If your food ends up with freezing cold and boiling hot spots after microwaving, it’s probably because of how you’re using the microwave. Don’t use the high setting on completely frozen foods. Set it to medium instead. This gives the food time to heat up evenly. Microwaves mostly heat the surface, so a medium setting works better for even cooking.

Great explanation by America's Test Kitchen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJrdXRZ3PUE

Yeah but at that point I’d probably do it on the stovetop rather than futz around with microwave cycles and stirring.

It's not exactly a major inconvenience to just set the power level lower.

Depends on the microwave actually. I used to have a microwave with two knobs: power and time, so setting the first was as trivial as setting the latter. Now I have one with a dozen capacitive buttons and changing power settings requires a sequence of presses akin to some Street Fighter combos.

You still need to take out of the microwave and stir a few times and do it once or twice more until it’s evenly hot. To each their own but I maybe use my microwave once a week.

The entire point of running it on lower power is to avoid any uneven heating and manual intervention. Some really delicate foods I've put on low with plenty of success

This seems like a skill issue.

Joking aside, you should learn what the tool you are using does instead of saying that's its bad because it does not do what you think it should do

I understand not to expect a high IQ from users on this site when it comes to topics outside their areas of expertise, but your comment wins the cake. The truth is that a microwave is the safest form of cooking or heating, especially in the presence of water. In contrast, air fryers and toasters achieve a much higher temperature, which makes food harmful to eat due to the creation of toxins such as AGEs and PAHs, etc.

This would be a good comment without the first sentence, which ruins it.

They’re still good for heating up some liquid quickly or maybe some leftovers. But I mostly use stovetop or oven unless I’m really in a rush for most things.

I suspect that this is something that there’s a lot of variance between people/households. But certainly microwaves aren’t the essential appliance for a lot of people that they seemed to be in their heyday.

I have an oven though. I wouldn’t get a toaster oven/airfryer.

It's funny how I'm close to the opposite. I use the microwave and air fryer extensively because they are very convenient for cooking and reheating unattended with minimal oil and cleanup.

I’ve read reviews saying pricier microwaves with inverter technology are less likely to have hot and cold spots, and more likely to cook evenly.

Infrared temp sensor is useful but it's not so common. My JDM Panasonic microwave have it.