Some might already be familiar with X user imgrandsure’s post that states that being an adult means spending an unexpected 30 pounds every few days, no matter how you plan, budget or prepare for the future. So it’s always nice to have a few things that are just dependable in your day to day life.
Someone asked people to share the oldest utensil or home appliance they still keep around and use, so netizens listed the various things they still employed at home. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts and examples in the comments section below.
#1
My granddads carving set, must be around 40 + years old??? Only comes out at Christmas time though lol. Also have an electric tin opener that I brought 25 years ago
Image credits: shellyleppard
#2
My hairdryer is a Christmas gift from 1992. Still works fine after 32 years.
Image credits: Pascha
#3
I have a Kenwood mixer bought 36 years ago that I use weekly. Lost some parts but I never used those bits.
I have a kitchen knife that I bought for £1.50 from a market stall 35 years ago. It's still my favourite knife, weight of it, feel of it, despite buying many kitchen knives over the years, expensive ones too. I use it daily and sharpen it maybe once a year.
Image credits: Nummnutzcracker
#4
I have a metal rotary cheese grater that still works perfectly - I've tried to replace it with newer ones, but the flimsy plastic ones just don't cut it. I'm not sure how old it is but it was a gift from my great granny's kitchen and I believe she got it in France in the 40's or 50's. Sturdiest thing in my kitchen.
Image credits: MonsteraMama
#5
I have my MIL's Kenwood Chef. It is too heavy for her to lift and the button to open it requires quite a bit of finger strength. She got it when she married so it's about 55 years old. I could probably mix concrete in it.
#6
Our Kenwood chef is 50 years old. DH has just repaired it! We have some of my Grandma’s ‘best china’ which is older, but it isn’t used very often.
#7
A K-tel brush-o-matic clothes brush from 1974. Still as good as new.
Image credits: OddityOddityOdd
#8
A breville toastie maker and a slow cooker that both belonged to my nan
The slow cooker has an on off switch and that's it!
Image credits: rachf87
#9
Kenwood Chef, wedding present in 1990. Still works. Also have my gran’s bread knife.
Image credits: jesperjames
#10
I have a sugar storage jar, it’s a big jar with a metal screw on lid from DH great Grandmothers house from the 1920’s.
Image credits: ViciousCurrentBun
#11
My mums vegetable peeler - it’s about 50 years old. Never come across a better one.
Image credits: ivanoski-007
#12
We're still using the Viners stainless steel cutlery that we received as a wedding present 46 years ago.
Also still using the Pyrex mixing bowls and earthenware casserole dishes that I bought when we were first married and a couple of tea towels that were wedding presents.
Image credits: ouesbubo
#13
I occasionally use a pair of wine glasses that were part of a set given to my grandparents for their wedding in 1891.
In everyday use is my tea caddy which they bought as a souvenir of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. The exhibition hall became the first Wembley Stadium
Image credits: McDamsel
#14
Grandparents' canteen of cutlery, circa, 1934! Similarly grannie's enamel pie dishes.
Oh and a set of saucepans that were a wedding present in 1991.
#15
I have a bread knife I bought second hand in my student days which must be thirty years old. My toaster is about 20 years old.
Image credits: candlewhickgreen
#16
Tumble dryer. We got it in 1995 . Still working and we use it regularly. I think it cost about £90 .
Image credits: Justinschmustin
#17
A measuring spoon from the 40s or 50s.
Image credits: HTRK74JR
#18
I have a hand held mixer which I think may have been a wedding present to my parents almost 50 years ago.
Image credits: chicha3maddy
#19
When my Nana died, she didn’t leave much. She was very minimalist in life. I inherited her dessert dishes, they were bought circa 1930 and they are used at least weekly, with fond memories of Nana and her stewed apple and custard.
#20
Our house still has the original 1962 hot water cylinder. I have a 35yo plastic comb. I had to throw out a 29yo clock-radio last year.
Image credits: bakerco
#21
30yo food processor is, I think, older than undated washing machine for grandparents, but that is certainly over 25 years.
Image credits: theillustratedlife
#22
I have an earthenware jar where I keep my kitchen utensils which belonged to my great grandmother who died in 1960 (but it’s probably much older).
As an electrical item, my toaster was bought in 1984 and has seen virtually daily service since then.
Image credits: Ejdubs
#23
I have enamel dishes from my granny, at least 60 years old!
