I've just returned from a very enjoyable trip to Germany to visit the Neff factory near Stuttgart. If I'm honest, I've been on so many factory tours now that you name it - I've seen it being made, but it's always interesting to look around something on that scale.

For a start, it appeals to the schoolboy in me to see robots, lasers and conveyor belts leading into massive machines that go 'clang'. While what's actually going into these machines are oven components, it's never too much of a stretch to imagine it's James Bond on his way to certain doom.

What can I say, I've never grown up.

Neff products are always reliably impressive and the new ranges that I got a lucky sneak preview of don't disappoint (although if I told you any more they'd have to kill me - the official launch is in March). There's still a personal niggle that I have though about multi-function ovens - just how many people actually use or want all those programmes?

Brian May, the big-haired guitarist with Queen, has just completed the astrophysics PHd he began at Imperial College nearly 40 years ago  before he started the band (bear with me, I do have a point at the end of this). His project was entitled "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud". 

He also keeps a blog on his website that talks about music and, frequently, astrophysics and in his most recent entry on the shifting phases of Venus he adds as a postscript at the bottom:

"Well, back to trying to figure out how to work our new oven ...all I wanted was an on/off switch, a temperature control knob, and maybe a timer...but what I see is something I need a degree in Computers to understand ...and it keeps beeping at me. I hate it. I don't have time for this. How did the world get like this? How do people cope? Am I the only one who finds modern stuff impossible?"

Now while he's not literally dealing with rockets, his area of expertise is certainly in the same ball park as rocket science and even he finds the controls on a modern multi function oven confusing. Surely, if a man can explain the Shifting Phases of Venus (which, incidentally, sounds like it should be the title of an early Queen song) then surely he should be able to operate an oven?

Don't get me wrong, the advancements in cooking technology have been huge in recent years and Neff demonstrated some real innovations to me this week - but isn't there a real tangible market for top-end appliances that appeal to the 'all I want is an on/off switch' brigade? Brian May is a rock star, but he's still pretty typical of many people in their 60s, they're affluent, are prepared to pay for quality, want good design - but equally want something they can just plug in and use.

It's a comment about mobile phones you often hear from people who fall into the this age group: "I just want to make phone calls and send the odd text, I don't need all this other stuff".

If that age group currently have all the buying power, isn't it yet another reason to turn away from designing products for the increasingly mythical target audience of affluent young professionals in their lofthouse apartments?

Incidentally, the first person to tell me what kind of oven Brian May has wins a probably disappointing prize.

Andrew@kbbreview.com