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Comment by dduugg | Hacker News Reader

Doesn't it seem like a reasonable answer in this age could be to do away with the time function of a microwave altogether?

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People often complain about designers making changes to websites/software that simplify the ui and display less information for the sake of improving clarity, but I do think that it might be the right answer here.

Do people really want a clock on every kitchen appliance in 2024? I usually will just turn off the clock where possible now and just use my phone for time. Having no clock isn't a problem but having a clock showing the wrong time is a problem.

> Do people really want a clock on every kitchen appliance in 2024?

As someone who doesn't wear a watch and doesn't use my phone while cooking, I find the clocks invaluable. The oven clock usefully shows the time when the microwave clock is counting down.

You can also just get a dedicated clock, and then it will always show the time no matter what your appliances are doing, and you only ever have to do upkeep on the time and maybe-battery of the one time piece.

I do in fact have a dedicated clock in the kitchen. It sings African bird calls on the hour. But it is less visible from the cooking area, hence my reliance on the appliance clocks.

Its fairly common for the microwave clock to be the main clock for kitchen. Especially since the one on the stove tends to _also_ be super complicated to set correctly (ours was in french for 2 months because we clicked the wrong thing), so when the power goes out it just stays wrong thereafter.

Given everyone has a phone in the pocket and a huge chunk more have a watch on their wrist, what need is there for a "main clock" for the kitchen to be something so awful?

Sometimes I just want to check time without having to fish the phone out of my pocket with hands covered in meat juices

Use case: Please cook my food for 12 minutes at 600W to be ready to eat at 12:30.

An alternative could be to let the user do the math, and change it to "Please start cooking in 3h27min for 12min at 600W".

Most microwaveable food can't be safely left at room temperature for hours.

Great market opportunity to make a fridge/microwave combo?

I think hot food vending machines do that already.

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