America Gets The Bird

[tonyb]

...

Tonight was spent in a box store looking at ranges/stoves. The POS LG that tanked is only about seven years old, about the same age as the POS LG dishwasher that I replaced a year ago. Enjoy the holidays, ya'll.

Thanks for the heads-up. I used to think of major appliances as lifetime investments. And there was a time when that was a reasonable expectation.

As I’ve noted elsewhere, perfectly serviceable secondhand (or third- or fourthhand) appliances can be had for next to nothing. It helps to have a pickup truck.

An old art teacher of mine, going back 45 years or so, worked in porcelain enamel. For “canvasses” he often used side panels off retired cookstoves. But even then the costlier porcelain finishes were being supplanted by paint, and paint just wouldn’t do for his purposes. The work went into kilns, after all.

 

[tonyb]

Made a big batch of turkey enchiladas yesterday. Same as the chicken enchiladas I’ve made a hundred times, but, you know, with turkey.

Made stock from the carcass. Used some of it in the enchilada sauce. Got three or four quarts in the freezer.

 

[3fingers]

It's not the appliances that betray you, it's the manufacturers but hey, you want economic growth, you gotta keep the goods rolling.

Don't get me started on false economic activity. People are conditioned to stupidity and perennial debt. A friend of mine runs an appliance repair service. He has told me that the manufacturers claim they have researched and have figured out that the majority of their customers want new appliances every 6 to 8 years, so they build to that expectation. It has hurt his business badly. I don't personally know anyone who wants to buy anywhere near that often, but I have never been invited to be in a focus group. I am certain if I ever was, it would be a one time event.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
I’m no fan of the glass-top electric stove that came with this place, nor am I partial to the black refrigerator. But they both work, and I have far better uses for my limited resources than replacing kitchen appliances that work just fine.

I’d rather cook with gas, and I may get a gas stove should a screaming deal come my way. (Gas is in already; both the furnace and water heater are gas-fired.) But it can wait.

A friend cooks on a gas stove he saved from the scrapyard. I’m guessing it dates from the ’40s. Works great.

 

[3fingers]

We have a relatively cheap model of gas stove that came with the house when we bought it. It is new enough it has no pilots, although the burners can be lit with a match. Unfortunately the oven will not light without a functioning igniter. I am told that the replacement cost of even the simple control board this stove has exceeds its value. We are seriously considering restoring an old stove to replace it. I'll never have to buy another one.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I bought my stove, an apartment-size Hotpoint from the late 1950s, and my refrigerator, a 1945-vintage Kelvinator, from a dealer in second-hand appliances for fifty dollars in 1988. SInce then I've had to replace the oven element three times -- replacements run about $25 on Ebay, and it takes less than ten minutes to take out the old one and install the new one with a screwdriver. I put a new thermostat in the refrigerator when I got it, and it's required no service of any kind ever since.
And it uses less electricity than a modern unit -- no automatic defrost, no icemaker, no water tap, no fan, nothing but a hermetically-sealed N-K Polarsphere that makes a pleasant whirring noise for a few minutes out of every hour.

I fully expect them to outlive me, and the young person who will inherit my house when I go says she plans to keep them. She's no fool.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

Don't even get me started on modern appliances. In a word - junk! Modern HE washers and dishwashers are nothing but stinking, mold-growing pieces of expensive, but cheaply made crap. About 10 years ago I bought a set of vintage Pyrex mixing bowls and two 1950s made glass pitchers and they are much better made than the rubbish they sell now days.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

Simple this year, just 4 of us. Baked a buttermilk brined turkey with roast garlic mashed potatoes, and a green bean casserole made using green beans canned, harvested from the garden, no Campbell's cream of mushroom soup in the casserole and cornbread dressing. Do they still use the apostrophe?

The only drama came was when during the last temp check on the bird, I noticed the temp not rising on the oven when I closed the door. Took my dumb@$$ until the temp dropped to 190° to realize there was a problem. I was at least smart enough to leave the door closed and was able to get the bird up to temp.

Mashed potatoes were done on the still functioning stove top. It took a little creative work on the gas grill to get the green bean casserole and cornbread dressing cooked. All turned out well. Cheesecake Factory cheesecake from the frozen section was dessert.

