I have a number of things that belonged to my grandparents - a Sunbeam mixer, a Sunbeam radiant control toaster, cast iron frying pans. The toaster is the best thing ever!

Maple rolling pin
Real Pyrex baking pans
Revere copper-bottom pans

Forgot the glass juicer with attached pouring bowl. Still gets more juice out of citrus than any mechanical juicer or hinged squeezer we have owned.

Oster blender wedding present 1983
Revere copper bottom pots and pans, some 30 years old, some 55 years old from my parents.
Cast Iron skillets from parents and grand parents, some 1940's and some1920's
Pyrex measuring cups and bowls from parents c.1950s
Marble rolling pin date unknown but older than me, and that's old.
Lots of funky kitchen tools that some people have never seen the likes of before... "what is that?"
And a couple of really special oval china dinner plates I ate from in the '50s

Just celebrated our 24th this past weekend. So many things that have been with us all these years. We often mention this and that that have been so useful and many not so memorable. My grandmother had a Diner and i have her cast iron, some very heavy stainless bowls and serving platters i remember from my childhood growing up on the eastern shore...oyster fritters, crab cakes...
I thinned our kitchen drawers of crap we never use finally. Pilled on the counter to go away but let DH see the booty removed. He approved to let it all go...
One thing rather silly we keep grabbing almost daily that we have had for 25 yrs is a rubber disk. We laugh about it often and have no name for it but i has been in our drawer front and center. "that rubber thing!" lol
Silly but it has fine print and i looked it up on-line. 'HandyAid'
I adore odd things useful with a history.
http://handyaidco.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/handyaid.12570227_std.jpg

dumb i know...but some things have so much history in a lifetime...

Here is a link that might be useful: handyaid

The list is so long but here goes...
cast iron from grandmother's and Mom
original DLC 7 and I have 2 others from the same year..I bought one for my Mom and one for my MIL...when they passed I got them back and gave one to DD and one to DIL which they all still use.
original pyrex bowls from DH 1971 and he got me a waffle iron at the same time that we use every weekend .
My Mom's sifter and my MIL's and my Mom's wooden spoons and some of her other kitchen utensils and her pyrex pie plates.
My Mom's 2 granite roasters
My original cookie sheets from 1975
My dad's carbon knives and steel...and they were old when he got them..he was born in 1910.
A stainless bowl set from 70's..has 2 /13 qt bowls that I use all the time..don't know where I got them.
Our carbon steel wok from 1973 and our Chinese cleaver ..bought that in the French Quarter at the same time as we were given the wok.
Oh and most special I have all of my Mom's glass refrigerator dishes with their lids...I love them instead of plastic ! I think that is it...great thread roco ! c

I have had few things that were my grandparents for as long as I have been cooking: metal mixing bowls, a metal colander, a bottle opener.

I just a few months ago replaced our 17 year old stainless steel Cuisinart pots and pans because they weren't compatible with our new induction range. Otherwise they would have lasted many more years.

Other things I have had for a very long time and expect to outlast me: Henkel knives, Le Cruset Dutch oven, WS cookie sheets.

More recently I purchased a kitchen aid stand mixer and an Waring glass jar blender and expect to have them for a very long time.

This post was edited by crl_ on Tue, Jun 11, 13 at 1:40

More of the same from my own DH's mother and grandmother, cook pans, melon baller with green painted handle, grandmother's toaster (it ticks), and on and on.

Then, of course, "all" my life: You bet. I tend to hold onto what still works as it's supposed to, signs of age indicative of honorable service. Including what's survived decades of hard use from my first set of nice, new cooking utensils bought with green stamps as a newlywed (the fork). I still remember browsing their catalog and saving for months to get them. Wood handles, too. I was so delighted with them. :)

I have an old cheese slicer that once belonged to my grandmother. It is at least 50 years old now. Nothing fancy, just a slim metal handle with a wire to slice through the cheese. I've bought many other slicers over the years, hoping to replace the beat up old one, but have been so extremely disappointed with them that I've thrown them all out. Grandma's slicer is a keeper. Wish I could find another that works so well.

I have an old cheese slicer that once belonged to my grandmother. It is at least 50 years old now. Nothing fancy, just a slim metal handle with a wire to slice through the cheese. I've bought many other slicers over the years, hoping to replace the beat up old one, but have been so extremely disappointed with them that I've thrown them all out. Grandma's slicer is a keeper. Wish I could find another that works so well.

Lisapoi I have often wished that I had the cheese slicer that my parents had. Don't know what happened to it but I agree modern ones don't work as well!

I have my grandmother's glass mixing bowls (colored on the outside, white on the inside); my mother's magnalite pots, and her cone shaped sieve and long wooden pestle for making applesauce. I last used that to make membrillo - so good! Also some of her vintage pyrex and glass refrigerator dishes (I just like those for the attractiveness factor)

I can't say I've had this my whole life. Rec'd as a wedding shower gift in 1965. So it's pretty old. Looks and works just like new. I do have many old utensils and bake ware that I've had since I was married, and a lot came from family. But don't remember who I got it from.

