The longevity of any given appliance is a factor. But, in one's choice of appliances, longevity is only one (1) factor. If one looks at the life-cycle cost, the factors a
a) Cost to produce, market, transport and sell.
b) Cost of energy used over the life of the appliance (and, technically, the source of that energy).
c) Cost of disposal when 'used up'.
Then, there are wearing parts: hinges & latches, microwave safe internal finishes, bearings and so forth. Investing in repair parts might not give that further ten years.
So, if one assumes that the typical microwave lasts around ten years, and is in actual use for (low end for this purpose) one full hour per week, that comes to 520 hours of operation. A magnetron tube is about 65% efficient these days. Assume all microwaves are a (mere) 700 watts. Assume the US national average cost
pr KWH of $0.1331. The equation looks like this:
((700/0.65) x 520)/1,000)=560. 560 x 0.1331 = 74.536. So, it will use $74.54 in electricity in those 10 years at that rate. A modern inverter stands to use, on average, 50% less energy. So use $37 as the 'advantage' per ten years to the inverter technology.
I dunno... It has been my experience that modern microwaves are largely made of parts made by robots, assembled mostly by robots, tested by robots and (maybe) visually inspected and packed by a exceedingly bored human.
https://www.midea-group.com/About-Us...hen-appliances
http://www.midea-gy.com/files/images/shebei/02.jpg
Chances for human error are minuscule. Finishes are far better. Parts variability is far less. And so on. As cheaply made and looking as these things might feel, with proper care and feeding, there is no reason why that $89 dollar device might not last that 10 years and beyond.
Fully agreed on the landfill - we are privileged that most scrap metal from our township is recycled to Acelor Mittal:
https://usa.arcelormittal.com/our-op...ng/coatesville Which has been in continuous, uninterrupted operation (including wars, depressions, holidays and so forth) since 1810.
It is a process.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA