Holy christ. Horrifying. I can't understand how microwaves are all so bad. Where are the good ones? Isn't it less work to make a simpler (better) interface than the baroque ones we end up with?
I used to buy the cheap 2-knob ones but they are the cheapest for a reason. After light use, the knobs would inevitably disconnect from the internals. The shop replaced it for free but my time is more valuable than a microwave, so replacements are not really satisfactory.
It's when people buy for features rather than use. If given the choice most people are likely to buy the one with the longest spec sheet - don't want to miss out on that meat vs vegetable defrost difference! And it's the same price. And it has a few more buttons but I'm not stupid...
On the other side, there's probably a demand on the "designers"to keep inventing and adding new features while keeping it as cheap as possible to produce. And each version is just slightly different from the previous one, so best not to redesign the wiring/programming, just add the new feature in the technically easiest/cheapest way!
You're completely right. In my case, I bought this model because my wife likes to cook and we only had one conventional oven (a gas oven, as well, which cooks differently[0] than an electric one). We decided on it because it would give us a "sort of" second oven for the various times when that's needed. In retrospect, we almost never use the other capability -- not because of a combination of two things - (1) we're too lazy to get the manual out to see what particular incantation needs to be performed to make the "oven" feature work and (2) it takes almost twice as long to pre-heat than any other oven we've ever owned so if you don't plan in advance and start pre-heating it before you actually decide what you're going to cook, the main oven is often free by the time the thing pre-heats.
It goes to show, though, when you jam in a bunch of features into a device that isn't really meant for those features, the added features are often not implemented well enough to make them very useful.
The one redeeming factor this microwave has is that the entire interior is stainless steel. Everyone who uses our microwave does a double-take when they open it seeing all that metal. It's super easy to clean, but that's about it.
[0] Natural gas ovens are less dry than electric ovens, so baking in them results in very moist results but also often requires cooking things longer. I bought it, though, because they're really simple devices that will basically last forever, having only really the $20 ignition element fail about once every decade.
Yeah, the industrial designers can't really crank up the watts on the magnetron or otherwise mess with the specifications, most of what's left is fiddling with the UI to enable ever more elaborate combinations of timing and power (most of which aren't very useful).
My favorite peeve is that cheap MW ovens often don't let you add time while the oven is running when the affordance is already right there (just push the +1m button you used to set the time again). You only get that feature if you buy a more expensive and complex model.
Honestly the cheaper ones are just fine. As you add more features, you add more complexity. Mine was like $50 and the interface is great. If you want to set the power, mash that key a few times until it gets to the desired level. Then press Start to go for 30 seconds, keep pressing Start to add 30 seconds to the running timer. If you need a specific time, you can type that in with the number keys, but I almost never do that. That's it. It's a microwave. Fifty bucks. Bought it at Macy's. Cool.
I had one that the first 6 numbers would cook for that many minutes, and the "start" button usually acted as an "add 30 seconds" button. You could also program a time, but like you, I almost never did that (mostly just if I was using the timer mode, which didn't have the same quick shortcuts).
The sharp r-9xx series still have dial knobs for power and time, as well as all the fancy features. Easy stuff is simple, complex is possible. They cook evenly and last for ages.
Depends on what you're renting. Also they usually splurge on things that look fancy like microwaves, and cheap out on hidden things like recessed lighting that is "secured" with aluminum screws.
