alt Hacker News> What's the issue? I've microwaved that long before.
Really? What for? Anyway the vast majority of microwaving is going to be in the 1-5 minute range. By making the dial linear and giving it a huge range up to 30 minutes, you end up making e.g. 30 seconds and 1 minute impossibly close.
The commercial microwave oven someone else linked had a solution - make it logarithmic.
> Seven presses?
Eight actually, but it really is quicker and easier than doing the same with a dial though. I agree it could be optimised though. It shouldn't be necessary to select the power and a 30s button would be good (down to 5 presses).
The vast majority of microwaving is in the 1 to 5 minute range only for those who use a microwave oven only for reheating.
For cooking, times from 10 to 15 minutes are more frequent, though things like potatoes or sweet potatoes need only 7 to 8 minutes. Only a few delicate vegetables or fruits may be cooked in the 1 to 5 minute range, e.g. onion, garlic, leek, parsley and dill, etc. Meat needs to be cooked at low power, which in turn requires long times, typically over 20 minutes. There is also a very small number of vegetables that need cooking times over 15 minutes, e.g. the common beans, for which even times of 30 minutes may be needed.
That said, all the microwave ovens that I have used (in Europe) had rotary knobs with variable resolution, fine for short times and coarse for long times.