Perhaps because for a lot of stuff that you cook, it's easier to guesstimate the amount of cooktime needed

I don't need to guess, it's printed right on the can!

For a moment, I thought you guys were branching out into new product lines.

The empeg microwave:

Features:
Store hundreds of your favorite foods for quick access at anytime
Don’t limit yourself to standard food combinations: create your own cooking lists to suite your tastes
Upgradeable with off-the-shelf components to increase storage capacity
Visualizations driven by microwave process while you cook your food
Simple, easy-to-use, non-cluttered user interface
Comes with a variety of screen colors to match your kitchen
Remote control so you don’t have to stand next to the unit to cook your food

Runs on an embedded Linux system, allowing for end-user modifications such as:
Programs to list ingredients as the food cooks
Games
Customizable startup animations
Other modifications produced by a dedicated on-line community

I cannot believe you left out the most obvious of features for an empeg microwave: The "soup" button!

The "soup" button!

It hasn't been implemented yet.

I think the joke would have worked on Bitt if you'd said "Toaster Oven" instead of "Aga".

I did a Google search for "toaster oven" (though I guess, unlike Aga, it's exactly what it sounds like) and the first one I found has an LCD readout, memorises 7 brownness settings, costs $125 and generally looks considerably more complicated than my microwave. So whether or not it would've worked on Bitt, it didn't work on me

Peter

Don't forget, the empeg makes a poor soup support.

This is my toaster oven. Much different than the one you linked and it's what most Americans think (IMO) when you say "toaster oven."

http://www.agaweb01.agalinks.com/agal/agaContent?FRAMESET_ID=5988

I want one of these. Anyone know if they sell these in the US?

That link doesn't seem to take me anywhere in particular, but, yeah. Go back to the front page of that site and click on ``Locate an Aga Showroom''. It claims the closest one to NY is in MA, but try Atlantic Co., NJ. It shows one in NJ and one in PA.

Yeah, I deliberately picked a US Aga site, so that it might make more sense to most people here...

If I could take a piece of chicken out of the freezer, put it in the microwave and hit 'defrost' or 'cook' without having to look at the little sticker in the door that tells me which program I need, and without having to enter the weight, then the UI would be much improved.

Sensor cook is what you need. I have a rather old microwave with an earlier version of this, and it works decently. Toss in a few slices of old pizza, hit sensorcook 5, and come back when it says it's done. Ture, you still need to press two buttons, but on newer ones, the food buttons are laveled instead of having a chart with numbers.

I have that feature (called Sensor Reheat) on my microwave. It has a hygrometer and when it senses a good deal of steam, it thinks it's done. It works pretty darn well. It a medium setting so food's not burned on the edges and cold in the middle. That and the 'popcorn' button are my favorites.

-Zeke

Now if only they could make a self-cleaning microwave, that'd be something.