Oldstuffday! What's your oldest appliance that's still working?

GreyQueen

Have a casi0 time cube, little digital alarm clock. It was bought at the same time as my 18th birthday present and I was 50 last autumn. Still in use.

kidcat

I have my nans hand mixer which was bought in the 60s, my hairdryer used daily by 6 of us has lasted 24 years, and I have a lamp that was my great grand mothers - no idea of age but definitely pre 60s.

I also have most of my grandparents pots and pans, dishes etc, all have survived a large household much more robustly than any of the stuff I buy

loudmouth

I have a very heavy pan I use most days.My Mum bought it from an auction room when she first married in 1940, I don't know excatly how old it is but it is still going strong and does not look its age unlike myself!

Skint_yet_Again

I inherited a kenwood chef from my late MIL but that blew up last year. But I still have all the attachements - haven't a clue what to do with them ! Seems a shame to throw them out.

I have inherited pyrex, Tupperware and cake tins/enamel baking tins from my granny, not sure how old they are.

My oldest appliance which we bought rather than inherited is my TV & DVD player bought when MIL passed away in 96 - no flat screen TV here :cool: Its a huge beast on a stand and came with VHS & DVD player - at the time it cost a fortune. VHS player has long gone as started chewing up tapes but DVD still going strong

Primrose

I think it's delightful to read of all these inherited appliances and the memories they invoke. In this age of the throw away society it's nice that some things of a previous generation are still valued and retain their linksnwith the past.

thriftwizard

My 1909 Jones treadle sewing machine is still in regular use; can't beat it for unfussy straight-stitch projects.



It'll stitch more or less anything anytime, using the correct needles & thread; it's gone straight through 11 layers of furnishing velvet before now without skipping a stitch. Here's a scrap quilt which was made entirely by treadle - pieced on this machine, and quilted on a Singer 201K because I needed reverse to finish it in time for a birthday!



PS - it cost me £2.50 on Ebay - had spent most of the last 100 years sewing sacks in a farmer's barn.

TravellingAbuela

I think my oldest electrical item is the travel iron my mum bought in the 60's. I am still using the ironing board we got as a wedding present in 1972 tho' it has had numerous different covers! My most treasured old possessions are my dad's teddy bear (c1912) my great grandma's rolling pin (c 1880) and the glass Christmas tree ornaments which went on our tree when I was a child in the late 1940's. They were bought by my grandma and grandad when they got married in 1918 and still decorate our own tree every Christmas!

Pitlanepiglet

I bought my Zanussi dishwasher in 1993 so it's 22 years old this year and still going strong. It's not the prettiest appliance around these days and not all of the programmes work but it still does the job!

I've just passed my Tefal saucepans onto someone starting out, I bought them with my first ever bonus in 1989/90 I can still remember going to Debenhams to buy them, they were over £100 - an enormous amount of money for me at the time. Quality products last

thorsoak

I had to think about this - and reading the posts made me realise that I do have quite a few "old things" ....but because I bought them new, before I got married, I don't think of them as "old" - if you see what I mean - but as an example, between 1962 and 1963 I saved up and bought a set of Polaris stainless steel copper-bottomed saucepans and frying pan ....and I'm still using them now! OK - I don't polish the copper bottoms now, as I used to when they were new - but have been used more or less daily ever since June 1963 - the heat resistant handles have more or less disappeared, just leaving the stainless steel shanks, they have suffered a few disasters - burned potatoes, frying pan almost on fire - but otherwise they clean up beautifully, food doesn't stick (unless I've burned something and then a soak for a few hours and then - beautiful again, ready for the next meal! My sewing machine (a Brother) also goes back to 1963, although not used as much now as it used to be - oh yes, I also have some original Tupperware cereal bowls and storage containers.

Horace

Not an appliance but definitely old - I have a set of 4 bentwood chairs (my mum has the other 4) that were made in the 1900s and came from my grandfather's ice cream parlour. I use them as my spare dining chairs because they really are comfortable.

I know that my mum is still using the roasting tins that she was given when she got married in about 1960. There is a tall cupboard in her garage that used to be in her kitchen that was in the house when she moved in in 1963 and was part of the original fitted kitchen - it stores the brooms now.

I have two old dusters that my grandma made from some old sheets (my grandma has been dead for 22 years) that I use every week and they are far better than those yellow fluffy things.