Your oldest and best/favorite kitchen implement/tool/gadget/thing?

[badhabits]

I wash thinking of these tonight while washing the dishes...

Oldest has got to some pots or steamer basket from the early 1970s. Equally old are some ice cream dishes (could be 60s) and cups/mugs. I gave my niece an old highball glass that my parents got at a Waikiki Don Ho show from the early/mid 70s (edit- a little researched finds this show was performed nightly from 1964 to 1969)... suck 'em up! lol. Oh and a pilsner glass from a 1983 fraternity event.


Best (favorite?) could be the simple cherry pitter, rice cooker, Ninja air fryer/roaster or new knife sharpener... or perhaps just the good old pos coffeemaker with a miraculous carafe that allows water to travel upwards against gravity and spill all over when pouring. Group shot below (the glass mug on the right is from Disneyland, 1970s).

 

[pmorey]

Not an antique or anything, but at least 20+ years old.

 

[badhabits]

Dang, how could I forget the (possibly Koaloha) ca. 80s spam musubi maker?

 

[TerryM]

Three of mine.

 

[ploverwing]

Plus silicone muffin cups, Instant Pots, food processor...

 

[Mike $]

I have a set of vintage Cuisinart stainless cookware with teak handles that I love cooking with, a vintage Swiss made Susi garlic press that I use most days, but what I like having the most are my newish cast iron skillets and griddle. I also love my wooden cutting board, my analog scale and that black hunk of metal that helps thaw things out very quickly...and that owl hot pad. I love my spice rack too...and my wooden bench that I made last year.

 

[ploverwing]

I have a set of vintage Cuisinart stainless cookware with teak handles that I love cooking with, a vintage Swiss made Susi garlic press that I use most days, but what I like having the most are my newish cast iron skillets and griddle. I also love my wooden cutting board, my analog scale and that black hunk of metal that helps thaw things out very quickly...and that owl hot pad. I love my spice rack too...and my wooden bench that I made last year.

View attachment 163878

Love all the things! Your wooden bench is quite beautiful. And I'm a huge fan of owls, so that would be my favourite trivet.

I forgot about cast iron. Yeah, I have one cast iron skillet that I get very grumpy when someone else decides to use it. I don't share well

 

[Mike $]

Love all the things! Your wooden bench is quite beautiful. And I'm a huge fan of owls, so that would be my favourite trivet.

I forgot about cast iron. Yeah, I have one cast iron skillet that I get very grumpy when someone else decides to use it. I don't share well

I don't mind if they use it, but I hate when people clean it who don't know how to...years of seasoning gone in one washing.

 

[Wiggy]

... I forgot about cast iron. Yeah, I have one cast iron skillet that I get very grumpy when someone else decides to use it. I don't share well

Everything that requires browning, or very little loss of temperature when dropped in, requires cast iron. Not that thin* stuff.

"If he ain't heavy, he's not my brother."
(Sorry to b'ize your lyric, Hollies.)

[*We buy solid ones at flea markets and give them away to educate family members. They immediately get it.]

 

[KohanMike]

I have a complete set of wood handle Chicago Cutlery that's more than 30 years old.

 

[badhabits]

those are good knives, although the quality is said to have dropped in recent years. that said, we have a couple of those santokus pictured in ploverwing's post. wife also has some old bakeware and stuff (sifter, rolling pin, bowls) I think from her grandma, who lived to 103, so there's no telling how old those things are.

 

[TerryM]

Forgot these items. The clay pot is what I use for bread baking and the occasional roast chicken stuffed with rice, pine nuts, prunes and liver.

A friend gave us an old set of Wagner Ware Magnalite pans she was getting rid of (magnesium and aluminum). They work so well I donated a set of Circulon and a couple of All Clad pans to Goodwill. I think the aluminum = Alzheimer's scare was the last nail in Magnalite's coffin.

The round-cornered, two slice toaster in the background is my wife's pride and joy.

 

[Nickie]

I got my mom's set of antique Pyrex mixing bowls. Each size is a different color.

 

[ploverwing]

I got my mom's set of antique Pyrex mixing bowls. Each size is a different color.

I have a set like that too!

 

[UkingViking]

The most important of the fancy modern kitchen implements to me must be... Running water

I am too young to be super serious when I write this, just remember reading how we take the basics for granted.

I am quite fond of the cast iron pot I use to bake bread and slow cook ragout also.

 

[badhabits]

Pyrex and corning ware are still a thing... I see walls of sets all the time at antique stores, flea markets, etc. Seems everyone had those glass-lidded white square ones with the tab handles and little blue flowers on the side.

 

[Mike $]

There are two types of Pyrex. There's PYREX and pyrex. The Caps version can withstand massive changes in temperature and remain in tact. The lowercase pyreces won't react well with large changes in temperature. It's best not to bake at really high temperatures or bring them from cold to hot very quickly, or from hot to cold.

 

[ploverwing]

pyreces

Nice.