4 ms·

Unnecessary tech in kitchen appliances. Ovens, dishwashers and washer/dryers. I spend most of my time battling the user interface or dealing with obscure bugs.

handrous 5y ago
My favorite microwave oven is one my Grandma owned for decades, probably purchased in the 70s or early 80s. Two dials. No buttons. Pull to open the door, not even a button for that. Didn't even have the spinny-plate thing (did OK regardless, and I find I have to manually move stuff around halfway through even with the spinny plate, so it's kinda useless). Put power dial where you want it. Put timer dial where you want it. Timer starts ticking down and the microwave turns on. Loud ding (from a physical bell somewhere inside it, not a speaker) when it's done. That's the entire thing. No buttons, no clock (god, why do you need a clock on your microwave?!) none of that shit. Heavy, good-feeling dials that you could feel physically operating something underneath, from the clunks of the power dial to the subtle scrape of the timer dial. Great feel on the door handle. All-around solid. Nothing to learn. Just use it.
- bufordtwain 5y ago
  This is the one I ended up getting when my previous microwave broke. It has one dial to set the time and no spinny plate. Pull to open. Happy with it so far but we'll see how long it lasts... https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZTVIPZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZTVIPZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt...
  - handrous 5y ago
    I do wonder why simple products are often expensive. I think our microwave cost like $30-40 new, but it's got probably 20 buttons and a clock and the spinner and all that junk, and at the time I couldn't find any cheap options that were simple, only ones that were (like this) several times more than the cheapies. You'd think the one with nothing but a dial and no spinner (so, no motor, simpler design for the interior, no extra material cost for the glass plate, and so on) would be as cheap as it gets, but no. Microwaves don't even have the "because spying and ads offsets the price of more-complex sets" excuse that TVs do.

handrous 5y ago

My favorite microwave oven is one my Grandma owned for decades, probably purchased in the 70s or early 80s. Two dials. No buttons. Pull to open the door, not even a button for that. Didn't even have the spinny-plate thing (did OK regardless, and I find I have to manually move stuff around halfway through even with the spinny plate, so it's kinda useless). Put power dial where you want it. Put timer dial where you want it. Timer starts ticking down and the microwave turns on. Loud ding (from a physical bell somewhere inside it, not a speaker) when it's done. That's the entire thing. No buttons, no clock (god, why do you need a clock on your microwave?!) none of that shit. Heavy, good-feeling dials that you could feel physically operating something underneath, from the clunks of the power dial to the subtle scrape of the timer dial. Great feel on the door handle. All-around solid. Nothing to learn. Just use it.

bufordtwain 5y ago
This is the one I ended up getting when my previous microwave broke. It has one dial to set the time and no spinny plate. Pull to open. Happy with it so far but we'll see how long it lasts... https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZTVIPZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZTVIPZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt...
- handrous 5y ago
  I do wonder why simple products are often expensive. I think our microwave cost like $30-40 new, but it's got probably 20 buttons and a clock and the spinner and all that junk, and at the time I couldn't find any cheap options that were simple, only ones that were (like this) several times more than the cheapies. You'd think the one with nothing but a dial and no spinner (so, no motor, simpler design for the interior, no extra material cost for the glass plate, and so on) would be as cheap as it gets, but no. Microwaves don't even have the "because spying and ads offsets the price of more-complex sets" excuse that TVs do.