American cheese is not a fancy cheese, yeah. It also isn't great cold.

It is a pretty decent cheese sauce, though. It doesn't taste starchy, with a muted cheese flavor like mornay does. If you put extra sharp cheddar or smoked gouda in homemade mornay or homemade American, the homemade American will be noticeably cheesier. Having made homemade mac and cheese a number of ways, I strongly prefer homemade American to any of the other recipes I know.

I only really eat store-bought American melted, such as on eggs in a breakfast sandwich, on a burger or grilled cheese.

Also, there's plenty of decent American cheeses, like Humboldt fog, Maytag blue, or rogue river blue. American cheese is called that, but it doesn't define American cheese making.