My newest appliance, a microwave, has a dial to set the time, a row of buttons to select the power level and a door handle. It's the best microwave I've ever owned. It was also the most expensive, but since it is intended for commercial kitchens, I expect it to last at least ten years.
I just bought a microwave. All the reviews I found for the Panasonic model (who apparently make the majority of microwaves) with the dial to set the time had a lot of people saying it failed after a year or two.
I never spent so much time looking for an appliance. I must have spent 6 hours looking at Amazon, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc, websites. There are so many models, sizes and types. The model that died was ~25 years old. It performed well, but the company doesn't make microwaves anymore (Sanyo)... at least I didn't see that brand when searching.
The is the same argument used by people who buy SpeedQueen washer dryers. But the technology in them is woefully old and not to mention very inefficient in its use of electricity and water.
The local mom and pop appliance shop stopped stocking SpeedQueen in the last five years and replaced it with Fisher and Paykel. Their baseline washer and dryer is where it's at. They have the simplicity of SpeedQueen in terms of how cheap/easy they are to repair and replace components, but are super high efficiency.
They use(d to use) more energy and water, but maybe they get the laundry cleaner or get it done faster. A washer repair tech on reddit said that after 2017 SpeedQueen went the same direction as all the others, but if you get an older one it might be a better machine, depending on the model.
What's more inefficient: the extra electricity and water of older machines, or the extra waste, manufacturing, and shipping caused by shorter replacement cycles?
I know many people who have had to replace or service their "high efficiency" machines within 5-10 years, while many old washers seem to last at least 20 years without service. Given the electronics and specialty parts in the new machines, it seems doubtful that you could keep one of them in service for more than 15 years.
