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The ancient microwave in my first apartment. It had two knobs: one for time, one for power. It's immediately obvious how to cook something for how long, how to

The ancient microwave in my first apartment. It had two knobs: one for time, one for power. It's immediately obvious how to cook something for how long, how to add more time, etc. All other microwaves that I've used I had to have someone explain to me what buttons to press in what order to do even the simplest things. And I've never seen anyone use all of those fancy buttons.

Johan-bjareholt 10y ago
I recently bought a microwave from Samsung that has one know for time, one for power and a button to set the clock. I do love when appliances are stupidly simple, but I do miss the timer function on my old microwave.
mdip 10y ago
Completely agree! The funny thing is the first thing I thought of was an old microwave I owned with a similar setup mainly because the microwave I own, today, is so awful[0]. I have a GE combination convection oven/microwave and it was clearly designed by someone who had their first experience with LSD that day. Every function requires a different, magic, set of key combinations to make it work. Want to set a timer? That's easy, press timer, turn the dial to the right time (which inexplicably increases/decreases the time in 30 second increments). OK, you've done that, now you want to start it. Press "Timer" ... nope. Press "Start" ... nope. Oh, I have to push in the dial... I didn't even know that, too, was a button. Oh, and not once, not twice, but three times is the magic number of times required to start said timer. Starting the microwave with a specific time in mind requires hitting no less than 6 buttons, but there's one button that will start the microwave on high for 30 seconds, so everyone just uses that button and hits it as many times as is required to get close to the desired cooking length. I can hear my wife counting out loud ten beeps for a 5 minute cook time. It's got piles of advanced, useless, features, my favorite of which is a hybrid "microwave/oven cook" mode that manages to bring in the worst of both methods, giving you soggy food, unevenly cooked that takes an eternity to cook. Even the clock is stupid. You punch in the hours/minutes, and thinking you're done, you move on to something else. Later you go to cook something and for some bizarre reason, "AM or PM" pops up on the screen at which point nothing in your previous experience in operating a microwave prepares you to figure out why heating something up requires knowledge of whether it's morning or afternoon. Of course, nothing this microwave does requires knowledge of AM/PM, nor does it display AM or PM anywhere on the screen, but for some reason it just must know. [0] This isn't the exact model but it looks close: https://www.amazon.com/GE-PVM9179SFSS-Profile-Stainless-Microwave/dp/B00EU7AMX4 https://www.amazon.com/GE-PVM9179SFSS-Profile-Stainless-Micr...
- dri_ft 10y ago
  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?
  - tim333 10y ago
    Trad two knob microwaves are still available and usually the cheapest eg http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Browse?s=Price%3A+Low+-+High&storeId=10151&catalogId=25051&langId=110&c_1=1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome%2Band%2Bgarden%7C33005908&c_2=2%7C33005908%7CKitchen%2Belectricals%7C33007917&c_3=3%7Ccat_33007917%7CMicrowaves%7C33013899&authToken= http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Browse?s=Pr... so I blame consumers for buying the ones with the silly buttons.
    - iofiiiiiiiii 10y ago
      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.
  - ismail-khan 10y ago
    The buyer is usually not the end user. For example, a landlord is biased towards purchasing appliances that looks complex so they can show off all the extra "features" to clients.
    - wattt 10y ago
      You mean real estate agent. Landlords generally get the cheapest shit because otherwise it cuts into the bottom line.
      - jdavis703 10y ago
        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.
rumcajz 10y ago
I've stopped watching TV may years ago when it become impossible to figure out what all those buttons are for.
onli 10y ago
You can still buy those. They are the cheapest ones in the supermarket. At least where I live.
- jay-saint 10y ago
  You can also buy commercial grade all stainless models that have single timer nob and one or two power option buttons. Amana makes the RCS10DSE.
  - onli 10y ago
    Oh, nice. That way you get 1000W units. Not worth the additional $200 for me personally, but good to know – thanks.
roryisok 10y ago
when I moved into my current house I bought a brand new microwave for exactly this reason. Two knobs - how long, how hot. anything else is a waste of time.
