Part of the problem is you can't even count on appliances to last 10 years anymore. These industries can force people to accept new indignities by making sure their old device dies prematurely and the only new ones to buy are shit.

Yeah yeah, survivor bias, rose tinted glasses, conspiracy theories, blah blah. I've heard all the canned refutations. It's true. Appliance manufacturers got better at making things worse.

And even if the device doesn't die early, it will eventually have to be replaced for one reason or another. I got 20 years out of my Honda, which wasn't great but not terrible either, but trying to replace it with something new that had comparable reputation for reliability and also no touch screen computer spyware bullshit was a serious problem. My only choice was Mazda and the although my new car does have the physical buttons and knobs I want, they are easily the worst quality buttons and knobs. All mushy with no satisfying clicks. One company holding out and selling cars or appliances without the new horse shit isn't enough, because without comparable competition they are still free to cut corners and make something worse than could be purchased in the past.

I’ve been preaching the Gospel of Knobs for decades. When I was a kid, a microwave had a power knob (already at 100) and a time knob (0-45min, with finer gradations for the first 10-20 minutes). To start heating, just twist the time knob to the time required.

A few years later all microwaves had chiclet keypads with terrible user interfaces. They’ve improved from there over the years but never to the convenience of the original knob layout.

A knob is way more annoying than the single button modes on my GE Profile.

I put whatever leftovers in there. Pasta, chicken and rice, soups, BBQ, doesn't matter. I lightly cover it. Press Reheat. Perfect every time. I don't have to judge how much to turn two knobs.

Same goes for potatoes. Stab it with a fork a few times, butter and salt the outside, toss them in and press "Potato". Perfect baked potato every time.

Same goes for steaming veggies. Frozen or fresh, doesn't matter. Toss them in a bowl, put a bit of water/butter/seasonings in it, lightly cover, press Vegetable, and boom perfectly steamed veggies.

The one-touch sensor modes on my microwave are fantastic. And this is a 20-year-old microwave, so it's not like adding this tech made it less reliable. I'll be sad if I ever need to have a different microwave.

how does it know how much stuff there is, does it weigh?

I've only ever left the how high on high, and the time is 3 minutes for chilled, 10 for frozen. so in a way I agree, two buttons saying chilled and frozen would also work for me.

Maybe it has some kind of scale. But it probably mostly handles it by tracking humidity within the chamber. Some of these modes don't even bother showing a time when they start, they'll cook for a bit and potentially power cycle the magnetron for a bit until it then sets a time and finishes. It complains when you open the door.

I've used a number of microwaves with these modes which asked for a weight. Those were pretty untrustworthy on their results, because moisture content and starting temp can vary greatly.

I stumbled upon them, but I strongly think the mid-2000's era GE Profile are probably some of the best appliances ever made. They were at least the best dishwasher, oven, and microwave I've ever used.

Huh, my microwave has a 'potato' button but I've never tried it. I'm gonna give it a go.

My washing machine is about 20 years old; I changed the carbon brushes for the second time recently (they last about 7 years); everything else seems fine and I hope the machine will last forever. It's just a drum with a big electric motor, a valve for water in, another for water out.