The Samsung microwaves, although with good build quality, are notorious for having a very bad UX.

- The buttons don't give have tactile feedback. - Setting time is very confusing. - You have to press multiple buttons just to start. - If you want to cancel/clear timer, you have to press multiple buttons again.

I've had the misfortune of using a Samsung microwave, electric oven, dishwasher, and phone.

I've concluded that Samsung products are just generally dogshit.

After owning LG, GE, and Samsung appliances, I am now an LG fanboy.

I do have to mention that out of all their appliances, I do love their washing machines. I have owned a couple over the last 10 years ant they just keep working.

How is Samsung so bad at software in every single division they own? It's amazing.

I quite like their software on my phone. Usually better than their google counterpart, and samsung dex is a little gem.

I just want a microwave with an analog dial for time and a switch for low, med, high. They can keep the computer.

Depending on how you feel about IKEA, their TILLREDA model microwave is two dials for time and power, and a button to open the door

I wish I knew this existed when I was in the market for a new microwave oven. It's perfect!

I like the concept, but the rotating turntable for the food and plate is silly. I have a Panasonic NE-1022F (sadly, no longer available) and it rotates the antenna under the floor of the unit.

That approach enables use of a smaller motor, requires fewer moving parts, and makes the interior very easy to clean.

Interesting, I've never seen a microwave oven without a rotating turntable.

My parents have an ancient one, which they inherieted from a relative decades ago...

It has a button to cycle through the power levels (the typical couple seconds on, couple seconds off duty cycle power levels), and four buttons to set the time: one under each digit (adds one to the digit and overflows to zero), the start button, something for temperature cooking if you have the probe (they don't). Actual buttons, because touch buttons hadn't been invented yet. A total of 8 buttons, plus the door open.

Anyway, no turntable there.

Same here, but unlike my rotating one, that one had classic coldspots and hotspots microwaves sometimes had.

But I sure loved the fine grained time and power control. Figure out the setting put once and then it is unattended perfection every time.

Yeah, my parents have an upside down ceramic pie dish permanently in the microwave which raises the food to be heated up into what seems to be a more favorable area for heating. Before we got that in there, you'd have to do a lot of short bursts and mix / rotate, which is tedious especially when there was about two seconds of off time when starting...

Before they were integrated into the microwave, you could buy third-party turntables.

They were like a child's toy; you would spin it a dozen times counterclockwise, and then it would slowly rotate clockwise for the next several minutes. Obviously, it couldn't be battery-powered.

Thinking about it now, it must have had some kind of plastic spring mechanism. Wish I had busted it open and looked.

they still make them, although this one seems to be out of stock on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Microwave-Micro-Go-Round-...

There are a few now, though they're still a minority, we have a Sharp SM327FHS which has the same arrangement - flat bed with a hidden rotating emitter.

Seems good so far.

(It does not have the physical dial though, it has buttons like most other microwaves)

I think that’s how most “commercial” microwaves work; the food stays put and the element moves. It’s much easier to clean and it (usually) heats the food more evenly.

They're common in catering, for easy cleaning, but require more sophisticated design of the waveguides.

I think Panasonic still make some. The term they use if you're web searching is "flatbed".

Commercial microwaves often don't have turntables. What they have - based on observation of a single one I took apart once - is a "scatter wheel" in the roof of the chamber, that spins just by air movement from the cooling fan, and reflects the microwave energy this way and that.

But that produces a stationary pattern (averaged over a rotation). Depending on where your food item is, some spot in it may never actually get high power energy if the overall scatter pattern is weak there. Actually rotating the food through a stationary pattern is likely to provide better coverage.

This is not proved. It is possible to set up an experiment to prove it. But it's reconciled me to the idea of the turntable. Also, consumer microwave turntables have, in my experience, been reliable.

A turntable also inhibits superheating of water. A superheated cup of water will expand to steam immediately if disturbed before it cools:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/boil-on-troubled-waters/

The turntable's motion ensures the water is somewhat "disturbed" and minimizes superheating.