cyxxon 10y ago
My dad worked as a the head of an engineering department at Miele in Germany, and therefore my family would always get new appliances before they hit the market, to actually test them out. My mum hated it, of course, to always have to relearn new interfaces etc. And yes, one day our perfectly good microwave with just these two dieals was replaced by an abomination: tons of soft-touch buttons, digital clock, what have you. None of us could fathom why anyone would want such a UI/UX for this simple device... and we lobbied hard to get the old one back. Which we did.
- drglitch 10y ago
  Go give kudos to your dad and his colleagues, Miele are one of best designed appliances I've ever encountered (aside from that microwave). I successfully navigated washers, espresso machines, etc, set to operate in languages I do not speak and was still able to get them to do what I wanted with minimal effort
- roel_v 10y ago
  Well, I have one of those Miele soft touch things, and I'm ambivalent about them. I think about this several times per day, since the last 2.5 years, every time I use it; so this is not something I just came up with. First, the current implementation isn't rigorously thought out. For example, for most operations, you put in the food, then select time to cook, press 'start'; but for thawing, you select the food type, then it asks you 'put in food', and won't continue until you open and close the door. This annoys me to the point that I've contacted Miele several times, but nobody seems to even understand the problem. At one point they send a service technician over (I guess they were exasperated by my repeated calls) who didn't understand the problem either, which led to a Monty Python-esque scene of me saying variations of 'it should work differently!' and him saying 'it works as it should!'. So if your father still have contacts, please let him/they contact me - I'm sure that if only I could get through to the right person, they'd agree with me that it's a bug. Anyway, apart from these implementation issues, I think overall the concept of having a touch screen that guides the user with many tasks is an improvement over the two-dial system. It tells me exactly how long to heat and at what temperature, and the results are (much) better than I ever get from microwaves/ovens that make me decide that for myself. The downside are increased time-to-task for most common operations, and increased complexity in the UI. I think it's inevitable though; I don't see how you can still have the same UI guidance from the machine yet make it easier to learn. It's like my circular saw - the more expensive one I have now, has more buttons and levers than the $49.95 I has before. I have to think how to use it; the cheap one had an on/off button, that was it. But I do get consistently better results with the expensive one. There, too, I don't see how it can be made simpler - those additional controls just make for a better result. (if I wanted to start a flame war, I'd compare it here to Notepad vs Vim. Why use something complex like Vim when you can also program just as well with Notepad? And yet, I've been using Vim for well over 15 years.)
wangarific 10y ago
We had one growing up that was the same way. Now I own one with a bazillion buttons and I only ever press one button - +30 seconds.
rikkus 10y ago
I've used a microwave which has one dial. You can turn it clockwise or anticlockwise to add/remove cooking time, which is fine. The designers thought it'd be good to allow pressing the dial, as if it was a button. Pressing the dial set the cooking time to 30 seconds and immediately started cooking. A one-touch interface, how useful! The only problem was that it was difficult to press the dial without accidentally nudging it clockwise or anticlockwise. Nine times out of ten I managed to turn it anticlockwise, which set a time of 95 hours or thereabouts - and began cooking. I hate to think what may have happened in some people's houses where they've done this, not noticed that it said 95 hours and forgotten it was cooking.
jamies888888 10y ago
My microwave has two buttons. Start and Stop. Press Start once, it starts for 30 seconds. Press it again and it adds 30 seconds. Keep pressing it to add 30 second intervals. If you want to stop before the time runs out. Press Stop and it resets.
acranox 10y ago
I had one of those. My issue with it was the knob went up to an hour, and was very hard to set at sub-minute intervals. So 30 seconds, or 90 seconds were very approximate. The "add 30 second button" is the only button I really need. Since a microwave can do a lot in a minute, a knob that doesn't allow accuracy within a minute isn't my first choice.
- cormacrelf 10y ago
