You should be tuned to the news coming from Vienna. When You reach the edge of a one MHz range (i.e. when changing from 4999 > 5000 > 5005 kHz, You will have to switch from 4 to 5 MHz segment and have to tune down within the whole band to reach the beginning of the 5 MHz segment.
In case of an interfering signal, set the modes switch to AM-NARROW. For reception of CW or single sideband signals, use the LSB or USB knobs, as there is no separate BFO control, You have to use the main tuning knob very carefully to tune to zero beat. Instead of using the 12 kHz filter for AM-WIDE and 6 kHz for AM-NARROW, there is an option to set an internal bridge to use the 6 kHz filter as AM-WIDE and the 2,7 kHz filter not only for SSB but also for AM-NARROW.
You don't have to bother about the few other controls. You can try activating the Noise Blanker for Noise coming from motor ignitions, in case of a nearby station causing overload effects and appearing on different parts of the dial as mixing product, or when You have very high noise level tuning in the 49 m band in a winter evening and the receiver's front end has to deal with a lot of very strong signals from European Broadcasters, You might try the multi-step attenuator

With the minor drawback, that the R-1000 has no frequency memories and no capabilities of postprocessing the HF signal with passband tuning or notch filter, the R-1000 is still an above average shortwave receiver meeting most DXers demands.
The R-1000 is not frequenly found on the used market, but if You can get one, it's a good tool to enter the shortwave DXing hobby and a clear upgrade to the small portable "worldband radios", maybe with the exception of Sony's ICF-2001D.
The R-1000 is also one set, You might to decide to keep it as a secondary receiver when You upgrade for a set with more technical features.