#5: DH Microwave

The DH microwave is so simple. It is either old or cheap. Either way, I am surprised the DH has not purchased a different one. One of the odd characteristics of this microwave is that there is no turning plate inside it. Most microwaves nowadays have a plate that turns in order to evenly heat the food. This lack of a turning plate can cause specific parts of a food item to warm while others remain cooler. I will admit that the lack of a turning makes the cleaning of the inside of a microwave easier though. This picture shows that there is some food residue on the inside of the microwave, and I wonder if the lack of a turning plate makes food more likely to splatter.

Another bad design aspect of this microwave is how the user sets the microwave's behavior. Most microwaves have a keypad of some sort. This pad will have the ability to choose various presets. I usually use the keypad to enter a time and a power level. There are usually buttons with the ten digits on them so I can input a specific time or power level. This microwave's input mechanism is very simple. It is one dial with tick marks of seconds you can set it to. Setting the time is intuitive with this dial because a dial affords turning and the numbers on the dial are clear. This microwave lacks a power level setting which is important if a user wants to cook food at a certain power level so they do not burn it, etc.

The main issue I have with the dial is that it does not work until I turn it past the first tick mark which is 15 seconds. I have only used this microwave for heating small pastries like muffins and donuts, and the first time I tried to do this I became very confused. The microwave recommends heating these items for 7-12 seconds, so I tried turning the dial to just before the 15 second mark. For some reason the microwave did not turn on to heat my pastry. I tried setting the dial to 10 seconds a few more times but it kept not working. I finally figured out that I had to turn it past the 15 second mark and then count 10 seconds in my head until I needed to remove my pastry. This is not intuitive for low time settings, and the microwave's recommendation of 7-12 seconds is misleading. Below you can see the dial. On a positive note, notice how the handle clearly affords pulling open the microwave door.