  It's possible a log-scaled timer would be optimal, with the possible exception of new users.
- khedoros1 10y ago
  My parents' has a software-controlled knob. The speed that you turn it matters. Fast turns increment by 30 seconds (and I think goes to larger increments when you pass 5 minutes), slow turns increment by 5 seconds. It's a fairly pleasant interface to use.
paskster 10y ago
It's funny, just two weeks ago we bought a simple mircrowave with just two knobs for our office: https://www.amazon.de/Severin-MW-7874-Mikrowelle-kombinierbar/dp/B00IKDAP36/ https://www.amazon.de/Severin-MW-7874-Mikrowelle-kombinierba... I explicitely chose that mircrowave because it only had two knobs and I just get confused with too many buttons. I always thought I am weired for not wanting all these special features.
joncalhoun 10y ago
All those buttons and not a single one to mute the microwaves beeping noises. It would really be handy when others are sleeping.
- DonHopkins 10y ago
  Now they have bluetooth and chromecast and webcams, so you can play the beeping noises on the stereo speakers of your home media center, and watch your food cook on your giant flat screen TV.
  - dredmorbius 10y ago
    Add 3D, VR, and smell-o-vision and you'll never have to eat again.
    - bad_login 10y ago
      Can't wait for taste-o-vision and stop the cooking when it taste good.
- owly 10y ago
  As a rule, my first step when installing a new appliance is to disassemble and mute the piezo buzzer using some foam and electrical tape. You still hear the signals but not at the obnoxious default of ~120db.
  - loco5niner 10y ago
    You should check the manual first for a hidden setting to mute sound. That's how I silenced our work microwaves.
Steel_Phoenix 10y ago
The last time I bought a microwave I had two feature requests: Two knobs, one for time, one for power. An inverter so it would run at that power instead of just turning on to full power for a while and then turning off and on again, which ends up scorching food and blowing fuses. Apparently, this was too much to ask. I get the impression one company has the patent on the inverter tech, and they refuse to put a simple interface on their microwaves.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- icefo 10y ago
  I read somewhere that it isn't possible to not run a microwave at full power. I don't remember why. I agree on the two knobs though. I noticed after I buying an expensive in wall microwave that the thing would randomly glitch (you have to power it off to use it again). You have to use a "race condition" to launch it at full power without having to set the power then the time and then press the start button. I had no idea you could fail so bad at making a microwave.
- rdnetto 10y ago
  IIRC, Panasonic owns the patent on inverters, but they definitely make a microwave with a simple knob interface, because I have one (http://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/household/microwave-ovens/microwave-only/nn-sd351m.html http://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/household/microwave-ove...)
SixSigma 10y ago
I shared an apartment with two 20 year old when I was 45. They didn't know that knob 2 changed the power (despite it being labelled), they just kept adding more time and eventually giving up.
techolic 10y ago
I have another sad story to share. My wife and I used to have this small grill oven with two knobs: one for time and one for temperature. She was into baking cookies and I was into her works. I was also into toasting bread for breakfast. One day she appeared to be ready for the next level and demanded that we replace it with a shiny electronic grill oven with larger capacity. Replace we did but the next thing I found out was the previous 1 second toasting experience where I turn the time knob to 5 minutes has turned into a 27 button press procedure: first press to select mode; 25 presses to tune the time from the default 30 minutes down to 5 minutes; and one final press to start it. The worst part of this is, she's probably only used it for once or twice before moving along with other interests than baking cookies, but I had to endure the 27 button presses every morning.
- jerryr 10y ago
  I really like the Breville Smart Oven series. I've owned several, but I currently have the Smart Oven Pro and use it more than our actual oven. It heats up quickly, cooks very evenly, and the UI is straightforward. My only problem with it is that the UI frequently suffers from button bounce. Often, when I press the start button to turn the oven on, the bounce causes it to turn right back off again. And it can be occasionally difficult to dial in precise times due to similar issues with the knobs. Breville needs to learn how to properly debounce their hardware buttons--many of their products suffer from this. Overall, I'm really happy with it though.