Image credits: IronPuzzleheaded611
#24
I have a couple of saucepans that were my nans and they’re about sixty years old now, I think they’re stainless steel or aluminium and still going strong
Image credits: cantonbecker
#25
Probably a spoon that my mother bought early in her married days, so sometime in the 1950s. I use it solely for serving my cat her Osmolax (liquid laxative) these days - she likes the stuff enough to drink it straight from the spoon.
The other thing would be a fork from the same cutlery set, the rest of which had disappeared before I was born. I don't use it for food, though (my cutlery and cutlery are the new sets Mum bought in the 1970s) but as a back scratcher. The tines are just blunt enough for it to be perfect.
#26
Some Bisto gravy tins probably from the 1960s that belonged to my grandma.
I keep my flour in them
#27
Clock radio. I've had it for 35 years
#28
Our carving knife and fork was a wedding present, so 47 years old. I remember being very excited at getting a rather strange looking, expensive new vacuum cleaner, from a new company known for making wheelbarrows, called Dyson. Tge original DC1 cist a small fortune, but it is still going strong. It is relegated to the garage and DH uses it for cleaning the inside of the car, but it has better suction than the new rechargeable one I use. Just checked, they were launched in 1993 so that would make it 30 years old ish.
#29
Braun hand blender which is older than me. It was a gift at my parents wedding...they divorced 35 years ago
#30
I've got my parent's tumble dryer they purchased about 35 years ago.
Dries a load in about 40 minutes, so when I hear of new ones taking hours and hours I just stick with this one.
#31
A ceramic condiment set that was my mum's. Dad brought it for her from somewhere on his travels (merchant navy) in the 50s. It's a bright yellow base with a palm tree rising from the middle & the salt, pepper shakers & mustard pot are shaped & painted like coconuts. It's so happy looking - reminds me of my mum, holidays & summer. I really should put it in a cabinet & just display it but I love using it. I've got her mint sauce jug too, it's mint green, ceramic & has textured mint leaves all over it with a matching saucer & tiny spoon. I think that was my granny's & likely been consistently used for approx 100 years now. Granny spent her youth 'in service' & had a few cast offs from 'the big house', this is one of them. Whenever she used to get the items out to show me, there'd always be a story. My favourite used to be about how long her hair was, but the gardener kept saying to her 'have it bobbed or shingled Annie', so she got a shingle for her first ever haircut.
#32
Probably not the oldest, but I'm very fond of the small kitchen knife I have that I bought in a pound shop as a set of 10 about 35 years ago.
It had a sticker on it that said "similar to as seen on TV" and my boyfriend at the time correctly guessed that I only really bought them because the sticker made me laugh. ?
But, 35 years later, one of my 10p knives has survived multiple moves, and is genuinely my favourite kitchen knife as it's just the right size for my hand.
#33
The oldest appliance we use is our oven that was installed when we bought the house 24 years ago. The oldest utensil would be my grandmothers rolling pin which is older than I; so more than 57 years.
#34
I have a set of three Pyrex mixing bowls that my Gran bought in the early 70s. She gave them to me when I moved into a student house in 1985.
Still as good as new and in regular use.
#35
My bread knife which was second hand when I got it in 1987 and some plates which my grandparents used, they had them in the 50s.
I have lots of old things!
#36
I have china, cutlery, furniture, tablecloths etc. which have been handed down through the generations so I don't count those.
I also have a mechanical hand mixer/whisk thingy, one of those with two whisk bits and a handle you turn to make the whisk bits turn, similar to the picture, which is probably around 60-70 years old. We use it for Angel Delight mainly. It works and it's less hassle than getting the electric mixer out for such a small job.
#37
My Granny’s teak bread board. She was born in 19th century but I’m not sure how old it is.
#38
DM has Aga branded saucepan that belonged to her grandmother. DM is nearly 82!! Those pans must be well over 100.
#39
My grandmothers singer sewing machine. It’s from 1923 and great condition. She was teenage seamstress in 1920s London house of Elliott style. I have fairly basic level of skill so don’t need anything more fancy.
#40
I’ve got that whisk! Also my Mum’s kitchen scales which were a wedding present in 1958. Christmas decorations that my great great Grandmother brought over from Germany in the late 1800s. Also some of her glasses that come out at Christmas (Champagne “bowls”).
#41
I have a tiny plastic travel washing line that I got from an outdoor shop for a couple of pounds in the early 90s.
