Whoa, that sounds pretty old. I had an early VCR that came with a wired remote that just had one button, PAUSE

We had a Litton microwave growing up that had a rheostat power control and a mechanical timer. There was a little bell that rang when it stopped. My parents got tired of looking at the thing and gave it way, still working, after about 35 years.

They have those in my break room at my job, they're new though.

Those are still around or were at least in the early 2000s afaik.