A fancy display doesn't make dinner cook better.

I definitely fell for this one when I was shopping for an oven.

The display looked great. Bright, modern, and much more impressive than the basic controls on some of the other models I was considering. I convinced myself that the nicer interface would make the oven feel more advanced.

After living with it, I realized how little the display actually matters to me.

Most of the time, I just want to set the temperature, choose a cooking mode, and get on with preparing dinner. I don't need a huge screen to tell me what I'm already doing.

What I do notice are the small things around it. Whether the controls are easy to read, whether I can operate them without thinking, and whether I can quickly tell what the oven is set to while I'm cooking.

The fancy display isn't useless. It can be convenient, especially if you actually use the extra functions it provides. But I wouldn't pay a significant premium for the screen alone.

If I'm comparing ovens now, I'll take straightforward controls and useful information over something that looks like a tablet built into the appliance.

A great display is nice.

A great oven is better.