  - na85 10y ago
    You've owned several smart ovens? Sounds like they aren't very durable.
Tloewald 10y ago
I prefer microwaves with a 1 minute and a 10s button (just push the correct number of times). Knobs aren't as precise for things like heating milk for cocoa.
sitkack 10y ago
Industrial microwave ovens in kitchen still have this UI.
dredmorbius 10y ago
The household has been stove-shopping since late November. I've discovered a few things: 1. A major manufacturer and appliance dealer have managed to deliver 3 DOA appliances. 2. There are no gas stovetop/oven combinations which don't have electronic controls. Certainly nothing for less than $3,000 (and the budget is about 1/6 - 1/2 that). 3. It is oh so easy to screw up a design with a simple oversight. The GE oven that has no externally-activateable oven light. Range tops which lack a center-cross support -- this limts the minimum-sized pot you can use, including the oft-cited-here Moka pot, which sees more use than any other cooking utensil in the house. 4. Manufacturers are apparently putting zero thought into how they package their products, both in terms of styling and shipping. The model we've looked at (otherwise among the better ones available per numerous ratings) has a thin sheet-steel back behind which, at a depth of < 1cm, is a printed circuit board managing the exhaust circulation system. Two units have arrived with dents over this element. 5. Solid-state touch controls work ... until they don't. All are placed either directly above the oven, or directly above the oven exhaust. I'm curious as to what thermal-cycling protection or durability is engineered into these. This for something whose basic conceit is to get hot when you want it to. I'm thinking through where stoves reached their apex. I'm thinking that electric spark-light gas range was about it. Everything since has added to complexity with very, very minor increases in delivered utility.
- summarite 10y ago
  Just to mention that you seem to be suffering from the consumer version of feature creep. Eg your number 4 is easily solved by simple metal inlays you can buy anywhere - or even make yourself. Don't look for perfection by comparing the best of each. Sucks that none of them are perfect perfect for you but people have different needs/wants/tastes.
- webmaven 10y ago
  > I'm curious as to what thermal-cycling protection or durability is engineered into these. Just enough to be sure it lasts past the end of the warranty period.
amk_ 10y ago
Seriously, that plus a hard OFF switch on the front.
cr0sh 10y ago
Get a commercial microwave oven. I did this - you won't regret it. I got a Sharp Electronics R-21LCF 1000W oven. Yes, it costs close to $300 USD. A similar consumer over will only cost half that. But these things are near workhorses, designed to run near constantly in a foodservice environment (restaurants and the like). My wife and I decided to do this after experiencing yet another consumer over breaking after only having it a couple of years. We decided to go with the Sharp model, because it (along with Amana) is what you see in most restaurants. We figured to give it a shot, and see how we liked it, and how long it would last. We've only had it a couple of years, but so far we love it. It only has one knob, only runs on "HIGH" full power, and only allows for a few minutes of cooking at a time. But so far, we haven't had a problem cooking anything in it. You have to adjust how you used to do things (if you're used to power levels - especially "defrost") - but overall, it isn't that big of a deal. Just stick the food in, turn the knob, come back when it "dings". Doesn't get any simpler. Now if only I could figure out how to get a TurboChef cheaply...
nicwolff 10y ago
Even simpler: Panasonic and Amana each sell a commercial microwave oven that has one knob – and that's it. Turn the knob to the time you want to cook, and it starts cooking – on "high", its only power setting. Open the door, and it stops and cancels the timer.
oftenwrong 10y ago
I dislike microwaves that have the unclear 1-10 power level setting that corresponds to the duty cycle. This requires one to "learn" the microwave and the food in order to cook things properly. The settings I use in my home microwave are very different from the ones I use in my office microwave. It is much better to be able to select the wattage directly. With food products that specify the wattage and time on the packaging, you are ensured the proper, manufacturer-intended cooking.
zer00eyz 10y ago
Another kitchen object that rocks is the upright mixer. Apparently they are fairly robust inside as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZwe-H5UnGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZwe-H5UnGk

