My Whirlpool cabinet-mounted oven has a touch screen dead center right above the door. Better not open that door for any reason, or steam will condense on it and turn it off / automatically change settings. It technically disables the touchscreen when the door opens (another huge PITA, how many times have I tried to turn it off or do other things with the door open) but that doesn't help when the screen is still steamed up after being closed.
The number of times I've got gone back to check something and it was ruined sitting 200deg lower than it should have been is more than I can count.
Similar for cooktops - I’ve seen IR-reflectance-based touch controls go haywire due to dimmable overhead lights, and heard of frustration with capacitive controls going haywire from liquid splatters.
There are some very real benefits to touch interfaces in cooking (primarily ease of cleaning a solid flat surface, and manufacturers don’t need to worry about moisture ingress), but it’s pretty hard to make one that actually consistently works in a way that won’t accidentally burn your house down when your cat walks across the cooktop in the middle of the night. I’m personally going to stick to knobs and buttons in the meantime.
> it’s pretty hard to make one that actually consistently works in a way that won’t accidentally burn your house down when your cat walks across the cooktop in the middle of the night.
Regardless of how the controls work, you can make a cooktop that, functionally, will not set your cat on fire: use an induction stove. Unless your cat ends up in a pan or your cat is ferromagnetic, the stove won’t heat it :)
The number of times I've got gone back to check something and it was ruined sitting 200deg lower than it should have been is more than I can count.