To have chucked the microwave...

[Overcomplicated]

I never use the microwave. DP and teenage DCs use it regularly.
When cleaning the kitchen I, usually, just wipe around the outside of the microwave as I assumed inside was being cleaned after each use.
Today I opened it. OMFG!! Disgusting doesn't cover it. Turntable, door, roof, all walls were CAKED in food. Not the odd spatter, full on encased. My oven is cleaner and it hasn't been cleaned for 3 months.
I fully lost it and threw it out in the garden for the scrapman.
DP says I'm being ridiculous. I think, if they can't wipe over the thing after use, they don't deserve to have it.

Your DH is a CF for shouting at you for not cleaning a chopping board quickly enough but then leaving the microwave to rot. If I were you he and the kids would permanently be doing their own shopping / cleaning / cooking.

I'm with you OP... you're not over reacting either... 🌺

I've not had a microwave for nearly 10 years. Got rid of it as we never used it. Haven't really missed it. Yes you need to think ahead if you need to defrost something but other than that I enjoy the clear space on my work surface

Why would you care whether the inside of an appliance that you never use and don't need to look inside is clean or not?

Utterly bizarre behviour to throw it out like that.

I'd have said it's a bit OTT but after the chopping board incident I'd probably have done the same.

You are not at all unreasonable.

I seriously cannot believe all the criticism for OP on here.
She has every right to do as she wishes with her microwave if the family can't show a bit more respect for he in her house. My mother would have flipped her lid if I'd done that.
I can only assume you are all filthy slatterns and/or doormats who clean up after everyone or are just happy to live in filth.

They’re lucky you didn’t throw it at their head 😉

Perfect reaction. If you can’t look after something you don’t deserve to have it.

OP I’m wondering where you live that the scrap man exists and will take it! Round here it would be a nightmare to get rid of.

YABU and v wasteful imo. It just needed a good clean - you should have just asked your kids to do it. Your DP will just end up buying another one surely, since it was well-used.

I took a spare microwave into our office kitchen many years ago. My husband and I ran a business with another couple. It was only the husband of the other couple who used it - to heat up instant porridge for his breakfast. When I opened it one day, I found that it was FILTHY inside! His porridge had regularly splattered everywhere and he hadn't ever bothered to cover it or to clean the microwave from his mess.
I think he thought he was above such menial tasks... Wanker.

Chucked mine out years ago.
Don’t trust what they do to food after seeing kirlian photography of a microwaved Apple

Well I would like to get rid of the shower that I never use because none of the other adults in this house seem capable of cleaning the enclosure the shower tray and the tiles.
However if I got rid the lazy fs would use mine!

@AutumnRose1 I live in the North East. Scrapman are very common and always around the streets

I can’t believe what I’m reading.

It is completely unhinged to not even bring it to the others’ attention and tell them to clean it. As PP have said, what if your DH decided suddenly he didn’t like where you left something you use, and unilaterally threw it out without warning?

As PP have said, it’s easy to clean. How fucking wasteful.

You're wasteful and dramatic.

They clearly aren't fussed about keeping it clean so insisting they clean would have just resulted in a filthy machine again in a few weeks.

But ditching something just because it's dirty is wasteful. I would have asked that it be cleaned, then given it away to someone who would carry on using it.

No waste, no microwave for your ungrateful, grubby family. Win win.

Scrapman are very common and always around the streets

South-East here. Rag-and-bone man comes most weeks.

Perhaps an advanced warning of your intentions could have gotten them to clean it. In general, however, they are better off without it :)

@Dyrne Why is it the OP's job to 'bring it to their attention?' They knew full well that it was fucking minging. Tough love, and they will hopefully now understand that if you treat property that isn't yours with disrespect it will be revoked without warning.

Quite right. Although, I would have wiped it with an antibacterial wipe and shredded it and put it in their next meal, making sure there was none in yours, of course! Only joking not!

Agree with Dyrne and other pps saying wasteful and over dramatic.

Perhaps money's not too much of an issue, but it's far more economical to heat small meals or snacks in a microwave then putting on the oven each time. Particularly if the teens are making their own food at random times.

Perhaps you can retrieve it from the garden now you've calmed down? Or did you smash it to the ground in a hulk like rage?

YANBU. I have one but I only ever use it to melt chocolate or heat up tinned soup, and that's only when I'm too lazy to use the hob. I could easily live without it.

I think this is probably why "Angry Mama" microwave cleaners are aptly named...

Like someone else pointed out, it's easy to clean caked on food off a microwave. Heat a bowl of water in microwave to loosen then scrub with soapy water.

I have teens and sometimes they have to be taught these lifeskills. It's likely they haven't actually bent down and looked inside the bloody thing. By all means threaten to get rid of the microwave if they don't comply but have a conversation about it first?