Johan-bjareholt 10y ago

I recently bought a microwave from Samsung that has one know for time, one for power and a button to set the clock. I do love when appliances are stupidly simple, but I do miss the timer function on my old microwave.

mdip 10y ago

Completely agree! The funny thing is the first thing I thought of was an old microwave I owned with a similar setup mainly because the microwave I own, today, is so awful[0]. I have a GE combination convection oven/microwave and it was clearly designed by someone who had their first experience with LSD that day. Every function requires a different, magic, set of key combinations to make it work. Want to set a timer? That's easy, press timer, turn the dial to the right time (which inexplicably increases/decreases the time in 30 second increments). OK, you've done that, now you want to start it. Press "Timer" ... nope. Press "Start" ... nope. Oh, I have to push in the dial... I didn't even know that, too, was a button. Oh, and not once, not twice, but three times is the magic number of times required to start said timer. Starting the microwave with a specific time in mind requires hitting no less than 6 buttons, but there's one button that will start the microwave on high for 30 seconds, so everyone just uses that button and hits it as many times as is required to get close to the desired cooking length. I can hear my wife counting out loud ten beeps for a 5 minute cook time. It's got piles of advanced, useless, features, my favorite of which is a hybrid "microwave/oven cook" mode that manages to bring in the worst of both methods, giving you soggy food, unevenly cooked that takes an eternity to cook. Even the clock is stupid. You punch in the hours/minutes, and thinking you're done, you move on to something else. Later you go to cook something and for some bizarre reason, "AM or PM" pops up on the screen at which point nothing in your previous experience in operating a microwave prepares you to figure out why heating something up requires knowledge of whether it's morning or afternoon. Of course, nothing this microwave does requires knowledge of AM/PM, nor does it display AM or PM anywhere on the screen, but for some reason it just must know. [0] This isn't the exact model but it looks close: https://www.amazon.com/GE-PVM9179SFSS-Profile-Stainless-Microwave/dp/B00EU7AMX4 https://www.amazon.com/GE-PVM9179SFSS-Profile-Stainless-Micr...

dri_ft 10y ago
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?
- tim333 10y ago
  Trad two knob microwaves are still available and usually the cheapest eg http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Browse?s=Price%3A+Low+-+High&storeId=10151&catalogId=25051&langId=110&c_1=1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome%2Band%2Bgarden%7C33005908&c_2=2%7C33005908%7CKitchen%2Belectricals%7C33007917&c_3=3%7Ccat_33007917%7CMicrowaves%7C33013899&authToken= http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Browse?s=Pr... so I blame consumers for buying the ones with the silly buttons.
  - iofiiiiiiiii 10y ago
    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.
- ismail-khan 10y ago
  The buyer is usually not the end user. For example, a landlord is biased towards purchasing appliances that looks complex so they can show off all the extra "features" to clients.
  - wattt 10y ago
    You mean real estate agent. Landlords generally get the cheapest shit because otherwise it cuts into the bottom line.
    - jdavis703 10y ago
      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.

rumcajz 10y ago

I've stopped watching TV may years ago when it become impossible to figure out what all those buttons are for.

onli 10y ago

You can still buy those. They are the cheapest ones in the supermarket. At least where I live.

jay-saint 10y ago
You can also buy commercial grade all stainless models that have single timer nob and one or two power option buttons. Amana makes the RCS10DSE.
- onli 10y ago
  Oh, nice. That way you get 1000W units. Not worth the additional $200 for me personally, but good to know – thanks.

roryisok 10y ago

when I moved into my current house I bought a brand new microwave for exactly this reason. Two knobs - how long, how hot. anything else is a waste of time.

