Sandra Reynolds
News out of Britain recently saw Bill Whitwam of Aylestone, Leicester claiming that he had the world's oldest working vacuum cleaner. Made in 1929 and used regularly since that time, the Hoover Senior had never needed replacement parts and had never broken down.
Being disinclined to vacuum, I was intrigued by the notion of a lifetime guarantee for electrical appliances. These days it seems planned obsolescence is the only guarantee we can rely on.
I am not a gadget person. Despite the pressure and hype I have successfully resisted over the years the temptation to have a vertical grill, an ice slurpee machine, a popcorn maker, a pie maker, a hotdog warmer, a yoghurt maker, deep fryer, convection drying oven (for making fruit chips presumably) a built-in pizza oven next to the barbeque, a benchtop-fitted apple corer and peeler (removes the peel in one piece!), a speedy chopping device for onions and garlic (no more tears!), a bottle preserving kit and an electric tin opener. I have never bought anything advertised on late-night TV - or early afternoon TV for that matter.
I have also resisted, to my regret, the temptation to buy some gadgets that would no doubt have given me years of pleasure and assistance - a slow cooker could have been used countless times on a busy working day, and has only just found favour again after being consigned to op shops for thirty years. Likewise, a pressure cooker. For years, it was impossible to buy one, now they are back in favour and are so much more amenable to flavoursome meals than a microwave. A benchtop pasta maker would have liberated me from the evils of dried lasagne sheets years ago if only I had not been so afraid of the effort involved. A mouli and a mandoline are also gadgets I regret not having bought years ago, since I now use them regularly.
What I do have is a basic list - I have a food processing machine, with various blades; a flat-iron toaster for huge slabs of focaccia as required; a wand blender; a bread-making machine which I still use, an espresso machine, a kettle, a four slice toaster; a huge and heavy mortar and pestle; a rice cooker and steamer; an ice-cream churn, a handle-held beater for whisking sauces over the stove, and my pride and joy, a Kenwood Chef food mixer.
 |
This is the veteran of my kitchen. As a teenager, it was offered to me, second hand but barely used, for the princely sum of $75. At the time, Kenwood Chefs were retailing for about $200. I snapped it up, and then promptly stored it away as part of a glory box collection, back in the day when such things were still talked about by teenage girls and their aspirational mothers.
When I moved out, it immediately started getting a workout. It had fittings for a blender and a mincer, both of which I bought, together with a dough hook and an icecream paddle.
The vitreous ceramic mixing bowl was dropped shortly afterwards and shattered, so it was replaced with a stainless steel version, which, though dented a little, is as sturdy as ever. For years these huge beasts sat on kitchen benchtops around the country - it was possible to buy flowery padded dust covers for them in manchester shops.
Mine never sits on the benchtop, but is kept in a cupboard close to hand. It has been reliable and hardworking, making everything from wedding cake mixtures to meringue, from christmas pudding to bearnaise sauce, blending countless soups and foods, mincing meats into leftovers, turning out custards, samosa mixtures, desserts, hot cross bun doughs, baby food, and a cake for weekly lunchboxes every sunday afternoon since the kids started school. Sturdy, a little dated, but unstoppable, it has been put through its paces time and time again.
Now over thirty years old it's starting to show signs of wear. It makes a loud grating noise that tells me a ball bearing is loose. It goes more slowly than before. It's due to be replaced, upgraded. There could be tears. It's not just my brand of mixer that is so good, I have a friend with a Sunbeam Mixmaster of a similar vintage (with different sized bowls, a very handy option) and she feels just as committed to her kitchen friend, bought in an era when gadgets were built to last.
When the time comes to buy another food mixer, the temptation will be to stick with what I know and buy something of a similar design. These days, it's nice to see TV chefs using those huge benchtop models, with stylised colours and a retro look. It gives the welcome impression that thirty, forty years from now, those food mixers will still be going on as reliably as ever. In a world of appliances with short life-spans, designed for fleeting food trends, it's a welcome return to longetivity and respect for our kitchen veterans.