Wished I could say the same for my last two vacuum cleaners.

I think that of all the appliances I've known in my life I'd have to give my parent's stainless steel coffee percolator the longevity award. I don't know when they bought it for sure, but it was back when refrigerators, stoves and the family car were rounded at the corners and had a lot of chrome and televisions were still black and white. Mid-fifties for sure.

I remember Mama bursting into laughter when she made the morning coffee because this particular pot sounded like a person with irritable bowel syndrome after a supper of soup beans and cabbage. When plugged in, it began it's mantra of OOOOOHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh,mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, chugga, chugga, chugga" enough it served as an alarm clock to the rest of the family. Of course it became a family joke and earned itself the nickname of 'The Groaner'.

It got retired the first time when automatic drip coffeemakers came into fashion in the seventies. The groaner then lived on a shelf in my parent's basement and came out of retirement frequently as the cheap (and not so cheap)modern plastic pots my parents bought bit the dust.
Then the groaner came to live with me for awhile each time my plastic pots bit the dust and it served faithfully until retired back to it's place on my parent's basement shelf when I eventually got around to buying new pots.

It was still recalled to active duty, like a reserve soldier, when my daughter grew up and moved away from home.
The groaner is still alive and in semi-retirement almost sixty years later. We still call it by name into the fourth generation.

It has survived so long that perks are now coming back in style and I may ask my daughter to dig it out so press it back in to service.

The expensive machine I bought less than a year ago leaks and I took it apart to see why. The leak is caused by a cheap seal, probably costing the manufacturer less than a penny. It is not covered in the warranty, nor can you buy a replacement seal from them. I am sure the manufacturer knows they have a problem with this component. I suspect they expected the seal to hold out a couple months longer until the warranty was void and then they wouldn't care and tough luck consumer. Gone are the days when you can expect your product to last any longer than when its warranty, and actually you are lucky if it lasts that long.

My grandmas electric skillet is till going and it has to be close to 50. It is not a nonstick finish, but it doesn't stick. Pancakes are great in it. The rim is bent where I dropped it.

I have a stainless steel blender from my MIL house. It is a work of art and it still works but it is limited to "On" "Off" and "Blend". I much prefer the new blenders, where I have many more choices.

Yes, they sure did make appliances to last, in the past. Our big old chest freezer that my parents had, finally gave it up about four or five years ago. It was at least 45 years old! I have a collection of waffle irons from the thirties and forties that all work. Granted they haven't been used a lot in the past few decades, but, they still work perfectly. The lights even still work.

My grandma still has the same refrigerator from when my dad was a kid and he will be 60 this year. It has a rounded front, blue interior and needs to be defrosted regularly.

I had to finally get rid of my husband's fridge ten years after we were married. It was a remnant of his first marriage and it was brown, so definately sixties vintage. I hated to do it because it still ran like a trooper, but the insides, made primarily of plastic just eventually disintegrated and wouldn't hold the wire shelves up any longer. The motor was fine, as were the seals. Our electric company was accepting them for recycling then, so it got a new life and I felt less guilty. But thirty five years on a fridge isn't bad. MY folks chest freezer is still cranking too. I think it was a mid-sixties vintage.

When you hear the old saw 'they don't make them like they used to' it is literally true. They don't.

My dishwasher is 27 years old, it came with the "instant" house. Some of the racks are not as tight, so I am using the thin, short bungee cords to hold thing in place, when needed, and it must be loaded a certain way to do the job right, but my dishes come out nice and clean. Cooking for one most of the time, it is not very demanding of my time and efforts.
Even though not as energy efficient as the new ones, it will be churning away until the plumbing or the motor gives out.

I gotta give props to my recently deceased refrigerator. It was original to my building, which was built in 1991. It chugged faithfully away until last summer, when I started noticing bags of frozen fruits and veggies were kinda mushy. In denial (and short on funds lol), I tried adjusting the temperature settings and cleaning the cat-hair-wearing coils. Nada. Finally replaced it with another Whirlpool model which, fingers crossed, will last another 19 years.

Karen

Talking about dishwashers. Ours is not high end but what I'll call middle end. We bought and had it installed about 23 years ago. I works fine washing dishes and it's quiet. However,it had one recall where the manufacture sent a guy over to replace the front panel wiring, and also the plastic on the racks are wearing out and we are getting rust spots on our dishes. We bought a sealer for the plastic and that may be an answer for now.
Perhaps I'ts time to get a new dishwasher.