Depending on how you feel about IKEA, their TILLREDA model microwave is two dials for time and power, and a button to open the door

I like the concept, but the rotating turntable for the food and plate is silly. I have a Panasonic NE-1022F (sadly, no longer available) and it rotates the antenna under the floor of the unit.

That approach enables use of a smaller motor, requires fewer moving parts, and makes the interior very easy to clean.

Commercial microwaves often don't have turntables. What they have - based on observation of a single one I took apart once - is a "scatter wheel" in the roof of the chamber, that spins just by air movement from the cooling fan, and reflects the microwave energy this way and that.

But that produces a stationary pattern (averaged over a rotation). Depending on where your food item is, some spot in it may never actually get high power energy if the overall scatter pattern is weak there. Actually rotating the food through a stationary pattern is likely to provide better coverage.

This is not proved. It is possible to set up an experiment to prove it. But it's reconciled me to the idea of the turntable. Also, consumer microwave turntables have, in my experience, been reliable.

Interesting, I've never seen a microwave oven without a rotating turntable.

They're common in catering, for easy cleaning, but require more sophisticated design of the waveguides.

I think Panasonic still make some. The term they use if you're web searching is "flatbed".

My parents have an ancient one, which they inherieted from a relative decades ago...

It has a button to cycle through the power levels (the typical couple seconds on, couple seconds off duty cycle power levels), and four buttons to set the time: one under each digit (adds one to the digit and overflows to zero), the start button, something for temperature cooking if you have the probe (they don't). Actual buttons, because touch buttons hadn't been invented yet. A total of 8 buttons, plus the door open.

Anyway, no turntable there.

Same here, but unlike my rotating one, that one had classic coldspots and hotspots microwaves sometimes had.

But I sure loved the fine grained time and power control. Figure out the setting put once and then it is unattended perfection every time.

Yeah, my parents have an upside down ceramic pie dish permanently in the microwave which raises the food to be heated up into what seems to be a more favorable area for heating. Before we got that in there, you'd have to do a lot of short bursts and mix / rotate, which is tedious especially when there was about two seconds of off time when starting...

Before they were integrated into the microwave, you could buy third-party turntables.

They were like a child's toy; you would spin it a dozen times counterclockwise, and then it would slowly rotate clockwise for the next several minutes. Obviously, it couldn't be battery-powered.

Thinking about it now, it must have had some kind of plastic spring mechanism. Wish I had busted it open and looked.

they still make them, although this one seems to be out of stock on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Microwave-Micro-Go-Round-...

I think that’s how most “commercial” microwaves work; the food stays put and the element moves. It’s much easier to clean and it (usually) heats the food more evenly.

There are a few now, though they're still a minority, we have a Sharp SM327FHS which has the same arrangement - flat bed with a hidden rotating emitter.

Seems good so far.

(It does not have the physical dial though, it has buttons like most other microwaves)

A turntable also inhibits superheating of water. A superheated cup of water will expand to steam immediately if disturbed before it cools:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/boil-on-troubled-waters/

The turntable's motion ensures the water is somewhat "disturbed" and minimizes superheating.

I wish I knew this existed when I was in the market for a new microwave oven. It's perfect!

Decades ago, my college microwave was an ~800 watt unit that had a large, analog dial, and an actual bell that dinged once (and only once) when it was done. That's it, no other settings. Zero displays, other than the pointer on the dial as it clicked down.

I still miss it.

I bought one like this on Amazon. Dial for power, dial for time, one ding. I forget how many watts, I think 800 or 1k.

The dials feel cheap, but it's fine.

I was tired of pushing buttons and setting clocks. I don't want everything to be a gizmo.

Those are just the bargain-basement ones. You can still get them if you’re so inclined.

I have one just like it, and the best part is that I just leave the timer wheel set to max, and turn the microwave off by opening doors. I keep the doors just barely open all the time, woth benefit of it starting the moment I close the doors after putting a plate in.

The only button I ever pressed on it is to open doors (mechanical), and once in a while I turn the timer to max (when I notice).

That describes the first one my parents got in the early 80s - except I seem to remember a power slider as well. Best microwave UI ever.

Honestly. That's pretty close to the perfect UI for a microwave.

