Does anyone press anything other than start?

Yes, I sometimes press oven or grill and I do like to put it on for a set amount of time.

There are some microwaves with really good UI and some that are terrible – thing is it is very hard to tell one from the other unitl it is in your kitchen and you need to use it.

I sometimes press the ‘STOP/CLEAR’ button.

^ I do this if I somehow messed up ‘START’ by mistakenly hitting one of the superfluous/cryptic buttons.

As above. A knob with press to start and turn to set time is almost enough. However when buying stuff we are sensitive to the number of features even if we only use one 🙁

See also dishwashers

Press, 30 seconds Launch! Repeat +30,+30,+30,+30,+30 = perfect baked beans!

However, that single Launch! button now needs a fair bit of persuasion to work. So I thought I’d be clever and go through the rigamarole of dial in power setting, dial in time, then Launch!

Turns out that button is also the ‘OK’ for everything you dial in 🙁 So on the hunt for a comically big red button to replace busted one 🙂

We’ve got one with a power dial and a time dial that’s it

Because you were gullible and fell for the marketing guff and spent more money than you needed on a load of features / functionality that you don’t use!

Like my idiot proof microwave; 1 dial for power, 1 dial for time and a big push button to open the door.

Very silly idea.

Got one for my 83 year old, rather doddery mum yesterday. I was trying to steer her to the ones with 2 knobs – one for power, one for time.

She was having none of it so got one with lots of buttons and left the following instructions:

Press “Stop/Cancel”
Press “MicroPower”
Press “1 min” 3 times for 3 minutes
Press “Start”

I also sent myself and by brother a photo of the keys for when we inevitably have to talk her through it on the phone.

I did a very nice roast chicken in my microwave the other day. So i needed a few more buttons!

Ours packed in last week and we use it loads for sterilising baby bottles etc.

We settled on a delohngi one with only 6 buttons on the front as it was big enough and a good price.
As predicted I just use the +30s button x4 and it starts

Just wondering if anyone uses any of the various programmes or settings

Some of them resemble the space shuttle cockpit

Same as washing machines – you only ever do one thing.

There are defrost and some other settings on ours but they’re behind the door. I use them very rarely.

Ours packed in years ago we used it loads for heating up the precooked meals we made for the kids when they were babies and toddlers. We never replaced it and we’ve never missed it, pretty pointless things once you stop and think.

I’ve seen some with a rotary switch for power and a rotary controller for a digital timer. Tons of buttons make no sense but mechanical timers are hopeless at doing sub 1 minute timings. I use the microwave for all manner of things – if you think they’re pointless you’re either a lot more organised and/or patient than me or not taking full advantage of what they can do.

Ours packed in years ago we used it loads for heating up the precooked meals we made for the kids when they were babies and toddlers. We never replaced it and we’ve never missed it, pretty pointless things once you stop and think.

All I can say is sponge pudding.

Is rank in a microwave.

Certainly not pointless here.

This week I’ve:

Heated baked beans

Steamed greens

Kick-started jacket potatoes until soft before finishing in the Proper Oven

Reheated a fair few cups of tea and coffee while working in the cold

Reheated yesterdays leftover chips for a top-notch chip-butty

Defrosted stuff

Reheated leftovers

It’s super-efficient (saves time, water, energy, washing-up, leftover food) Also cooks perfect veg in a plastic tub with just a tblsp water.

Also makes you feel like The Jetsons. Or a grumpy character from The Good Life. I straddle these elements.

Three buttons on ours, including the door opener. Nice and simple! 🙂

Like my idiot proof microwave; 1 dial for power, 1 dial for time and a big push button to open the door.

I also have one of these, unfortunately this one isn’t idiot proof 🙁

One of these days I’ll get around to cleaning the exploded sweet potato off the inside of the door

mechanical timers are hopeless at doing sub 1 minute timings

Nah, it’s easy. Crank up timer, look at watch. Come back 20 seconds later and turn the dial off.

(Alternatively: Crank up timer, look at watch. Come back when it dings, sigh, clean microwave.)

Yup starting a jacket spud they are handy for the rest though. Reheated tea? Thermal mug or just make a fresh one.

Yes to thermal mug, now where did it go…

One button that Microwaves don’t require is ‘Soulless cook’ because it’s a default feature on every unit

Drac – Moderator
Ours packed in years ago we used it loads for heating up the precooked meals we made for the kids when they were babies and toddlers. We never replaced it and we’ve never missed it, pretty pointless things once you stop and think.

Some stuff nowadays seems to have been made around microwave heating (sponge puddings for example)…

Much easier to heat pasta sauce in a microwave than tipping into a pan and heating…
Steaming veg works well in the microwave and you use less water and there’s a lot less condensation in the kitchen…

But Yeah, you can certainly live without one.
My parents have never had one…

Regarding the buttons thing, our last microwave was an awful Toshiba thing that had tons of buttons with hieroglyphics on.
We replaced it not that long ago with a Russell Hobbs one that is very simple to use and has proper words on it like ‘power’, ‘defrost’ etc….

Mine store bread, like a bread bin y’no.

I’ve got a Whirlpool Max. Simple design. Buttons – Start, Stop, Power, Steam, Defrost and Memo. Minor buttons to add time/weight or set clock. The Memo is the one that I don’t use, but apparently you can make it remember your favourite setting. But there are no settings really to remember.

Something on full for a few minutes, just press start a few times to get to the time you want. That’s it. Used plenty of microwaves where there are three or four buttons you’ve got to press to set a time, power and then start.

Defrost – forget dozens of settings for different types of food. Just hit defrost button, set weight, press start. Doesn’t matter what the food is. Same goes for steam (steamable foods obviously).

Sadly the Max seems to be discontinued on their web site.