cyxxon 10y ago

My dad worked as a the head of an engineering department at Miele in Germany, and therefore my family would always get new appliances before they hit the market, to actually test them out. My mum hated it, of course, to always have to relearn new interfaces etc. And yes, one day our perfectly good microwave with just these two dieals was replaced by an abomination: tons of soft-touch buttons, digital clock, what have you. None of us could fathom why anyone would want such a UI/UX for this simple device... and we lobbied hard to get the old one back. Which we did.

drglitch 10y ago
Go give kudos to your dad and his colleagues, Miele are one of best designed appliances I've ever encountered (aside from that microwave). I successfully navigated washers, espresso machines, etc, set to operate in languages I do not speak and was still able to get them to do what I wanted with minimal effort
roel_v 10y ago
Well, I have one of those Miele soft touch things, and I'm ambivalent about them. I think about this several times per day, since the last 2.5 years, every time I use it; so this is not something I just came up with. First, the current implementation isn't rigorously thought out. For example, for most operations, you put in the food, then select time to cook, press 'start'; but for thawing, you select the food type, then it asks you 'put in food', and won't continue until you open and close the door. This annoys me to the point that I've contacted Miele several times, but nobody seems to even understand the problem. At one point they send a service technician over (I guess they were exasperated by my repeated calls) who didn't understand the problem either, which led to a Monty Python-esque scene of me saying variations of 'it should work differently!' and him saying 'it works as it should!'. So if your father still have contacts, please let him/they contact me - I'm sure that if only I could get through to the right person, they'd agree with me that it's a bug. Anyway, apart from these implementation issues, I think overall the concept of having a touch screen that guides the user with many tasks is an improvement over the two-dial system. It tells me exactly how long to heat and at what temperature, and the results are (much) better than I ever get from microwaves/ovens that make me decide that for myself. The downside are increased time-to-task for most common operations, and increased complexity in the UI. I think it's inevitable though; I don't see how you can still have the same UI guidance from the machine yet make it easier to learn. It's like my circular saw - the more expensive one I have now, has more buttons and levers than the $49.95 I has before. I have to think how to use it; the cheap one had an on/off button, that was it. But I do get consistently better results with the expensive one. There, too, I don't see how it can be made simpler - those additional controls just make for a better result. (if I wanted to start a flame war, I'd compare it here to Notepad vs Vim. Why use something complex like Vim when you can also program just as well with Notepad? And yet, I've been using Vim for well over 15 years.)

wangarific 10y ago

We had one growing up that was the same way. Now I own one with a bazillion buttons and I only ever press one button - +30 seconds.

rikkus 10y ago

I've used a microwave which has one dial. You can turn it clockwise or anticlockwise to add/remove cooking time, which is fine. The designers thought it'd be good to allow pressing the dial, as if it was a button. Pressing the dial set the cooking time to 30 seconds and immediately started cooking. A one-touch interface, how useful! The only problem was that it was difficult to press the dial without accidentally nudging it clockwise or anticlockwise. Nine times out of ten I managed to turn it anticlockwise, which set a time of 95 hours or thereabouts - and began cooking. I hate to think what may have happened in some people's houses where they've done this, not noticed that it said 95 hours and forgotten it was cooking.

jamies888888 10y ago

My microwave has two buttons. Start and Stop. Press Start once, it starts for 30 seconds. Press it again and it adds 30 seconds. Keep pressing it to add 30 second intervals. If you want to stop before the time runs out. Press Stop and it resets.

acranox 10y ago

I had one of those. My issue with it was the knob went up to an hour, and was very hard to set at sub-minute intervals. So 30 seconds, or 90 seconds were very approximate. The "add 30 second button" is the only button I really need. Since a microwave can do a lot in a minute, a knob that doesn't allow accuracy within a minute isn't my first choice.

cormacrelf 10y ago
It's possible a log-scaled timer would be optimal, with the possible exception of new users.
khedoros1 10y ago
My parents' has a software-controlled knob. The speed that you turn it matters. Fast turns increment by 30 seconds (and I think goes to larger increments when you pass 5 minutes), slow turns increment by 5 seconds. It's a fairly pleasant interface to use.

