5 ms·

Every microwave I have ever owned have been under $30, purely because I didn't want to go digital. Analogue egg-timer knob - good enough accuracy, and instantly

Every microwave I have ever owned have been under $30, purely because I didn't want to go digital. Analogue egg-timer knob - good enough accuracy, and instantly pliable

MawKKe 6y ago
Yeah. It's one thing that does not need improving. My parents bought a new microwave with all kinds of fancy digital features that nobody uses 99% of the time. In addition to being really difficult to use, it also makes a very loud BEEEP on every button press. Insanity.
- somehnguy 6y ago
  Beeping appliances is one thing I can't stand. They're always too loud and rarely offer any adjustment or mute functionality. I got a new microwave recently. It beeped on every button press, 5 beeps after a cook cycle, no way to mute (yeah, I checked). Within a day of owning it I took it apart and ripped the beeper off the board. Problem solved.
  - genewitch 6y ago
    I recently went on a crusade to pull the piezo buzzers out of all my UPS... because, when the power's out, i don't need a sound to tell me, do i?
  - voltagex_ 6y ago
    Weren't you worried about damaging the microwave shielding?
    - somehnguy 6y ago
      Not at all.
  - aendruk 6y ago
    Some day we’ll collectively learn to replace all the crude beeping with less abrasive, natural sounds like the gentle and informative clicking of the iPod’s touch wheel. Think the crunch of a fallen leaf, the satisfying zip of a sweater, the subtle scrape of a ceramic mug being hastily lifted—distinct and deliberately applied to build conventions like we have with e.g. red/green colors. Shrill beeps will be the tell that dates an antique.
- waterhouse 6y ago
  In my experience (3 out of 3 microwaves that I tried this on), there is usually an options or settings menu that lets you turn off the beep.
liability 6y ago
At least microwaves with digital controls actually have full numpads. Every digital-control oven I've ever had the misfortune of using only has increment/decrement buttons. Want to set the oven to 450F? Have fun pressing the increment button twenty times for five degree increments starting at 350F. It's an abomination.
- icelancer 6y ago
  This is such a weird thing that we accept as normal. Completely agree it's absurd that on the microwave we have a numpad and on an oven we have up/down arrows with an arbitrary starting point (mine is 350 degF).
  - netsharc 6y ago
    350 degF might not be so arbritarily chosen, it's probably a good starting point, then the user would only have to press down or up a few times to reach the cooking temperature they want for their food.
  - ckolkey 6y ago
    I'm on my phone, so it's a bit difficult to look up, but 350 isn't actually arbitrary. It's a temperature that is hot enough to allow you to get a maliard reaction without being so hot that you easily burn food.
- frosted-flakes 6y ago
  The best microwave I've ever used didn't have any numpad at all. Instead, it has a horizontal sliding touch pad. It sounds stupid, but it works SO WELL. Move your finger slowly and it increments one second at a time, move it quickly and it jumps faster. On the front there are only two buttons (stop/clear and start/+30sec) and the touch slider and screen. If you open the door there are a few more buttons for setting power levels and a timer, and the only useful preset button (popcorn), but none of the useless ones. This LG NeoChef model: https://www.lg.com/ca_en/microwave-ovens/lg-LMC1575BD https://www.lg.com/ca_en/microwave-ovens/lg-LMC1575BD
Aaargh20318 6y ago
I have a €400 microwave and it’s great. It has one big rotary button that will set the time, press start and it goes. You don’t need any of the other buttons to simply microwave stuff. What those buttons do give me is an oven and steamer. It’s not my main oven but having an extra oven can be convenient and the steamer function is great. Zero effort perfect rice every time. Toss some veggies and spices on a tray, steam for a couple of minutes and you have an easy, healthy and tasty side dish. Another great feature is that it doesn’t have a rotating platform, I have square plates so that’s also super convenient. I get buying a simple microwave if that’s all you need it to do, but don’t dismiss the models with more bells and whistles, they have their place as well.
combatentropy 6y ago
I went the opposite way and bought a $240 Panasonic commercial microwave, because I also wanted it to last. It's just a little big.
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  I have never seen or even heard of a microwave breaking.
  - auxym 6y ago
    Consumer level microwaves in shared areas, like in workplaces or schools, tend to break real fast. I've seen some not last a year.
  - smegger001 6y ago
    my parents have gone through about 4 microwaves in the last 15 years. the one before that they had for about 15 it was only replaced because the dial broke off while they were moving.
_jal 6y ago
I have a cheapo digital that suits my needs well enough. It is ancient and keeps working, which is all I ask of it. But the UI is utterly absurd. The default presentation is to select timer or cook. Who uses a timer anywhere nearly as much as the cook function? It is like a car always first asking if you'd rather drive or pop the hood. One more button press has never been enough to annoy me anywhere nearly enough to replace it. But I wonder how many times I've pressed it.
thret 6y ago
I've never understood why microwaves have an alarm that can't be disabled. They actually make me angry every time I fail to stop it manually at <10s.
- m463 6y ago
  On the other hand, I used to have a microwave with a "nag timer" that would continue nagging you until you took your food out. Saved (fallible) me from a lot of cold meals. My current microwave doesn't have that and in ascending order of silliness I have 1) forgotten food and eaten it cold 2) gotten hungry and gone to heat up something only to find there was something already in the microwave 3) (worst) opened the microwave to find something there from the night before.
  - thret 6y ago
    Why wouldn't you just reheat the food if it was cold?
mywittyname 6y ago
Interestingly enough, many commercial microwaves are like this, with detents at 1 minutes increments. Being able to load and set a microwave in under 5 seconds without paying much attention is really crucial in a busy kitchen.
taneq 6y ago
Yep, our current microwave actually has a really well thought-out digital interface. Probably the best digital microwave interface I've ever seen. Still inferior to the analog twist-knob on the one we had when I was a kid.

