Warning: Spent 2 years using my microwave wrong because I never noticed the 'melt' button was separate from 'low power'

I figured it out when my butter came out hot instead of soft, and my roommate asked why I didn't just use the melt setting that's literally labeled in plain English on the panel - has anyone else missed a basic button for that long?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_brian1mo ago

Stick with the lower power setting for butter honestly, low power is usually 30-50% and melt runs at like 10% which is why your butter exploded. I did the exact same thing for a year with my old microwave, kept wondering why reheated pizza came out rubbery until I noticed the sensor cook button that actually works. Now I just hit melt for anything soft like butter or cream cheese and use low power (like 3-4) for reheating leftovers slowly. Saved so much food once I figured out those buttons actually do different things and aren't just marketing fluff.

the_anthony1mo ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? Like, butter explodes in the microwave, everyone's been there, you just wipe it up and move on with your life. Hardly feels like a life-changing discovery to learn the melt button works different than low power. I get that you saved some pizza and cream cheese but that's like a few bucks worth of food over a whole year. Seems like a lot of mental energy to dedicate to microwave buttons when you could just hit the same power level and check on it every ten seconds like a normal person. Maybe I'm just lazy but I've never had a microwave disaster that made me want to read the manual or anything.

logan6581mo ago

Man seriously? @the_brian is right. You're standing there watching your food for 2 minutes like a weirdo when the microwave can just do it right. I used to nuke pizza on full power and wonder why it tasted like cardboard. Now I hit reheat and it actually comes out edible. That's not "mental energy," that's just not being stubborn about a button you already have.