Nobody *needs* a microwave, but I find there are some dishes (aside from leftovers) for which it is decidedly helpful, mainly in lessening the number of dishes to be washed:

1. When you microwave a potato, it is not a boiled potato, still less a baked potato, but it is still a potato in a useful state for, say, mixing into the goop left in a frying pan.

2. Hot buttered rum & hot chocolate can be made in the vessel from which you are about to drink them.