I know what you mean. Sadly, looks like our Panasonic (NN-CF778SBPQ) may be on the way out after a decade of daily service, and I've been trying to find an equivalent with the two knobs. You can adjust power and time while it's still cooking. If something needs more time, a quick twist of one adds more seconds. If something is about to overheat and you want to buy a bit more time while you prep something else, you can twist the other and back off the power from high to warm/simmer/low. Plus it's a combi, so could initially microwave to defrost, then convection cook whilst also gently grilling to toast the top of the foodstuff.

I was looking for a microwave with two knobs a few years ago and finally found one.

Unfortunately it was one of the most expensive ones in the stores: https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/microwaves/bmo850.ht...

Biggest annoyance is that it's 1500W so any time I'm microwaving packaged food I have to scale down power to 70-80% to match the wattage on the package.

I bought this one for the same reason , two simple knobs , no BS keypads and presets. It was expensive but I love it, more than I expected.

Breville. They're OK. Which is praise when the competition sucks. I've got their slow + pressure cooker and a coffee machine. Both more expensive and better than the alternatives in their price range, but still with plenty of problems. It's like they give half a shit when manufacturers like De'Longhi give none.

Dare I ask why? Analog dials for time are imprecise, frustrating, and I've seen far more of them break than any electronic component in home appliances.

Very quick and easy to turn it to where I want and precise time isn't very important on a microwave. Idealy the scale wouldn't be linear so that you have more accuracy under 1min and more range available.

Disagree. The perfect amount of time to cook my favorite brand of Hot Dog in the Microwave is exactly 12 seconds. Shorter and it's too cold, longer and it starts to split.

For such a short amount of time, you could count the seconds - or note how far the turntable rotates in that time. Even with a digital dial, I doubt I would take the time to input 12 seconds - I'd just whack the +30 second start and stare at it for 12 seconds.

>Even with a digital dial, I doubt I would take the time to input 12 seconds - I'd just whack the +30 second start and stare at it for 12 seconds.

...which is far easier and more consistent than trying to counting seconds in my head.

It's also more repeatable and transferrable when someone else is cooking the same thing and asks me how long I heated it for.

It really doesn't matter whether you heat your food for 28 or 32 seconds.

No, but 10-15 seconds vs 30 seconds is a huge difference in some cases. 15 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to room temp. 30 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to melted.

While I know this is a bit crass to say, there was a time where people just knew how long things took, via internal clocks.

It's a skill like any other, which of course has vanished, much like reading maps and math in head.

Much of the progress of civilization has involved tools that turn things from skills which require focus into things that are automated. It frees the mind to focus on other, more important things.

I could also just have an "on" button I have to hold, count seconds in my head, and stop when I think it's done, but thankfully no one is advocating for regressing UI quite that much....yet.

And 33 seconds is boiling molten lava.

I love how microwaves work, there’s a real art to it. 25 seconds , everything is cold but 40 seconds is boiling.

25x2 seconds , with a very short break in between the two, is not equal to 50 seconds.

Making these numbers “up” but anyone who has used a microwave with skill and attention will understand me.

Also, free tips: 1- put a moist paper towel over pizza and bread to keep it from hardening like a rock later on. 2 - microwave stale bread for a second life.

This is especially true when heating soups or similar things.

1x120 seconds means it's completely cold in the middle, but molten lava at the sides and even the dish is too hot to touch.

1x30-45 seconds, mix with spoon, 1x30-45 seconds and it's just right.

there are things that I heat for 11 seconds. If it is in there for more than 12 seconds, it starts to overcook. An analog dial is a poor choice in this case.

Humans aren’t digital, dials have a feel that you get used to.

My toaster oven has a dial, I have no idea of the values, just how far I turn from muscle memory. I love it

I have one of these. It's fine but I prefer being able to set exact times for certain things. The perfect middle ground for me is a +30s button that also immediately starts it

Best of both worlds is a digital dial with ~log scale. My Bosch microwave has that, though apparently newer models don’t.

The break room at my last job had a microwave like that: the interface consisted of one big knob, which worked like a wind-up timer. It was the best microwave I've ever used.

I bought onw just like that (Amica) and I'm very happy with it.

Would purchase.