I would have said the same thing but the enshitification isn't just for the web anymore - I had a 'quality' name brand refrigerator and snapped the drawer down the front because I pulled on it a little too hard. Those things used to be bulletproof but now they're flimsy crap.

I was thinking the same thing? Who are these animals that somehow destroy a metal knob on a commercial-style $8000 Bosch oven that is made of stainless steel?!

People with toddlers often keep the knobs off as a form of baby proofing, when the kiddos are tall enough to reach but not old enough to listen. It's then easy to lose a knob that isn't in the right place.

Enshittification is probably a large part. However, I can see it.

Our's are plastic, 25 years old, and look like crap. Wash them all you want, they just look dirty all the time. I'd replace them except for the absurd cost for a piece of molded ABS.

I take them off to wash them. I can imagine someone having an accident with one, like washing them in dishwasher and having one fall down onto a heating element. Those are big, but our's are small enough to get knocked down onto the garbage disposal - it would't be easy, and would require an unusual sequence is events, but I've fucked up even more unlikely sequences of events in my life.

I really wish I could get decent aluminum replacements for our's; it wouldn't make the range any newer, but it'd make it look nicer than the black plastic shit that it came with.

You can accidentally hit a knob and break it while moving the appliance itself. As for losing them, sometimes you knock one loose and it rolls under the fridge, and it's not worth the effort of moving a large appliance out of its nook just to get the knob back. Shit happens.

Maybe you were just a miracle child who never has accidents. Who knows?

Ours is a cheap model, but the knobs are held on with a plastic housing inside the knob similar to that middle plastic tube that holds keycaps center on keyboards. Im constantly worried its going to break when i take them off to clean.

Kinda depends on your environment, a lot of plastics are susceptible to degrading in certain temperatures, humidity levels, or especially from being left in direct sunlight.