Household (or anything else you can think of!) items you have had for years and still look good or don’t need replacing

[SleepDeprivedCatSlave]

I know this is extremely boring, sorry. I’ve just washed up and realised that my set of stainless steel Morphy Richards saucepans are 25 years old. They do have a few stains on the bottom of each pan but they otherwise look as good as new.

Ive recently separated from my STBXH and my pans (from marriage number 1) are about the only household things I took with me when I left. Everything else in my house is brand new. Bit depressing really to have nothing from two failed marriages other than a set of saucepans but there we are.

Is there anything in your house that has lasted for a long time and still doesn’t need to be replaced? (other than disappointing husbands obviously…)

In general pans and things with no moving parts / electrics go on forever (unless they are non-stick or plastic which goes brittle). I’m late 50s and my parents are still using the same stainless steel pans they had when I was growing up. They still have a lot of mugs and glasses from then too and use their wedding china (60+ years old). My pans are 25 years old (housewarming present when we moved here) and I don’t really think of them as old. The last electrical item from our old house to be replaced was the microwave about 5 years ago. But I’ve got all sorts of other kitchen bits from the previous house, a lot of them from Lakeland. Storage containers, small implements etc.

My ironing board is 25 years old. I don’t iron very much but every time I do I think of my mil buying it for me when I was just 21 and moving into my first flat with now dh. We hadn’t a bean and were expecting our first baby. It has a leaf patterned cover on it and is a bit shabby looking now but I can’t see myself ever replacing it.

Very wrong 🤫 The microwave refuses to give up despite being a millennial 😅

Like a PP I also had a huge box TV until a few years ago. It was a Panasonic purchased from Costco (with the dead ex) circa 1999. It cost about £600 which in them days was a LOT of money. This TV ran for 18 years without a single fault, I only got rid of it because I wanted a smart TV. I still feel really guilty about it 🥹

A set of Jamie Oliver for Tefal pots that we bought when we moved in together 18 years ago. They’re still perfect despite almost daily use.

I also have a Denby casserole dish given to me in 1975. I inherited my parents Ercol dining furniture with the receipt from 1964.

Still got lots, my Dualit toaster is about 30 years old
Cutlery, lasagne and flan dishes still going strong, I sent my dinner service to a charity shop and replaced it last year.

I hate my smart TV. It’s an absolute knob. Updating at stupid times, switching itself off when it gets tired, ridiculous default sound settings that makes all of the talking bits whispery quiet but all other sounds louder than hell. I’ve changed the sound settings numerous times but it just randomly goes back to the default setting. It’s an arsehole.

My EXH gave me an electric carving knife for Christmas the year I was pregnant with our daughter, who is now 31. It still works perfectly, the marriage didn’t.

Almost all my kitchen stuff was bought when I was in my mid 20s, so over 35 years old now. Food processor, sandwich toaster, slow cooker, hand blender, pans. My favourite knife was given to me when I was 18, and it is still perfect.

I did have to replace my mum’s hand mixer for making cakes, and the new one is rubbish. The boost button is in the wrong place, and is easy to press accidentally. It makes me cross every time I use it.

All of your posts are suggesting that old stuff is much better quality than new stuff. I don’t think my new baking trays will still be around in a year, never mind 20+ years.

My violin. I've had it nearly 50 years now, it was already very old when my grandparents bought it for me and I'll never need to replace it. Some things just keep getting better as they age.

Most of this stuff doesn't really wear out or break so it's not surprising people people are still using it after 30/40/50 years.

I find it more odd when people say 'X, Y or Z is 2, 5 or 8 years old' as if its some grand achievement.

You're not imagining it OP. Almost anything made a few decades ago is better than anything you can buy today. The quality of things has gone off a cliff since 1970s and even more so since the millennium.

I trade in vintage houshold items and almost everything in my house is over 30 years old. The thing people are most likely to say when they see my house for the first time is "This so reminds me of my granny's house".

Two 1950s Pyrex mixing bowls
A roasting tin bought circa 1985
1950s sherry and wine glasses
Aluminium saucepan from roughly 1960 and one from the 70s
Very nearly all of my recipe books are pre 1970.

@SeaAndStars my best friend is in her 60s and says my house is like her mother's!

I love this post. I wish I had something, anything, from my family/childhood. I don’t have anything at all. I also wish I could play a musical instrument. It must be lovely.

I also think people just replace things these days. If it looks a bit stained or whatever then they buy a new one. Or they update kitchen stuff when they have a new kitchen fitted or if they fancy a change of colour scheme.

My pressure cooker is nearly 50 years old, I had it as a birthday present when I was a student.

I saw one the same in a museum display, but it had a broken handle. Mine is intact, but not available for donation to a museum as its still in use.

Some modern stuff seems designed to break! Electronics needing upgrades, spare parts not sold, even moulded plugs so you can't replace a fuse.

A glass mixing bowl my grandparents received as a wedding gift. 65 years old and I hope to pass it on to one of my DCs.

I’ve got a few Pyrex dishes that belonged to my grandmother - she bought them brand new, then they got passed onto my mum when she and my dad moved into their first house in the mid-1980’s. Then they got passed onto me when I moved into my first house in 2012. They are still going strong!

An art deco oak bookcase my parents bought when they got married in 1934. We live in a 1930s house, it fits perfectly. And an Old Hall stainless tea service that was a wedding present to DH and me in 1967.

yes, things, clothes, everything was made to last well past its' lifetime. Companies took pride.

Our kitchen itself was fitted in 1972, Magnet or Hygena - previous owner left the receipts, we have lived with it since 1993. Grey, so it has been "fashionable" 4 or 5 times. Still in great shape, might replace the sink and worktops in the next year or so.

My friend gave me a China money box in the shape of a tortoise for my 14th birthday in the 70s... I'm 61 now. It is still used all the time.

I also have 27 year old stainless steel pans... they do seem to be a worthwhile purchase.

My phone does this! 🤬