Would purchase.

I was looking for a microwave with two knobs a few years ago and finally found one.

Unfortunately it was one of the most expensive ones in the stores: https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/microwaves/bmo850.ht...

Biggest annoyance is that it's 1500W so any time I'm microwaving packaged food I have to scale down power to 70-80% to match the wattage on the package.

I bought this one for the same reason , two simple knobs , no BS keypads and presets. It was expensive but I love it, more than I expected.

Breville. They're OK. Which is praise when the competition sucks. I've got their slow + pressure cooker and a coffee machine. Both more expensive and better than the alternatives in their price range, but still with plenty of problems. It's like they give half a shit when manufacturers like De'Longhi give none.

Dare I ask why? Analog dials for time are imprecise, frustrating, and I've seen far more of them break than any electronic component in home appliances.

Humans aren’t digital, dials have a feel that you get used to.

My toaster oven has a dial, I have no idea of the values, just how far I turn from muscle memory. I love it

Very quick and easy to turn it to where I want and precise time isn't very important on a microwave. Idealy the scale wouldn't be linear so that you have more accuracy under 1min and more range available.

Disagree. The perfect amount of time to cook my favorite brand of Hot Dog in the Microwave is exactly 12 seconds. Shorter and it's too cold, longer and it starts to split.

For such a short amount of time, you could count the seconds - or note how far the turntable rotates in that time. Even with a digital dial, I doubt I would take the time to input 12 seconds - I'd just whack the +30 second start and stare at it for 12 seconds.

>Even with a digital dial, I doubt I would take the time to input 12 seconds - I'd just whack the +30 second start and stare at it for 12 seconds.

...which is far easier and more consistent than trying to counting seconds in my head.

It's also more repeatable and transferrable when someone else is cooking the same thing and asks me how long I heated it for.

It really doesn't matter whether you heat your food for 28 or 32 seconds.

No, but 10-15 seconds vs 30 seconds is a huge difference in some cases. 15 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to room temp. 30 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to melted.

While I know this is a bit crass to say, there was a time where people just knew how long things took, via internal clocks.

It's a skill like any other, which of course has vanished, much like reading maps and math in head.

Much of the progress of civilization has involved tools that turn things from skills which require focus into things that are automated. It frees the mind to focus on other, more important things.

I could also just have an "on" button I have to hold, count seconds in my head, and stop when I think it's done, but thankfully no one is advocating for regressing UI quite that much....yet.

And 33 seconds is boiling molten lava.

I love how microwaves work, there’s a real art to it. 25 seconds , everything is cold but 40 seconds is boiling.

25x2 seconds , with a very short break in between the two, is not equal to 50 seconds.

Making these numbers “up” but anyone who has used a microwave with skill and attention will understand me.

Also, free tips: 1- put a moist paper towel over pizza and bread to keep it from hardening like a rock later on. 2 - microwave stale bread for a second life.

This is especially true when heating soups or similar things.

1x120 seconds means it's completely cold in the middle, but molten lava at the sides and even the dish is too hot to touch.

1x30-45 seconds, mix with spoon, 1x30-45 seconds and it's just right.

there are things that I heat for 11 seconds. If it is in there for more than 12 seconds, it starts to overcook. An analog dial is a poor choice in this case.

I have one of these. It's fine but I prefer being able to set exact times for certain things. The perfect middle ground for me is a +30s button that also immediately starts it

Best of both worlds is a digital dial with ~log scale. My Bosch microwave has that, though apparently newer models don’t.

Decades ago, my college microwave was an ~800 watt unit that had a large, analog dial, and an actual bell that dinged once (and only once) when it was done. That's it, no other settings. Zero displays, other than the pointer on the dial as it clicked down.

I still miss it.

Those are just the bargain-basement ones. You can still get them if you’re so inclined.