Every microwave I have ever owned have been under $30, purely because I didn't want to go digital. Analogue egg-timer knob - good enough accuracy, and instantly pliable

MawKKe 6y ago

Yeah. It's one thing that does not need improving. My parents bought a new microwave with all kinds of fancy digital features that nobody uses 99% of the time. In addition to being really difficult to use, it also makes a very loud BEEEP on every button press. Insanity.

somehnguy 6y ago
Beeping appliances is one thing I can't stand. They're always too loud and rarely offer any adjustment or mute functionality. I got a new microwave recently. It beeped on every button press, 5 beeps after a cook cycle, no way to mute (yeah, I checked). Within a day of owning it I took it apart and ripped the beeper off the board. Problem solved.
- genewitch 6y ago
  I recently went on a crusade to pull the piezo buzzers out of all my UPS... because, when the power's out, i don't need a sound to tell me, do i?
- voltagex_ 6y ago
  Weren't you worried about damaging the microwave shielding?
  - somehnguy 6y ago
    Not at all.
- aendruk 6y ago
  Some day we’ll collectively learn to replace all the crude beeping with less abrasive, natural sounds like the gentle and informative clicking of the iPod’s touch wheel. Think the crunch of a fallen leaf, the satisfying zip of a sweater, the subtle scrape of a ceramic mug being hastily lifted—distinct and deliberately applied to build conventions like we have with e.g. red/green colors. Shrill beeps will be the tell that dates an antique.
waterhouse 6y ago
In my experience (3 out of 3 microwaves that I tried this on), there is usually an options or settings menu that lets you turn off the beep.

liability 6y ago

At least microwaves with digital controls actually have full numpads. Every digital-control oven I've ever had the misfortune of using only has increment/decrement buttons. Want to set the oven to 450F? Have fun pressing the increment button twenty times for five degree increments starting at 350F. It's an abomination.

icelancer 6y ago
This is such a weird thing that we accept as normal. Completely agree it's absurd that on the microwave we have a numpad and on an oven we have up/down arrows with an arbitrary starting point (mine is 350 degF).
- netsharc 6y ago
  350 degF might not be so arbritarily chosen, it's probably a good starting point, then the user would only have to press down or up a few times to reach the cooking temperature they want for their food.
- ckolkey 6y ago
  I'm on my phone, so it's a bit difficult to look up, but 350 isn't actually arbitrary. It's a temperature that is hot enough to allow you to get a maliard reaction without being so hot that you easily burn food.
frosted-flakes 6y ago
The best microwave I've ever used didn't have any numpad at all. Instead, it has a horizontal sliding touch pad. It sounds stupid, but it works SO WELL. Move your finger slowly and it increments one second at a time, move it quickly and it jumps faster. On the front there are only two buttons (stop/clear and start/+30sec) and the touch slider and screen. If you open the door there are a few more buttons for setting power levels and a timer, and the only useful preset button (popcorn), but none of the useless ones. This LG NeoChef model: https://www.lg.com/ca_en/microwave-ovens/lg-LMC1575BD https://www.lg.com/ca_en/microwave-ovens/lg-LMC1575BD

Aaargh20318 6y ago

I have a €400 microwave and it’s great. It has one big rotary button that will set the time, press start and it goes. You don’t need any of the other buttons to simply microwave stuff. What those buttons do give me is an oven and steamer. It’s not my main oven but having an extra oven can be convenient and the steamer function is great. Zero effort perfect rice every time. Toss some veggies and spices on a tray, steam for a couple of minutes and you have an easy, healthy and tasty side dish. Another great feature is that it doesn’t have a rotating platform, I have square plates so that’s also super convenient. I get buying a simple microwave if that’s all you need it to do, but don’t dismiss the models with more bells and whistles, they have their place as well.

combatentropy 6y ago

I went the opposite way and bought a $240 Panasonic commercial microwave, because I also wanted it to last. It's just a little big.

CyberDildonics 6y ago
I have never seen or even heard of a microwave breaking.
- auxym 6y ago
  Consumer level microwaves in shared areas, like in workplaces or schools, tend to break real fast. I've seen some not last a year.
- smegger001 6y ago
  my parents have gone through about 4 microwaves in the last 15 years. the one before that they had for about 15 it was only replaced because the dial broke off while they were moving.

_jal 6y ago

I have a cheapo digital that suits my needs well enough. It is ancient and keeps working, which is all I ask of it. But the UI is utterly absurd. The default presentation is to select timer or cook. Who uses a timer anywhere nearly as much as the cook function? It is like a car always first asking if you'd rather drive or pop the hood. One more button press has never been enough to annoy me anywhere nearly enough to replace it. But I wonder how many times I've pressed it.

thret 6y ago

I've never understood why microwaves have an alarm that can't be disabled. They actually make me angry every time I fail to stop it manually at <10s.

m463 6y ago
On the other hand, I used to have a microwave with a "nag timer" that would continue nagging you until you took your food out. Saved (fallible) me from a lot of cold meals. My current microwave doesn't have that and in ascending order of silliness I have 1) forgotten food and eaten it cold 2) gotten hungry and gone to heat up something only to find there was something already in the microwave 3) (worst) opened the microwave to find something there from the night before.
- thret 6y ago
  Why wouldn't you just reheat the food if it was cold?

mywittyname 6y ago

Interestingly enough, many commercial microwaves are like this, with detents at 1 minutes increments. Being able to load and set a microwave in under 5 seconds without paying much attention is really crucial in a busy kitchen.

taneq 6y ago

Yep, our current microwave actually has a really well thought-out digital interface. Probably the best digital microwave interface I've ever seen. Still inferior to the analog twist-knob on the one we had when I was a kid.