A lot of the times I find that the stuff that you buy is difficult to clean. It looks good, it does what it’s supposed to do, but when you have to clean it, there’s something that doesn’t work. Either it’s the computer monitor that’s got fins, or it’s glasses which are shaped so you can’t reach the bottom.
The last week I cleaned my toaster. And it’s toast as we speak for the moment. Short circuit or something. I had to use a hot, wet cloth to clean the toaster because of oily build-up. Apparently, the water went in–my mistake. But, there was no other way to clean the top part of the toaster without depositing some water droplets in there. Next time, I’ll be keeping my toaster dirty.
I’ve also noticed this with spoons and forks–some have ridges on the back that are useful for collecting dirt, and are difficult to clean. If you look around at the products in your home, you’ll see what I’m talking about. There are products that are easy to clean but mostly they’re the exception.
Obviously, everything can’t be made easy to use AND clean, but some can. Not all of us live in air-conditioned environments.
Amorphous 
On a related topic, I feel very bad about getting rid of plastic bowls and bottles, even when they are going to be recycled. What really bothers me is when I am in a place (or country!) where recycling is not available, where I have no choice but to throw away plastic items.
Yeah, if you take a look at the amount of plastic we use, it’s staggering. I was walking down a road here, where a trench was being dug up and both sides of the trench walls, there were pieces of plastic sticking out in the mud. Like you said, recycling plastic is a whole other topic though :-).
I guess things can get better if people use less packaging and buy only what they need.
But yeah. I spend more time cleaning dirt from the impressed letters on the bottom of a kettle than the kettle itself. It is so weird the manufacturers don’t consider the usability of such often-used things as kitchen utensils.
You can take your toaster apart (unscrew the bolts, unfasten the locks), clean it however you want, dry it, reassemble and use it. Do not attempt this if you are unsure how to put it back again, though.
You can just clean it, dry it (wait a day or two) and turn it on. Water can’t stay inside forever :)
Yeah, the lettering’s another thing that gathers dirt, especially the stuff that’s raised. About the toaster, even after waiting a day, the water caused some problem. I got it repaired though, so it should work fine. Fingers crossed.