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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU - to prefer my old shit to new stuff?

34 replies

Fontella · 15/08/2017 12:23

Following on from the avocado bathroom suite thread ... my boyfriend's elderly mum has got a hardly used, all-singing all-dancing cooker that she wants to get rid of because she can't get on with it, and the boyfriend has asked me if I want it 'to replace your old shit one'?

I've got a cream coloured old Stoves cooker, with rusty bits and peeling paint. Plus we had mice living in the back of it once (long story) and I used to boot the oven door to scare the shit out of them every time I walked past, so it's all dented and battered.

But I like cooking on it, and it goes with my old style cottagey kitchen and I don't want the shiny new one even though it's free. He thinks I'm nuts.

What old shit have you got that you don't want to part with?

OP posts:
Eleventybillionfucks · 15/08/2017 12:25

That sounds grim. Id take the new cooker

MorrisZapp · 15/08/2017 12:27

In my dads house, literally everything. He was skint all his life, only becoming financially comfortable in the last ten years or so. Now with a small inheritance, he has no money worries at all.

But omg his kitchen. His oven door needs pulled closed with a bit of string. He thinks it's really modern because it's only twenty years old. Also as a boy he had an outdoor toilet so anything from the 1970s onwards is top luxury in his book.

somanylovelyearrings · 15/08/2017 12:29

The mouse element would have me choosing the new one.
I get that it fits- l'm like that too, but you're probably baking up mouse poo every time you make a lasagna!

PoppyPopcorn · 15/08/2017 12:32

It depends.

I have a mixture of old and new in the house. I loathe the "matchy-matchy" straight out of Next and everything white and black look that so many homes go for. It's bland, characterless and so sterile - hate it. I love homes with a biy of personality. I love my second-hand Welsh dresser with the door which doesn't quite close properly and the dents and dings which show it was loved by two or three families before it came to us.

I totally get where you're coming from on the cooker - it's got history and character and a story. If it is still fit for purpose, does the job and goes with the kitchen then keep it. A modern shiny one would look odd in a country kitchen. If the cooker packs up, then look for another one which is more in keeping with your personal style.

Original poster
Fontella · 15/08/2017 12:35

thanks PoppyPopcorn, I'm going to quote your post back to him!

What he doesn't get is firstly, if I wanted a new cooker I would buy one myself. Secondly if I was buying one I wouldn't pick that one in a million years. Too white, too chromey, too wide, too many faffing buttons and gizmos (which is the very reason his mum doesn't want it - she just wants a simpler one).

But he just cannot see why I would prefer my old battered one to a free new one.

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 15/08/2017 12:40

It's fine ro like the stuff you have, no matter how crap, but I have to say kicking your oven door in until it's all dented just to scare mice is slightly unusual....Hmm

Branleuse · 15/08/2017 12:42

I love mismatched old stuff. If your cooker still works, it doesn't really need replacing and certainly not replaced by one you don't even like much

PinkHeart5911 · 15/08/2017 12:49

Well the cooker you've currently got I wouldn't want in my house at all so I can totally see why your boyfriend has offfered you the new one

Original poster
Fontella · 15/08/2017 12:53

I have to say kicking your oven door in until it's all dented just to scare mice is slightly unusua.

Unusual it may be, but that's what I did. I was pissed off because I had to tape the cooker up with gaffer tape around all the vents and orifices (pest man's instructions) and couldn't use it for a fortnight, so was convinced I would have to get rid of it anyway. I had visions of colonies of mice living in the back of it and yes, I used to boot the door occasionally because I absolutely loathe the little fuckers - they are my greatest fear, and at the time the mouse saga was making my life a living hell.

As it turned out there weren't colonies of mice, there was one rogue mouse that had actually climbed in the window (another long story) and it wasn't actually residing in the cooker but using the vents at the back as an escape route down to floor level, but by then the door had acquired a few dents.

OP posts:
llhj · 15/08/2017 12:57

Think you're cutting nose off. That cooker sounds unsafe. I love character etc but safety first and you can still have character without mouse droppings and rust. Rank.

RaininSummer · 15/08/2017 12:57

I kind of see your point as i was very upset to have to replace my first real cooker which lived for 18 years-ish with a spanking shiny new one. It is more efficient though and doesnt have a door hanging off, cracked hob, and two broken rings :)

Original poster
Fontella · 15/08/2017 12:58

There's absolutely no issue with hygiene or danger of baking mouse shit. It's old, it's battered but it's spotlessly clean as is my entire kitchen and home, so that's not an issue.

OP posts:
dollydaydream114 · 15/08/2017 12:59

I like some old shit ... but I can also slightly see why your boyfriend is baffled that you want to cook on something that is rusty and had mice living in it. It is totally your choice though, of course - if you love your old cooker, makes sense for you to keep it.

