To start off with, my microwave was already a bit trashed. During the shift to our new house, the liquid crystal in the display panel somehow dispersed and then disappeared. Ever since, I've been inputting the cooking times blind. But hey, I can do that.

Then I dropped the turntable while cleaning it (I knew cleaning the microwave was a mistake) and it smashed on the floor. I didn't think to keep the broken pieces for matching purposes, so for months I brought home replacement turntables from op shops only to find they weren't quite right. Who knew microwave turntables came in such a variety? And when a turntable isn't quite right, it tends to go off-kilter and stop spinning, so you have to keep an eye on whatever it is you're heating. Honestly, how much more white trash could a microwave get?

Finally, two weeks ago, I walked into a Mornington op shop and found the right-sized turntable with the right-shaped hollow in the middle of it for my particular microwave. Yippee!

Of course, I would never have gone out and bought a new microwave (that would have been one more microwave ending up in landfill) but I was sorely tempted to buy a new second-hand microwave if I'd come across one before coming across this turntable. But only if was $5 or less.

Microwave turntable, 50 cents
Three Legged Chair