paskster 10y ago

It's funny, just two weeks ago we bought a simple mircrowave with just two knobs for our office: https://www.amazon.de/Severin-MW-7874-Mikrowelle-kombinierbar/dp/B00IKDAP36/ https://www.amazon.de/Severin-MW-7874-Mikrowelle-kombinierba... I explicitely chose that mircrowave because it only had two knobs and I just get confused with too many buttons. I always thought I am weired for not wanting all these special features.

joncalhoun 10y ago

All those buttons and not a single one to mute the microwaves beeping noises. It would really be handy when others are sleeping.

DonHopkins 10y ago
Now they have bluetooth and chromecast and webcams, so you can play the beeping noises on the stereo speakers of your home media center, and watch your food cook on your giant flat screen TV.
- dredmorbius 10y ago
  Add 3D, VR, and smell-o-vision and you'll never have to eat again.
  - bad_login 10y ago
    Can't wait for taste-o-vision and stop the cooking when it taste good.
owly 10y ago
As a rule, my first step when installing a new appliance is to disassemble and mute the piezo buzzer using some foam and electrical tape. You still hear the signals but not at the obnoxious default of ~120db.
- loco5niner 10y ago
  You should check the manual first for a hidden setting to mute sound. That's how I silenced our work microwaves.

Steel_Phoenix 10y ago

The last time I bought a microwave I had two feature requests: Two knobs, one for time, one for power. An inverter so it would run at that power instead of just turning on to full power for a while and then turning off and on again, which ends up scorching food and blowing fuses. Apparently, this was too much to ask. I get the impression one company has the patent on the inverter tech, and they refuse to put a simple interface on their microwaves.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
icefo 10y ago
I read somewhere that it isn't possible to not run a microwave at full power. I don't remember why. I agree on the two knobs though. I noticed after I buying an expensive in wall microwave that the thing would randomly glitch (you have to power it off to use it again). You have to use a "race condition" to launch it at full power without having to set the power then the time and then press the start button. I had no idea you could fail so bad at making a microwave.
rdnetto 10y ago
IIRC, Panasonic owns the patent on inverters, but they definitely make a microwave with a simple knob interface, because I have one (http://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/household/microwave-ovens/microwave-only/nn-sd351m.html http://www.panasonic.com/au/consumer/household/microwave-ove...)

SixSigma 10y ago

I shared an apartment with two 20 year old when I was 45. They didn't know that knob 2 changed the power (despite it being labelled), they just kept adding more time and eventually giving up.

techolic 10y ago

I have another sad story to share. My wife and I used to have this small grill oven with two knobs: one for time and one for temperature. She was into baking cookies and I was into her works. I was also into toasting bread for breakfast. One day she appeared to be ready for the next level and demanded that we replace it with a shiny electronic grill oven with larger capacity. Replace we did but the next thing I found out was the previous 1 second toasting experience where I turn the time knob to 5 minutes has turned into a 27 button press procedure: first press to select mode; 25 presses to tune the time from the default 30 minutes down to 5 minutes; and one final press to start it. The worst part of this is, she's probably only used it for once or twice before moving along with other interests than baking cookies, but I had to endure the 27 button presses every morning.

jerryr 10y ago
I really like the Breville Smart Oven series. I've owned several, but I currently have the Smart Oven Pro and use it more than our actual oven. It heats up quickly, cooks very evenly, and the UI is straightforward. My only problem with it is that the UI frequently suffers from button bounce. Often, when I press the start button to turn the oven on, the bounce causes it to turn right back off again. And it can be occasionally difficult to dial in precise times due to similar issues with the knobs. Breville needs to learn how to properly debounce their hardware buttons--many of their products suffer from this. Overall, I'm really happy with it though.
- na85 10y ago
  You've owned several smart ovens? Sounds like they aren't very durable.

