The usage patterns I've noticed from watching people use microwaves: 1. Everyone always uses max power 2. Everyone cooks in increments of 30s 3. No other funct

The usage patterns I've noticed from watching people use microwaves: 1. Everyone always uses max power 2. Everyone cooks in increments of 30s 3. No other functionality ever gets used because no one knows what it does/implies Thus a simplistic microwave design would consist of a '+30s' button and a 'Start/Stop' button. This would probably make microwaves much less complicated internally, and thus cheaper and more reliable. That said, I don't think either of those is part of the design goals of most appliance manufacturers.