I keep thinking about this topic for a couple of years now (hence my question). I wonder if combination of new technology could be made into much more useful microwave, even if the cost was not suitable for personal use (at least initially).

The dream is a microwave with "single button" (start/stop) and a temperature scale (lukewarm, warm, hot, boiling) that consistently heats up food correctly and doing so within very short period of time (below 3 min).

There is work done one this. search for: software defined microwave (SDC)

Super cool. Thanks for the suggestion found this [0] but there appears to be more out there.

[0] https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/news/software-defined-cooking-using...