There are plenty of things with great user interfaces, and the way you can recognize them is if the interface "disappears" when you use the thing. If you can use the thing without thinking, without having to read a sign, without having a cheat-sheet, when you're very sleepy, and you still do the right thing, then the interface is good.

My pet peeve is household appliances that are just in the way, that do the wrong thing, that make you do unnecessary steps to get what you want.

I still miss my old microwave with its huge digital knob for setting time and power. I developed muscle-memory for using that thing, because it just felt right, my body knew exactly how much to turn the knob to get a certain time.

My current one is atrocious, it has a number pad. No.

And it doesn't have to be that way, I'm always concious about user interfaces of things I buy, and go out of my way to buy stuff that has good interfaces. I hope that by supporting companies that put in the effort, they'll win in the end. (It's a slim hope, though.)