Tloewald 10y ago

I prefer microwaves with a 1 minute and a 10s button (just push the correct number of times). Knobs aren't as precise for things like heating milk for cocoa.

sitkack 10y ago

Industrial microwave ovens in kitchen still have this UI.

dredmorbius 10y ago

The household has been stove-shopping since late November. I've discovered a few things: 1. A major manufacturer and appliance dealer have managed to deliver 3 DOA appliances. 2. There are no gas stovetop/oven combinations which don't have electronic controls. Certainly nothing for less than $3,000 (and the budget is about 1/6 - 1/2 that). 3. It is oh so easy to screw up a design with a simple oversight. The GE oven that has no externally-activateable oven light. Range tops which lack a center-cross support -- this limts the minimum-sized pot you can use, including the oft-cited-here Moka pot, which sees more use than any other cooking utensil in the house. 4. Manufacturers are apparently putting zero thought into how they package their products, both in terms of styling and shipping. The model we've looked at (otherwise among the better ones available per numerous ratings) has a thin sheet-steel back behind which, at a depth of < 1cm, is a printed circuit board managing the exhaust circulation system. Two units have arrived with dents over this element. 5. Solid-state touch controls work ... until they don't. All are placed either directly above the oven, or directly above the oven exhaust. I'm curious as to what thermal-cycling protection or durability is engineered into these. This for something whose basic conceit is to get hot when you want it to. I'm thinking through where stoves reached their apex. I'm thinking that electric spark-light gas range was about it. Everything since has added to complexity with very, very minor increases in delivered utility.

summarite 10y ago
Just to mention that you seem to be suffering from the consumer version of feature creep. Eg your number 4 is easily solved by simple metal inlays you can buy anywhere - or even make yourself. Don't look for perfection by comparing the best of each. Sucks that none of them are perfect perfect for you but people have different needs/wants/tastes.
webmaven 10y ago
> I'm curious as to what thermal-cycling protection or durability is engineered into these. Just enough to be sure it lasts past the end of the warranty period.

amk_ 10y ago

Seriously, that plus a hard OFF switch on the front.

cr0sh 10y ago

Get a commercial microwave oven. I did this - you won't regret it. I got a Sharp Electronics R-21LCF 1000W oven. Yes, it costs close to $300 USD. A similar consumer over will only cost half that. But these things are near workhorses, designed to run near constantly in a foodservice environment (restaurants and the like). My wife and I decided to do this after experiencing yet another consumer over breaking after only having it a couple of years. We decided to go with the Sharp model, because it (along with Amana) is what you see in most restaurants. We figured to give it a shot, and see how we liked it, and how long it would last. We've only had it a couple of years, but so far we love it. It only has one knob, only runs on "HIGH" full power, and only allows for a few minutes of cooking at a time. But so far, we haven't had a problem cooking anything in it. You have to adjust how you used to do things (if you're used to power levels - especially "defrost") - but overall, it isn't that big of a deal. Just stick the food in, turn the knob, come back when it "dings". Doesn't get any simpler. Now if only I could figure out how to get a TurboChef cheaply...

nicwolff 10y ago

Even simpler: Panasonic and Amana each sell a commercial microwave oven that has one knob – and that's it. Turn the knob to the time you want to cook, and it starts cooking – on "high", its only power setting. Open the door, and it stops and cancels the timer.

oftenwrong 10y ago

I dislike microwaves that have the unclear 1-10 power level setting that corresponds to the duty cycle. This requires one to "learn" the microwave and the food in order to cook things properly. The settings I use in my home microwave are very different from the ones I use in my office microwave. It is much better to be able to select the wattage directly. With food products that specify the wattage and time on the packaging, you are ensured the proper, manufacturer-intended cooking.

zer00eyz 10y ago

Another kitchen object that rocks is the upright mixer. Apparently they are fairly robust inside as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZwe-H5UnGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZwe-H5UnGk