You can buy whiteware with a usable UI, but you need to go to a display room and try the models with the intent of checking usability, and then paying the premium that usually occurs. Also if possible talk to the service guys and work out what is reliable and maintainable.

I regularly hear people complain about their devices, because usability wasn’t considered due to different root causes. Some people don’t know anything about usability (not a “Senior Support Engineering Manager”), some people buy cheap, some people don’t get to choose (rent), many people don’t think to check usability, some people let their partner buy something unsuitable.

If you use a kitchen, then pay attention to what other practical friends use. Your appliances are tools you work with: spend effort to buy good tools.

I bought a Breville Quick Start microwave, chosen for combination of brand trust, price, and usability. It has a rotating power knob, a rotating timer knob, a 30 second quick start button, and a bunch of feature buttons which I don’t use hidden in the door jam. Rotate the knobs to change power or time while the microwave is running: https://www.breville.com/au/en/products/microwaves/bmo735.ht...

This looks like a good model. Thanks for the rec.

I inherited this current microwave from the previous owner, and it will be eventually replaced.

Discussions around microwaves are always so fascinating as it's hard to tell for instance if you just don't care at all, or if you decided to micro-manage your device temperature and mode to get tailored results no automation would provide.

As an example pre-steaming has become a well rounded feature, and it will be done as a separate phase during the pre-heating, to switch to full-blown oven mode from there. I could totally time and set it all myself, but honestly I wouldn't bother half of the time and settle for the worse result to spare my time.

Same for cycle like lower temperature fermentation -> cooking for bread dow, or auto-stop by temperature detection for simple reheating.

All of these actually work well, and I feel in the "before" time we were just more accepting of mediocre results and/or spending half a day on it.

The other day I accidentally grilled my instant meal because I selected the wavy grill icon instead of the wavy microwave icon on my combi-oven. Molten plastic everywhere :-/ It does have a knob for selecting the time though.

I get that icons are easier because you don't need to translate things for every country, but surely it can't be that much effort or expensive? My washing machine has text in Dutch and French, and it was one of the cheaper options.

My bomann microwave is exactly that, and it's great

Some of the fancy microwave features can actually be useful though.

The "sensor cook" on mine does a really great job with potatoes for example. They come out about as good with that as they do when I bake them in the toaster oven or regular oven using a thermometer to determine the cooking time, but the microwave is a lot faster and less effort.