10 Kitchen Items That “Still Work Like a Dream” After Using Them Every Day for Decades, According to Home Cooks

You know something’s good when someone used it for decades before you and it still works like a charm. Ten years ago, Reddit user tenome212 was given their grandmother’s Lodge cast-iron skillet from the 1960s, and since then, despite “cook[ing] at home almost daily,” they’ve “hardly touched [their] stainless steel skillets.”

Not only are cast-iron skillets really that versatile, but in the case of Lodge, they’re basically indestructible. User CRA1964TVII says that the skillet has been their everyday workhorse for over 30 years, but adds that everything they own from Lodge cast iron “can’t be beat.”

I’ll be honest: I had no idea what Zojirushi was before I came across this Reddit thread. Then I found out that my notoriously frugal rice-loving brother splurged on a rice cooker from them a couple of years ago, and I 100% believed colorado_sunrise86’s endorsement: “I have a 1980s Zojirushi rice maker that I bought at a thrift store 10 years ago for $5. It still works like a dream.” My brother concurs that they’re totally worth the retail price.

Vitamix blenders can be a bit of a splurge, but even though I didn’t get mine in 1992 like user CanNo2845, I can verify that they’re totally worth it! Not only are they made with incredibly durable parts, but you can make everything from ice cream to flour to hot soup — really, really quickly. User sahGypsySoul’s Vitamix was already 15 years old when they got it 14 years ago, and according to them, it still works like new.

There aren’t many brands that have enough market power that they become synonymous with the entire product category itself. Tupperware does! And it’s a sign of a truly impressive product. User baasheepgreat has their grandmother’s Tupperware containers from when “Tupperware came out as an exclusive novelty.” Not only has it lasted three generations, but she insists that it’ll “almost definitely outlast [their generation], too.”

A KitchenAid stand mixer can do a lot, but if you consistently have larger, more heavy-duty needs, it might be time to upgrade to a Kenwood. User AntheaBrainhooke’s was manufactured in the mid- to late ’60s or early ’70s, and they describe it as a “total workhorse of a machine” that “can knead dough for two large loaves of bread … without breaking a sweat.” I’m sold!

Stand mixers aren’t for everyone — I prefer a hand mixer myself, and so does Reddit user AloBlossom. Theirs is over a decade old from Hamilton Beach: “I’m rough with it. I don’t take care of it at all, and it still powers through my thick cookie dough.” Not only that, but in the last month, more than 10,000 of this under-$30 model have been purchased on Amazon. Clearly, AloBlossom’s isn’t a fluke.