I bought one like this on Amazon. Dial for power, dial for time, one ding. I forget how many watts, I think 800 or 1k.

The dials feel cheap, but it's fine.

I was tired of pushing buttons and setting clocks. I don't want everything to be a gizmo.

Honestly. That's pretty close to the perfect UI for a microwave.

That describes the first one my parents got in the early 80s - except I seem to remember a power slider as well. Best microwave UI ever.

I have one just like it, and the best part is that I just leave the timer wheel set to max, and turn the microwave off by opening doors. I keep the doors just barely open all the time, woth benefit of it starting the moment I close the doors after putting a plate in.

The only button I ever pressed on it is to open doors (mechanical), and once in a while I turn the timer to max (when I notice).

I bought onw just like that (Amica) and I'm very happy with it.

I know what you mean. Sadly, looks like our Panasonic (NN-CF778SBPQ) may be on the way out after a decade of daily service, and I've been trying to find an equivalent with the two knobs. You can adjust power and time while it's still cooking. If something needs more time, a quick twist of one adds more seconds. If something is about to overheat and you want to buy a bit more time while you prep something else, you can twist the other and back off the power from high to warm/simmer/low. Plus it's a combi, so could initially microwave to defrost, then convection cook whilst also gently grilling to toast the top of the foodstuff. I used to joke that I could play that thing like a piano :-/

The break room at my last job had a microwave like that: the interface consisted of one big knob, which worked like a wind-up timer. It was the best microwave I've ever used.

Literally all those things are discoverable if you buy in a store.

Edit: I maybe should have clarified "appliance store", rather than big box. But there are three appliance stores within ten miles of me that sell appliances. Not Home Depot, not Wal-Mart. Appliance stores. The refrigerators and ovens and microwaves are all plugged in and you can try any of them. The only thing you can't try is the gas ranges.

This is the world we built shopping for price.

Are they? Perhaps I'm out of touch with the brick and mortar experience.

The majority of microwaves I've seen at my local department store are in a box, those few models that are on display are not powered.

Even in the highly unusual case that they were powered or within proximity of a free power socket, I think it'd be rather unorthodox to go to the store and test drive a microwave with your instant ramen.

Yes, at appliances stores. Also though, at goodwill. Mine always has like 30+ microwaves and of course you can plug in and test.

Do stores let you operate these kinds of things where you are?

Yeah, any appliance store will. Not like a walmart, but also they probably will, at the very least you could buy it and return it, but just go to an appliance store or even lowes. They will have lots of floor models open and active and will help you set up to test anything else you want because the salesmen are paid on commission.

I think people are so conditioned to the modern lack of customer support from companies (or the strict adherence to "policy) that simple things like this are overlooked. Literally just asking them to plug it in before you buy it... is forgotten by most people. If it's not a secice written on a sign then it's must be impossible right?

I went to an appliance store. A real appliance store like you're talking about. They told me that all the consumer models are the same. Same hardware, same manufacturer. They only had 2 or 3 to choose from. They said there is basically no point to shopping them, the quality is the same. You can pick stainless, or black or maybe get one that mounts under a cabinet.

>The refrigerators and ovens and microwaves are all plugged in

Not at the appliance stores near me.

I could do without the clock. How about if I do not set a time on the clock, then do not display 12:00 or anything when not in use.

Seriously. I used to have a microwave and oven stacked on top of each other. Both had an LCD, and so some horrible PMs somewhere presumably had entire sets of meetings to spec out the clock feature.

The microwave would not function if the time and AM/PM values were not set. (As far as I could tell, there was no way to actually ever see the AM/PM value after setting it!)

So. Every time the power went out, I would be confronted with blinking times on clocks I didn’t even want, and a nonfunctional microwave.

I will never buy a kitchen appliance with a mandatory clock ever again.

My Siemens oven wanted an Internet connection on first power up.

I fired off an E-mail to Siemens, stating that there was ONE feature which could tempt me into granting it access: NTP support.