Tonight was spent in a box store looking at ranges/stoves. The POS LG that tanked is only about seven years old, about the same age as the POS LG dishwasher that I replaced a year ago. Enjoy the holidays, ya'll.

Trust me, you don't want the LG HE washer or the dryer either. I keep hoping my washer will die so I can get rid of it and the dryer. Our clothes, especially the whites, haven't been clean since we got that piece of junk!

 

[Bamaboots]

Trust me, you don't want the LG HE washer or the dryer either. I keep hoping my washer will die so I can get rid of it and the dryer. Our clothes, especially the whites, haven't been clean since we got that piece of junk!

I feel your pain. Every appliance in the house was LG and being replaced as soon as it needs a repair. We've had the washer repaired twice and we were looking for a new one when we were stove shopping. May not wait for it to break again.

 

[vitanola]

I have found the EASY washing machines to have nearly unlimited service lives, same with Chambers, Wehrle, Tinnerman, and American Stove Works ranges, General Electric "Scotch Yoke" refrigerators (models CE through CK), and Hoover, Premier, Electrolux, and General Electric sweepers. These are all lifetime purchases.

But what fun is there in that? Off to Best Buy...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep. I was given an Easy wringer machine dated 11/34 on the ID plate by a friend who found it in his cellar when he bought his house. That was in 1989 or 90. Still using it today.

The only real vulnerablity on these machines is the wringer rollers, which will dry up and crack. NOS replacements are usually pretty far gone by this point as well, so I ended up sending mine to a place in New York state that rebuilds industrial rollers and typewriter platens. They were able to match the original rubber pretty well, and I'm good for another forty or fifty years. (At least my washing machine is, I doubt I'll live that long.)

I also use and love my Electrolux XXX. Well, I don't use it as much as I should, but who is anyone to tell me my house is dirty? I can't see the dirt, so it isn't there.

 

[3fingers]

I had a 60s vintage Electrolux sweeper. My wife wanted a new upright because she hated pulling a wagon around behind her. I have spent money on the upright. The friend I gifted the Electrolux to has purchased one belt and bags.

 

[tonyb]

Looking back on it, I must have been in a momentary state of diminished capacity when, something like nine years ago, I bought at Costco a brand new vacuum carrying the Hoover name. Paid something like a hundred and fifty bucks for it.

I threw it away a couple months back. The motor was delivering its death knell and the wheels were splayed, on account of the plastic “body” to which they were attached getting distorted.

I now have two Bissells of fairly recent manufacture, one of which I bought at a thrift shop for 15 bucks and the other for 20 off a private party who advertised it on Facebook Marketplace. I don’t expect to have either a decade from now, but if I accept that these modern vacuums are more or less disposable, I’d rather pay a tenth of what they cost new.

And, giving credit where it is due, the Bissells work quite well, especially on pet hair. And having two of the things spares me carrying them up and down the stairs. I gotta clear pet hair clogs from the hoses every now and then, but that takes but a minute or two.

 

[vitanola]

Yep. I was given an Easy wringer machine dated 11/34 on the ID plate by a friend who found it in his cellar when he bought his house. That was in 1989 or 90. Still using it today.

The only real vulnerablity on these machines is the wringer rollers, which will dry up and crack. NOS replacements are usually pretty far gone by this point as well, so I ended up sending mine to a place in New York state that rebuilds industrial rollers and typewriter platens. They were able to match the original rubber pretty well, and I'm good for another forty or fifty years. (At least my washing machine is, I doubt I'll live that long.)

I also use and love my Electrolux XXX. Well, I don't use it as much as I should, but who is anyone to tell me my house is dirty? I can't see the dirt, so it isn't there.

The EASY wringer machines are indeed bullet-proof, but the spin dryer models, with their second tubs, are a positive joy to use. Less time twnding the washer, lessless iro, less wear and tear on clothes. The post-1935 machines have a timer, which allows one to work elsewhere in the house whilst the machine does all of the work, and the mid-fifties models are practically automatic themselves.

I still prefer the older copper tub machines with the bouncing vacuum agitator...