They do. They live in rural north Georgia and the electrical service is sometimes spotty. They have a gas-powered generator that can supply all but the big-current items.
CD Player
DVD Player
Cable Box
Printer
Going back to the late 1960s, when my parents were still together:
Pressure cooker: what a racket that thing made
8-Track player
Electric carving knife: always wanted to use it, but they never let me
A drink mixer that was a miniature battery-operated outboard boat motor that hooked to the side of the glass
stand mixer
garbage disposal
dishwasher
clothes washer and dryer (as an adult I’ve either used those in the apartment building I live in or used a laundromat)
Electric can opener. Opening cat food cans for 6 cats is my daily exercise regimen.
Electric iron. I ironed my clothes once when I was a teenager. I didn’t like it.
We just text each other.
I still use my laser printer all the time. Just about every day.
digital clock - if I had one I’d probably get into the habit of looking at it to see the time, but if I need an alarm I can use Alexa, and otherwise my computer, phone, and watch all tell me the time at a quick glance.
popcorn popper - takes up space and doesn’t do anything you can’t do in a regular pot. (Or in a microwave, although I don’t buy microwave popcorn any more as it seems environmentally wasteful; I just get big bags of regular popcorn and pop it on the stovetop.)
electric blanket - actually I own one, but I haven’t hooked it up in years. It’s been washed numerous times and I guess I’m a little worried it would be a fire hazard. Hot water bottles are slightly less convenient but they do the job just as well.
I also don’t have the electric can opener that was a mainstay of my parents’ kitchen counter. I take @aceplace57’s point about the benefit of an electric can opener for aging, arthritic hands, though. I don’t open cans all that often (other can cat food, but that comes with pop-tops) but doing so is a PITA even with no joint issues.
A few things come to mind. First a technicality - a gas range. I’ve always wanted one, but the cost of replacing my home’s existing electric range has always precluded such an choice, well, at least until it starts raining money (and nice soft bills, no coins please!).
Stereo system with full sized box speakers - they almost never used it, but I remember the rare occasion, while I get by with decent quality soundbars and computer speakers (and Alexa, and all the other small scale options).
Electric Toothbrush - I just never saw the point, the cost of replacing the heads is greater than buying a half dozen decent quality manual toothbrushes, and I don’t see a major improvement in brushing qualities.
Fax machine - my dad still does a good bit of remote business, although much less than the years past, and while not completely unable to use computer scanner/fax options, he just prefers to keep a landline for his fax.
Which brings us to a Landline. So, yeah, still has one, although he has ‘dumb’ mobile phones for 99% of his usage.
My dad had a CB radio. But that was more of a fad thing.
I guess truckers are still using them. And I was talking to a Trooper about 3 weeks ago who said they still have them in their squads and monitor the emergency CB channels.
Mine are in an unheated back hall, and for much of the year would take weeks, not days, to thaw. I keep them full for this reason – jugs of ice whenever there’s room for them, which can also be very rapidly grabbed to turn the fridge into an icebox for a while. A long power outage in hot weather would be a problem; but even then, “long” would have to be at least a couple of days, and I might be able to get ice somewhere to add in to them in that time; or transfer stuff to the freezers of somebody who does have a generator.
Or, I would say, throw a neighborhood party; except that if the power was off that long half my neighbors might be trying the same thing. – no, probably less than half; the Mennonites would just be having a canning fit on their wood cookstoves. I can cook some on my woodstove, but putting up everything in the freezer on it before it went bad wouldn’t be possible, I don’t think, even if I didn’t pass out from the heat trying to work on it in hot weather (less of its heat goes to the cooking surface than does the heat on a cooking woodstove, and it’s located in the center of the house for best heat distribution, not in a north kitchen with great big windows to let the heat out. Though I think the Mennonites cook on electric or gas in the summertime, ordinarily.)
My parents had many of the previously mentioned devices, but one not mentioned yet that my mother really wanted and finally got was an electric organ from Sears, probably this one.. It was her prized possession. I just talked to my brother yesterday, and he still has it in a shed somewhere but it hasn’t been played for decades.
Another point: simple hand can openers have gotten so much better.
A fully equipped boat for water skiing or a bass boat are less common.
The house lots and driveways in my new neighborhood are much smaller. There’s no place to park a boat. I don’t even have room for a small storage shed in the backyard.
My old 1950’s house has a much deeper lot. I could have parked a boat along the back fence.
I’ve never owned either type. I used to want a bass boat, but never bought one.
Someone could rent storage for a boat. I hate to think what a storage unit would cost.
Sewing machines? What is a newer “counterpart” of a sewing machine that isn’t also a sewing machine?
Yes, modern sewing-machine technology has created present-day versions of this device that are improved in some ways although disimproved in others. But they are still sewing machines.
I’m not aware of any modern device that isn’t a sewing machine that performs an automated form of home sewing, the way modern computers perform an automated form of playing music (as tape decks and record players used to do).
My wife and I do that, but we also have preteen kids in the house.
I am your parents. I have or have had most of the stuff mentioned here. Electric knife (long gone) electric can opener (ditto) reel to reel tape deck, which I took to college to record all my friends’ albums, etc., etc.
About the only thing my parents had which I didn’t was a console radio/phonograph, not stereo. It played 78s. My mother had 78s.
Digital clocks have alarms also. I have my Sony clock from at least 30 years ago - no CD player or phone connection - which is easy to set and has two alarms. Still use it. Has a battery backup so works even after power failures.
I realize it’s hardly a “modern device” in some countries, but in the US, in the 70’s, the big new thing was to build a sauna in the basement. I never saw the point of it. My parents didn’t have a hot tub, but I’m surprised nobody has mentioned it.
Dumbwaiter - My Dad had one that went up from the garage to the kitchen. It was wonderful.
Countertop Rotisserie - I would love to have one of those. The chicken just came out amazing for some reason.
Salad Shooter - These were actually surprisingly useful gadgets. Like a really pared down food processor that made a dinner salad quick and easy. My Dad was also a sucker for those RonCo gadgets in general. I won’t list them all here, but he needed a warehouse for all the plastic junk.
Reel-to-reel answering machine - Yes, really. But I suppose my voicemail meets this use case.
Alarm clock - my phone and laptop both have alarms on them though.
Trash compactor - these turned out to be even worse for the landfills.
Knife sharpener - I do have an electric can opener (I go through a ton of canned tomatoes) but theirs had a knife sharpener on the back. I would love to have that now.
I still have a digital alarm clock even though I rarely set the alarm. I just like being able to roll over, open 1 eye and see what time it is rather than having to reach for my phone.
For stuff we had that I don’t the electric can opener is the winner. 99% of cans I buy have the ring pull opener so little need for a can opener at all.
The other thing would be a small benchtop deepfryer. I have an air fryer/convection oven but I’m yet to try it on Dim Sims or Chicko rolls.