Much to my surprise, I got an enthusiastic reply from an engineer stating that this would be rolled out in a future firmware update.

Fingers crossed.

thinking of internet of things - I would expect ntp was top on the to do list for anything wanting to be on that.

I would assume that it usually IS a feature on the top of a list... but then they actually start to work on it, and a new fresh set of young developers get exposed to the nightmarish clusterfuck that is datetimes and networking, and then it eventually gets rejected.

this implies that at some point NTP won't be implemented anywhere because the fresh sets of young developers are too delicate to handle the problems of various older technologies that everything depends on?

Windows, after 30 years and billions of development dollars, couldn't make ntp work. I still must set time manually once a month.

I set up a second private network on my router for iot devices. On a but on a whim.. I don't know how private but its something

A while back I got an Amazon branded microwave w/ Alexa integration. I bought it because it was one of the few I could find in the form factor I wanted, and used the novelty factor to break the tie. The voice activation is useless, but the one thing I love about it is that when the power blinks out it'll get the time from the nearby Alexa & set itself. No more blinking.

> My Siemens oven wanted an Internet connection on first power up.

I hadn't thought of that. I'll add that to my list of reasons why I will not buy an appliance that wants to connect to a network.

Not to mention having to update the time every DST transition otherwise you have a wrong clock which is worst than no clock at all.

I usually set such clocks to some random time that's so off you would never mistake it for the real thing.

I tend to set non-TZ-aware/non-NTP clocks to UTC.

I do this as well. It works well for me.

Bosch microwaves for example let you turn that off. See e.g. https://pdf.lowes.com/productdocuments/3c4ab01b-1931-4181-be... page 18.

Yeah, ditch the clock and backlight the damn keypad FFS.

I can call myself lucky then, I bought the cheapest uW because all the “fancy” ones were all huge, I believe it is Black & Decker branded, if the clock is not set it will stay in timer mode indicating 0:00 (not blinking) if you press just the start button it will run for 30 seconds it also has an uncomplicated kitchen timer function. It’s small, underpowered and will overheat if run for more than 12min straight but i paid $50 for it.

I bought a Forte brand microwave on Amazon. (I've never heard of the brand). But it has been a good microwave so far. and I was happy to notice that when the clock is not set, the screen just stays blank rather than a blinking 12:00.

I've done my research, on sale floors. The best I've come up with are Teka microwaves:

- Electronic, unfortunately. No time/power dials, in favor of a menu system from hell, but

- One button press to start (max power, 30s);

- After starting, there's a button to add 30s;

- It only beeps twice after finishing, then shuts up.

Looked up Teka microwaves, they look very fancy. My $50 microwave from walmart from like 2014 does all this haha, but the downside is you can't disable the beep.

I have similar UX desires and I typically have good luck looking up their manuals or just looking on reddit or whatever before I buy.

It's often some combination of holding down 1, 2, or 0 for a few seconds to change those modes.

The kind of review you're looking for is what Consumer Reports is, (or at least used to be, as I'm not sure of the current state of things,) famous for.

Because it's a paid subscription, and all of the items they review are actually purchased from retail suppliers who have no knowledge that Consumer Reports is the buyer, they can take their time and do very thorough comparisons incorporating tests of real world usability and reliability that are difficult to tabulate and instead have to reviewed like a movie or a book. But I don't know, it's likely the consumer reports type of shopper is such a minor fraction of the market that isn't worth optimizing for them any more.

For those who don’t want to pay, many libraries allow free digital access to Consumer Reports.

You can usually stop by and flip through the buying guide index, too.

> For those who don’t want to pay

For those who wish Consumer Reports didn't have the money to buy the products they test and depended on advertising and payola inevitably gaming the reviews instead...

Arguably advertising destroyed the microwave ... and everything else.

The problem with consumer reports is I only need it every once in a while, so it isn't really worth paying a continual subscription for.

