The old panasonic was great at defrosting food on low wattage settings (non-inverter microwaves don’t use lower wattage they pulse… again, don’t care as long as the results are good). I didn’t even get to that point.

I do happen to prefer the new interface… really, a 30s/start cooking button is all you need for most tasks. It’s an RCA RMW1324

I tried to find a whirlpool microwave when I moved to the US, but those were just as terrible as others. Finally bought the Panasonic with the button, but that one is disappointing too : you cannot increase /decrease the time once it started, nor change the power and the start button does not start/add 30 seconds.

Half-baked design, again.

I originally thought that this was an “engineering overriding design” problem. That engineers were to blame because they’re coming up with features that customers don’t need and cram them in using buttons.

But a conversation with a friend working at BAT convinced me that the issue was more complex than that… He said that when the first microwaves with LCD displays and lots buttons came out, they were more expensive and sophisticated. Having a big, complex microwave oven in your kitchen meant that _you_ were also more ‘sophisticated’. Microwaves with buttons and displays sold better, at bigger margins, than microwaves with knobs.

I thought that marketers were to blame in this case for the terrible UX of microwave ovens, but I’m wondering how much bad design exists from people intentionally purchasing poorly designed products precisely because they’re poorly designed.

If it’s labelled with “inverter melt & soften” – and nobody knows what that means – then the technology is useless *no matter how brilliant it is*.

Good engineering is wasted if the UI is so bad that nobody ever uses it.

The thing is Derek…..I don’t care. And that’s just it. Most people don’t care.

Clearly there’s a market for the old-school, one-knob units, and equally clearly there’s a lot of room for improvement in UI design for models with more features. Keep up the fight! As Alan notes, our smartphones have spoiled us all for other devices.

Then just apply it automatically when defrost is used. What is the point of still having the lesser defrost ?

Look at your TV’s remote control, your car’s in-dash “entertainment system”, or your house’s thermostat (unless you have a Nest). They’re all covered in 4000 buttons, often non-tactile, and arranged in no particular order. Lousy user interfaces are the norm.

We’re spoiled because smartphones generally have pretty good user interfaces, especially considering all the complexity they manage. But of all the electronics in our lives, it’s pretty much just cell phones that made the leap to good user interfaces.

Interestingly, if you want a microwave oven with a good user interface, the cheapest models tend to be the best. I bought a no-name $20 microwave once that has 2 knobs (time, power) and it’s the best I’ve ever used.

Wow, I am not the only man to like the knob! This fact gives me a bit of hope…