I have a 30+ year old Oster Blender, too! It still works, but it's getting tired, so last month I got a new one. Oster, of course. I kept the old one in the basement, though. Partly out of sentiment - it was a gift from my grandmother when I got my first apartment - and partly in case the new one dies suddenly.

I couldn't resist joyce, these ol' things just won't die, will they?
They sure don't make 'em like they used to...

My grandmother's spice box, old granite mortor and pestle (no one is sure how old. It has always been there since when grandma was a little girl), old cast iron wok, old rolling pin and marble board that is well loved.

what a good idea for a thread! love those pics of old mixers.

My yellow/glass mixing bowl (with the white inside) was my mom's and we also have my grandmothers big, green mixing bowl (heavy ceramic) that she used for making bread.

I don't have a lot of appliances that have been in our family my entire life, but I do buy older accessories. I found a really cute ceramic canister (with daisies on top) that was made in 1973, when I was at Goodwill the other day. It reminded me of the look (and time) when my grandmother made ceramics, so I really like it. I'll probably use it to store tea bags...which will look nicer than keeping them in the box :)

I have and enjoy my mother's Oster blender and aqua Sunbeam mixmaster -- wedding gifts from 1959.

I have my mom's silverplate which was a wedding present from her mother in 1939. I had service for 8 minus 1 fork so I went on ebay, found the pattern, Grosvenor, and starting buying bits and pieces. I now have service for 15 for me. I put together service for 12 for my DIL and should I be lucky enough to marry off another son DIL#2 can have service for 12. It was an obsession, but I never paid very much because I never bought a set, just pieces. The obsession has ended and I am happy.

A mixing bowl that brother and SIL bought me. Mixing bowls that were my moms, and several pieces of my original copper clad Revere Ware.

A spagetti guitar made in Italy, brought to the states by my grandmother, and passed to me via my dad.

I had to look up "spaghetti guitar." Pretty cool. They must not have had those in the part of Italy my grandmas came from.

I've had almost everything in my kitchen/pantry since I moved away from home. A set of non-stick pans got sacrificed a few years back and I bought a KA mixer a couple years ago. Everything else were hand me downs or garage sale buys. The only thing worth mentioning is a marble slab that sat on top of a cabinet at my great-grandma's. I've been rolling dough and cutting cookies on it since I was a toddler. I inherited it and her rolling pins when she passed years ago. It lives in my pantry because it's too big and heavy to move around and doesn't match anything in the kitchen.

Forgot the best one....I have a wooden recipe file box that has my grandmother's initials and the date she took Home Economics in California wood-burned into the bottom (1925). Below that are my mother's initials and 1947. I was blessed to inherit it when I married and (absent a wood-burning arts tool) I blazed my pre-married initials below Mom's and the date using a soldering iron.
It's oak, holds 3x5 cards, and is stuffed to overflowing with family memories.

I have the original Cuisnart DLC-7. Over 30 years old. My original Oster blender is now in my son's apartment, where he uses it every day for smoothies. Still use old Towle London Shell stainless- purchased when it was made in Germany. Now it is made in Korea. Would love to add more to my vintage set but it is exorbitant on Replacements. My Coalport Countryware and my Royal Copenhagen Blue Flowers china are all more than 30 years old. I bought my Hawkes goblets more than 30 years ago. Some Calphalon commercial that goes back at least 25 years. Suspect there's more if I thought about it. Have been in this house since 1977 and a great deal of the things here were purchased in the first ten years of living here, and are still here.

Kitchen-aid hand mixer c. 1961 - Just ordered a new cord & plug for it.
Revere copper bottom pans - the 25 year warranty wore out about 30 years ago! They belonged to my grandmother
Coffee Grinder owned over 50 years- that is probably 100 years old. Came from my other grandmother's kitchen.
Oversized Electric Frying pan/Griddle c. 1961 that still works perfectly.
Cast Iron frying pans that belonged to DH's grandmother. She gave them to DH in the 50's.
Pyrex bowls from the 50's.
And I could keep going....

My Oster looks a little "younger" than some of the others LOL.

My grandmother's (aluminum?) cake keeper which I"m guessing is from the 1930's or 1940's. She wrote her name on a cloth tape on the underside which I never get wet because it's such a personal reminder for me of her. She was amazing.

Love this rolling pin, continually in use since the 70s. Kitchen jewelry.

bump

Ctycdm--I just saw this post and the picture of your Osterizer and smiled. It was the one my mom had when we were growing up. It was the one and only blender we ever had.

Ah, the Oster blender! Anyone else, like me, grow up NOT on the East Coast and have no idea what the 'frappe' setting was?

They'll have to pry my Hobart-made Kitchenaid mixer from my cold dead hands.

When my mother passed away 15 years ago, I brought home the pastry cloth we rolled Christmas cookies on when I was a kid, so it's at least 50 years old. The fabric is thick, not like anything you'd find today, so there are only one or two tiny holes in it.