I do it anyways, because I need them the most on expensive things, so my subscription evens out. But they do have common household items as well.

I get one and split it with my whole extended family.

Libraries have their subscription.

I got a CR subscription to look at air filters. For good air filtering you really only need a hepa filter ($20) in front of a fan ($20), but CR only analyses the performance of brand name products ($200).

Not exactly. To be comparable to the good air filter products, you'd want to build a cube of air filters and attach the fan so it pulls air through the cube. Fun DIY project, but it's not for everyone. There's a good YouTube video for it.

The DIY cube air filter even has its own Wikipedia entry:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsi–Rosenthal_Box

Next time try your library. Many offer free access over the web.

For best filtering, place the filter so air is “sucked” through by the fan, rather than “pushed”.

(Quite possibly what you meant; I just found “in front of” easy to interpret in either way)

HEPA filtration only matters if you have a clean side and a dirty side. Most air filters exhaust clean air into the same room as the intake, so all that matters is clean air delivery rate [0]. It's often possible to get better clean air delivery rate using higher flow through a less restrictive non-HEPA filter.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_air_delivery_rate

The removal efficiency of the filter is built in to CADR, so say a MERV-14 filter with higher air flow and a HEPA filter with lower air flow can have the same CADR.

The Wikipedia article does not discuss the 2 (different!) methods of calculating CADR but this does: https://frdmtoplay.com/nagivating-air-purification/

What we really need is a project farm for microwaves

Can you elaborate? I was about to ask are there are concept designs for microwaves, particularly the UI, but other features as well - I'd be interested to see ideas of what microwaves could be.

I don't think the article is correct that the humidity sensor was the last innovation (and actually, how can I tell if a microwave has this, and how is used anyway?) - we also have inverter microwaves recently, as well as combi grill/microwave etc.

EDIT: Oh, I think you meant "Project Farm", the youtube reviewer. Anyway, I'd like to see a 'design farm' for microwave concepts and designs, and appliances in general actually, they all suck.

> Does the +30 seconds button start cooking immediately, or do you have to also press "start" afterwards?

i've seen one where buttons 1-6 immediately start cooking for that many minutes, alongside a +30 button, so that every 30s interval between 30s and 6:30 can be activated in one or two button pushes; fastest nuke in the west

Ours does that. I never touch any of the (indeed useless) Potato / Popcorn / Soup (yes, soup... What?) buttons, but the instant-on time-interval buttons are lovely.

It's "Magic Chef", for those of you who are curious. We didn't buy it (came with the house), and I'm not pulling it off the shelf to look for a model number on the back (I moved the vinegar bottles next to it, and there's no sticker on that side, nor the other, either), but that's a place to start.

> Soup (yes, soup... What?)

Actually, yeah! The "soup" setting nukes it in such a way that you don't get a scolding hot bowl + top layer of soup, while everything else stays cold. (Mostly by spinning the tray and heating it in a burst-like pattern, I think)

I still would rather just cover the dish with another bowl, which achieves a better & faster result.

Huh! TIL. That said, I've heated a lot of soup - without using the "Soup" button, mind - and not experienced the problem you describe.

IANAMS (I Am Not a Microwave Scientist), but observationally it seems to me that bowl material has most to do with microwave results. I have a few bowls (and mugs) I never use in the microwave, because they seem always to get hotter than their contents. Later, I'll try one of them on "Soup" to see if it makes a difference.

> does it beed every +30 seconds

No joke, I bought and returned 4 microwaves before I found one that doesn't. I'm picky, and finally found one that does a quick double "beeep beeep" and is done.

Well don't leave the crowd in suspense.

I use a Panasonic NN-SD945S and it's configurable https://help.na.panasonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/NNS...

I leave it enabled though because it is not continuous and has like a TADA.WAV kind of vibe. So happy!

Oh, I have a Panasonic NN-GD38 that only beeps once. Sometimes I forget my food in the microwave because of it though. It's the best microwave I've ever had (also the first time I've ever spent so much on one).

