I’ve got an electric range that’s about 22 years old and it still works. I don’t count my wife’s 26 year old upright piano since it isn’t an appliance by nature. I’m talking ranges, fridges, tv’s, vcr’s, etc.
I don’t actually own anything that old. My parents, on the other hand, have a gas range/oven that was in the house before they moved in. The 30 year mortgage was paid off 2 years ago, and the oven still works.
I don’t have any really old appliances, being only 24 myself, but my rents have a reel to reel tape recorder that is ancient. I dunno how old, but it must be from the 60s or 70s.
I should prolly have found out before posting here.
<note to self: think before you speak>
Rick
My Kenmore microwave is 15 years old!
When we moved out here from Seattle, we left behind (oooh, a Rapture reference) a 20-year-old Kenmore washer and dryer that still worked great. It was the cheapest set available when we bought it – $300 for the pair, I think.
I don’t know which manufacturers make appliances for Kenmore, but they do pretty good work, from what I’ve seen so far.
My ex and I lived in a house that was owned by my parents. The refrigerator was the same one they’d gotten as a wedding present almost thirty years before. It was a harvest gold Kenmore.
Them Kenmores are built to last!
Robin
I’ve got a 12" (30cm) Quasar color television in the kitchen. I bought the television back in 1976, with allowance and gift money that I saved for months. Still works just fine, although the VHF tuner could use some cleaning.
The gas stove in my apartment kitchen is from the late 1940s (“it’s a Gurney!”). If it gets too cold for the steam radiators, I just open the oven door and fire it up: heats the whole place in about 20 minutes.
If bathtubs are considered appliances, then my clawfoot tub is original to the building, which was built in 1908. There’s an old rotary light switch in the bathroom (but no electical outlets!), which must be from the 40s.
My toaster is at least about 60 years old. It has coils wound around mica plates and swing down doors on each side of the a-frame shaped body. One of the wooden handles on it finally cracked off. I may have to replace it with my 50 year old Toastmaster down in the basement.
My cast iron Wagner waffle iron has to be heated over the stove and is probably even older.
I won my microwave in the office Christmas raffle 1 year before my children were conceived. My kids are now 13. They don’t make microwave ovens like this anymore. It pops a bag of popcorn in less than a minute and a half. I can fit a large casserole pan and two saucers in there. I’ve never even changed the light bulb.
My electric fan. Got it from Kmart in 1976, we still use it at night next to the bed to generate white noise to sleep better.
I don’t have any ancient appliances. None of mine are more than 5 or 6 years old.
I don’t know if this counts or not, but I’ve got a Sansui 5000a tuner/amp, (and a pair of Kenwood KL880 speakers), I bought in Hong Kong in 1970. The tuner’s been used so much that I had to replace the power switch about 10 years ago because it was worn out. It’s getting pretty tired though, and I’ll probably retire it soon.
Our TV in the bedroom is almost 20 years old. I don’t know who made it. I bought it from J. C. Pennys.
I also have a Black and Decker drill with a patent date of 1935.
Hey, I’m an old guy and I have a lot of old stuff. 
I don’t know if this counts as an “appliance” but for Christmas my grandma gave me a coffee grinder (of the old fashioned, non-electric crank variety) that’s got to be at least 50 years old. Haven’t tried it yet, but everything’s in tact, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
My parents have a nasty green fridge from the late 70s, and it worked better than our Kenmore fridge that we got in 93 (crapped out in 99).
BTW, AuntiePam, Kenmore is made by Maytag.
–Tim
I have a 1963 HH Scott “Stereomaster” amplifier (they loved “-master” names in those days, didn’t they? My friend has a “Rangemaster” oven from the same period).
The “working” part is a bit sketchy – I can play cds no problem, but lately I’m getting this horrible loud hum on LPs and tapes. Time for my grandfather to look at it again.
Does my '79 Volvo count? It’s the oldest functional machine I have, with the possible exception of a digital alarm clock which I’ve had since first grade ('79) and is still working.
I got a (commercial) coffee grinder from Grampa that’s 55 years old and electric. Your’s might be older, I don;t know what the overlap was.
Where I come from, people were still pumping water out of the ground by hand and crapping in sheds in the woods 30 years ago (minnesota).
I moved to Alaska. People are still pumping water out of the ground by hand and crapping in sheds in the woods.
Let’s end the use of honey-buckets in our lifetime; let’s bring Alaska, completely, into the 19th Century, before the rest of you leave for the stars.
Through the decades in Eve’s flat—
• Candlestick telephone, 1919 (the kind you sing “Hello, Central?” into)
• Three-ton Royal typewriter, 1920s
• Desk clock, 1930s
• Electric iron, 1940s (and bound to electrocute me one of these days)
• Bitter middle-aged woman, 1950s (oh, wait, that’s ME!)
Washing Machine: Whirlpool ca 1965
TV: GE 1948 (B+W)
Radio: NORDMENDE, ca 1965
Wristwatch: Waltham ca 1925 (keeps good time!)
And, I used to have a 1935 GE refridgerator (coils on the top!)
Electric Blender: Oster, ca 1960
Hows about that!
I have a toaster like this! The cord (round, thick and covered in fabric) is frayed, though, so I just have it “on display.” It was my grandmother’s toaster. It even flips the bread when it opens!
I have my mom’s old waffle iron, too, but hers is electric. It was a wedding present from 1954. Still works great.
I also have my grandmother’s pressure cooker. The recipe book that came with it is dated 1947. I use it all the time. It’s in great shape.
As for actual appliances, the fridge and stove that came with our house are both at least 30+ years old. The stove works fine (a Magic Chef), but the fridge (a Kelvinator ‘Masterpiece’) is slowly dying. Stuff on the top shelf freezes, while stuff on the bottom shelf goes bad.