It has travelled the globe with me and I have taken it on every holiday since, it's been great for hand washing a few items and hanging them to dry at a campsite, hotel balcony, hotel bathroom etc over the decades.
Now we hang it between the 2 pop top handles of our micro caravan to hang our shower towels.
I've never been able to find anything quite like this one and had looked as I wanted another.
#42
A sainsburys basics knife I bought in 1997 when I moved in with my then boyfriend. The tip has come off and the plastic handle has partially melted but its a very reliable knife.
The true oldest item is a teaspoon in my desk drawer at work which is from a set we had growing up in the 70s. I also have xmas tree decs from this time as well but they were only given to me very recently.
#43
I have a wooden rolling pin that Dad made for my Mum just before they got married in 1969. She passed it on to me because she inherited my GMs glass one that had been my GGM’s. It’s fab, it is hollow with a little bung in the end so you can fill it with ice to roll pastry. It must be 100+ years old. We keep our rolling pins a long time in our family!
#44
My granny's best china dinner service - she was married in 1932 and received it for a wedding present - also my great granny's china vegetable and soup tureens - which she received as a wedding present she was married in 1914- we use them to serve Christmas dinner
#45
I inherited a lot of kitchen stuff from my grandma including a moulinex stick blender from the late 80s. That's my oldest electrical.
I also have her old milk pan which I've kept as it's good and solid with an edge for pouring, and a little saucepan also with an edge for pouring which is the perfect size for heating portions of soup. I would guess 50s or earlier for the milk pan and 60s or 70s for the little sauce pan. I also inherited all of her lidded pyrex dishes and a big knock off le creuset casserole which is lovely and light- and is on permanent loan to my mum as it's kinder than her real le creuset on arthritic wrists.
#46
My mum has a very old Foley cabbage chopper which works brilliantly and I would love one. It used to belong to my nanna who died in the late 90's.
I was devastated when my nanna's casserole dish cracked. It was the perfect size.
I regularly use my mum's old crock pot and an old griddle (way before George Foreman came into being).
#47
My biggest pot is a huge mustard yellow Club Aluminum dutch oven. It was my great-grandmother's and I think she bought it at a cookware party in the early 1950s. It's been through multiple family members, moved continents about 8 times and will outlast us all.
#48
I've got a tablespoon that belonged to my Mum, bought in the early 50s. My sister has it's matching pair and we both use them pretty much daily.
I have a beautiful art deco tea service that my MIL gave me - it was her parents' and must be over 100 years old now. I only get it out on very special occasions though so it probably doesn't count as "regular" but I do use it.
#49
I still use my grandma's sugar shaker which was a wedding present in 1908, and a cake stand from about the same time. I've got a lot of things thst my parents had when they married just after the war, including a collection of crystal, their canteen of cutlery, sow silver cocktail glasses, and a couple of clocks. I still use my electric frying pan that we were given as a wedding present in 1980, and I've got the dinner service my mother in law bought for us then. I've also recently found the recipe scrap book that I started in 1976 which is full of things thst I thought were really exotic at the time, but included the recipe for goulash that I still use regularly.
#50
I have the vegetable knife we bought on our honeymoon - 27 years ago. Sadly the knife outlived my DH.
#51
Braun Professional blender/chopper and soup wand (2004). I bought new blender jugs when the first ones cracked but am still using the same device, wand and blades. And I use it several times a week, it's not stuck away in a cupboard.
I also have a rotary whisk which is 60+ years old.
#52
Tin opener. I have yet to find one made in the last 20 years that I can actually get to open a tin. I'm currently using my late grandmother's, circa 1970 or earlier, and it works a treat.
#53
My husband's parents have a large, heavy solid silver spoon that they use for feeding their dog. They use it to scoop out the food from the tin.?
It dates back to the late 1800's and is scratched and bent beyond redemption, but has provided excellent service for at least the last 50 years - they have had several dogs over this period and it has been used when feeding every single one of them, on a daily basis.
#54
I have some Mason Cash mixing bowls that belonged to my late husband's mother. And she died in 1970.
#55
Do sets of silver and china count? Mine are 80+. I think china, glassware, cooking utensils etc are disqualified by the stipulation Something that has truly outlived its life expectancy but is still going strong?.
I still use the heated food tray my mother gave me when I was 19. I’m now in my 70s. Until 5 years ago, DF was using a 1920s vacuum cleaner