Not OP, but most LG microwaves allow to turn sounds off with a special button combination. Even though my model's manual doesn't mention it, I could guess it from other manuals and YT videos.

It's a GE. That's all I know :/

Most microwaves have a mute setting. Often it’s set by holding 1 for 5 seconds. Varies by brand and model of course. Definitely worth looking up if it bugs ya!

Do most of microwaves have such a setting? I've never seen one.

It's not a setting you'd "see", it's a secret you'd find on the last page of that manual you threw out.

My ideal microwave would have two buttons.

1: The first two times you push it, it sets the timer to 0:30 and starts cooking. The next time, adds 0:30. Each time after that, it adds 1 minute and starts cooking.

2. Reset the timer to 0.

And a door latch which stops cooking.

I don't need power levels, or more precise timing, or any of that other stuff.

Commercial microwaves for restaurants are like that.

Ah, nice. Do you know any brands/models?

What an asinine solution. A button that doesn’t work consistently. How are you going to set 1:30 (which is very common)? Or 55? You’re going to stand there and press that one button 57 times? What about defrosting where you want a low power level? Or soups? Or a hundred other examples. How does having a number pad ruin the experience?

> What an asinine solution

"Why does not everyone have the same opinions and preferences as I do?!"

>What an asinine solution

Please be nice. This isn't Reddit.

> A button that doesn’t work consistently.

A button that is context-aware.

>How are you going to set 1:30 (which is very common)?

Good point. It should add 30 seconds until it gets to 2:00 then do 60 second increments.

>Or 55?

55 minutes is not a thing I ever do with a microwave.

>What about defrosting where you want a low power level?

I already said I don't use power levels. If I want to defrost, I just cook for a few minutes then let it sit for a long time, or use some other method.

>Or soups?

Assuming you mean a tub of frozen soup, I usually cook for 5 minutes, stir, do another few minutes, etc.

> Or a hundred other examples.

There are not a hundred other examples. That's the point. The vast majority of the time I'm heating at full power for short periods of time.

> How does having a number pad ruin the experience?

It doesn't ruin anything. But it costs money to implement.

I just press "Start" on my microwave and it uses sensors to cook. Works at least as well as I do with guessing times.

For something like popcorn with a set time (2 min 20 s is perfect on ours, 10s too much and it burns), it's twist the dial then press start.

I think I had such a bad time with sensors in the 80s I've never trusted them since. :)

Which model is that?

Hitachi MRO-W1A

This is the nearest I've seen to that: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Russell-Hobbs-RHEM2301B-Flatbed-Mic...

Four buttons: Microwave, Defrost, Stop, Start.

Defrost is 40% power. It is a flatbed, so no turntable to clean.

but power levels are amazing for reheating (around 50%) and defrosting (around 25%)

and I would argue these are two of the major reasons to use a microwave

Power levels are essential to me. I thought all microwave ovens were borderline useless to heat/cook food unless you don't care about how the food comes out. Learning to use power levels really improved the usefulness of the machine.

Particularly for defrosting things and softening butter.

Does cooking for 4 minutes at 50% really yield a significant difference to compared to 2 minutes at 100% then waiting 2 minutes? I'm curious.

Yes, it's a massive difference.

My "favorite" feature on the GE microwave that came with my house: If you cook something then walk away (leaving the food inside) then come back and want to zap it for 30 seconds, you must open and close the door to "Insert Food".

> comparison shopping is so hard.

This indeed, there is no structured info anyware in even the software land where it's easier to get the info without buying/unboxing, so you can't rely on reviews that takes all those things into account and can't really do it yourself

It seems like you have an amazing talent for reviewing electronics, and that you've identified a kind of review that doesn't exist in the market and people might find valuable!

NYT bought Wirecutter for 30 million dollars so... who knows, there might be a business here.