I have some casserole pots with massive orange flowers on them which are truly grotesque and have warped handles, burnt-on marks all over them etc. They were from my nan's house and date from the 70s. They're awful but I'm convinced casseroles aren't as nice from the posh dishes. My mum laughs at them every time she sees them because she says they look like something Margot from The Good Life would have had in her kitchen when they were new.

NonnoMum · 15/08/2017 13:02

I;m with you, OP. I don't like parting with stuff, especially if I didn't get to chose it myself...

PS (I've got a Stoves too, but not as fond of it as you are yours!)

AlpacaPicnic · 15/08/2017 13:03

'Here, have this thing that I don't like'
'No thank you I have a thing I already like'
'That's not very grateful'

I like the sound of your old cooker, things were built to last before our society became so disposable and while it works fine I'd keep an iron grip on it!

Plus there is nothing so mildly-annoying than having to learn to cook on a new oven when you 'know' your ovens little quirks...

Original poster
Fontella · 15/08/2017 13:07

As I have explained - there weren't actually mice living in it.

I should have written in my OP (which was meant to be rather tongue in cheek Hmm ), that I THOUGHT there were mice living in it.

We were baffled as to how this mouse we kept seeing had got into the kitchen and where it was living. My daughter said she saw it in the vicinity of the cooker so the pest man focused his attention there as he said they like to nest in the cavities at the back/bottom. As it turned out, there was nothing nesting there.

My fault entirely for even mentioning it!

The rust is on the front paintwork, Nowhere near the hob or oven, and I could sort that out with a bit of sandpaper and hammerite paint.

It's old, it's got a bit of rust on the paintwork and it's got a dented door (which I cover with oven gloves and tea towe; hung on the door rail) but it is perfectly hygienic.

I am Mrs Clean Freak as any of my friends will testify. There's no way I would use it if it wasn't clean or if there was any danger of rust particles or mouse shit getting into food!

OP posts:
sororitynoise · 15/08/2017 13:07

Disgusting!

Original poster
Fontella · 15/08/2017 13:09

Disgusting!

Fair enough!

Grin
OP posts:
orangewasp · 15/08/2017 13:11

Good point Alpaca I hate people trying to foist stuff on me -
if I need something new I prefer to choose it myself. If I haven't done that it's because I'm happy with what I have already.

niknac1 · 15/08/2017 13:12

I'd give the new to you cooker a go to be honest.

teaandtoast · 15/08/2017 13:14

As you like it, would it be worth trying to get the dents sorted out?

Queenofthedrivensnow · 15/08/2017 13:16

I love random old shit. It's comforting. When are grew up in the 80's that whole magazine approved planned look hasn't quite arrived yet. I agree with pp it's bland.
I love white walls and random shit. I have listings from the chazza and I've just bought a bookcase from eBay to paint with Annie sloan. The rest is random from junk shops and inherited. I have some thighs that mean so much to me. A lamp base that was donated to my mum when she fled my dad with nothing. Some 40's utility chairs from that first house too. My mum painted them all in bright colours like the ones in friends. I will never get rid of them.

There's a chest of drawers in the spare room that's been every colour of the rainbow in about 6 different houses between my mum and me due for a strip and paint soon Grin

I much prefer friends houses that are furnished with random junk too they are equally comforting.

rabbitcakes · 15/08/2017 13:17

Why don't you put the new shiny cooker in the garage/utility room so you can use it but still have your old one to look at?

I get where you are coming from and I too have old stuff I prefer to new; but for the love of god sometimes it's best to let stuff go.

Original poster
Fontella · 15/08/2017 13:21

I don't have a garage or utility room unfortunately.

Single mum, small terraced house with a tiny shed. Every single thing in my house is secondhand apart from my computer and telly. Boyfriend (we don't live together) earns a lot more than me, and I know he's trying to help but I don't really want it.

He did the same with a microwave. I had a very old microwave and to be fair that was past it and I did need to replace it.

He rolls up with this fancy looking thing that roast and grilled ad and all sorts which he had in his loft. I found out later it was from a friend's flat who had died a few months previously.

Confused

But it was dark grey and industrial looking and not to my taste at all, but because he's brought it, I felt I had no choice but to take it.

Fortunately, although it was new, I don't know if it was because it had been in the loft for a while, but when we used it, it started smoking like hell. So I was able to justify getting rid of it and then bought a lovely cream coloured retro one to match my kitchen.

Maybe I should just do the same this time. Tell him thanks but no thanks, it doesn't go with my kitchen, but I will look around for a new stove myself. In the meantime I will try and spruce mine up a bit. I can certainly sort out the rust anyway.

OP posts:
curuncule · 15/08/2017 13:34

I'm with you OP. I love old things with history - never ever buy anything new unless I absolutely have to.
My cooker is from 1964!!