I subscribed to Australian Choice for one year a few years ago. It sounded really cool, you pay a hundred bucks a year and they go out and buy a bunch of stuff and compare it in an unbiased way.

And it was cool for a while, until I started reading their reviews and comparisons on products I knew a lot about and done my own research on. I found they just missed a lot of things I found really important.

We didn't agree on things I know about, so I had to assume we wouldn't agree on things I did know about!

https://www.choice.com.au/

> comparison shopping is so hard

Yes, but it's much worse than it needs to be. When searching for hard disks on Amazon, if you search for "hard disk 8 tb" for example, Amazon will suggest the following criteria on the left side of the page:

Hard Disk Size

4 TB & Above

3 TB

2 TB

1 TB

501 to 999 GB

321 to 500 GB

121 to 320 GB

Up to 80 GB

Really? What is the point of this? How can it not do better?

Amazons search as you are aware has been notoriously bad for many many years at this point. i find that the diskprices website is very helpful when searching for hard drives on amazon. https://diskprices.com/

If you dont want to use amazon https://www.pcpartpicker.com has a good section to search and compare hard drive sizes/pricing

My conspiracy theory is Amazon search is intentionally bad to make their ads more valuable.

Thats the reason I just ignore amazon. When, once in a while, I search for something on amazon, it just returns pages of related things. Its worse than Youtube search. They can keep it.

Buy a Panasonic. They seem to care about user experience. Beeps once, +30 starts it, and they're the only one with an inverter, so you can do a true 50% (unless I'm in a huge hurry I always cook at 50% for double the time, and it seems to come out much better).

I have an LG that's an inverter one. I agree though, don't buy a non-inverter model if you care at all about the quality of what comes out of it.

And for the above poster, +30 starts it, it plays a little tune when done, and then every maybe 30s afterwards for 2 or 3 times. Oh, and the turntable rotates at 0.1Hz so a mug's handle is facing the same way it went in after any interval of ten seconds.

i could compare washing machines for a long time before i decide on which on is best suited for my needs ... then again, though, i have used hundreds of different washing machines in my life and i can't remember even single time having been unsatisfied with the cleanliness.

my conclusion: it often doesn't really matter.

If we're listing things we want to see in a microwave, I would add a knob! Just let me spin a dial to set the time then push that same knob to start/stop. I almost had this with my latest microwave, but alas, you can set the time with the knob and then 'set' the time by pushing the knob. But then you have to do the extra step of pressing a separate 'start' button. Why? why do this?

I feel a bit whiney complaining about such a minor thing. But it does bug me everyday. The sheer senselessness of bad design is infuriating. They will make thousands, maybe millions of these things. Put a bit of time in designing it!

</end rant>

> But then you have to do the extra step of pressing a separate 'start' button. Why? why do this?

Probably some consumer tests showed that people had trouble with rotating the knob without pushing it during rotation. Or, pushing the knob sets the time and now you can set the power by further rotating the knob and then pushing start.

In case it helps, I've run into the same types of problems frequently, and YouTube reviews are a godsend.

Random people actually film themselves unboxing and using the product, and you can watch what buttons they have to press, etc.

Also you can virtually always download the manual as a PDF.

Of course that's not a list, and it takes a lot of work. It's deeply unfortunate -- somebody like Amazon could actually implement the kind of comparison matrix you're talking about, but they're not exactly innovating on the UX front. :(

(Amazon does sometimes show a comparison matrix of 4 products with something like ~6 rows of features for some products, but I think it's created by the manufacturer, so only compares models for that one brand, and doesn't always list the feature you care about either.)

> somebody like Amazon could actually implement the kind of comparison matrix you're talking about

Would that be valuable, though? Could Amazon do this in a useful and non-manipulative way? I have doubts.

It would be valuable if the filtering conditions are up to the user.

Can I press 1-9 just do get 1-9 minutes.

My current one is:

Press cook time, 1, 0, 0, start. Too long.

So for 1 minute it is faster to do +30, +30, as that immediately starts.