By Kate Harvey
Content Manager | Pou Whakahaere Ihirangi
What’s the oldest appliance you own? It’s a question we recently posed to our members and supporters, in the hope of taking a walk down memory lane to a time when durability was an expectation.
The photos and stories we got back were a delight. So we’ve put together this collection for you to enjoy. We think it’s a nice reminder of what’s possible when products are built to last and the ability to repair is an expectation.
We’re on a mission to bring back these values and want manufacturers to have to make parts and repair information available. But we’re at a stage where we really need your help.
The Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill has passed its first reading in parliament and submissions on it are being accepted until Thursday 3 April.
If you feel strongly that this bill should become law, there are just a few days left to make a submission. You can find more info on how to do this on our right to repair campaign page.
This is Pam Fraser with the Toshiba food processor she bought while living in Singapore in 1981. Pam also bought an Equity milkshake machine around the same time and says both appliances are still working despite all the use they’ve had over the last 44 years. “I have used the food processor for years, and so have my children and my granddaughter. The milkshake machine is also still used by my adult son, who lives with me, and my granddaughter on occasion. Both machines still have the same cords and plugs on them and neither machine has given me any trouble at all,” Pam says.
Here's Russell Potts with the Fisher & Paykel clothes dryer he and wife Nicola were given as a housewarming gift in 1986. “We’ve never done anything to it other than clean the lint filter,” Russell says. It’s recently found a new home at their daughter Charlette’s house though – as the Potts have treated themselves to a more efficient heat-pump dryer.
Nicola Potts also let us know about the nearly 50-year-old Bernina sewing machine she’s still using. Given to her in 1976, when she was at secondary school, Nicola took it to Dunedin for her years of studying home science at the University of Otago. “It was brought to Wellington, where I now live, many years ago. I have had it regularly serviced, but nothing major has ever gone wrong with it,” Nicola says. “It’s still as reliable today as it was the day it was bought. I would never replace it.”
Nicola sent one photo of herself and the other of her father Ray Leslie, having a turn at sewing in 1980 – “He loved all the flash stitches”.
Lynne Hill is pictured here with a Shacklock reflector toaster – that’s what New Zealanders used to make their toasted sandwiches on. Husband Peter was photographed with it in the Otago Daily Times when he retired after 50 years with Fisher & Paykel in 2010. The toaster was one of Peter’s early designs, but he didn’t own one himself until being given this model as a wedding present in 1969.
The toaster just keeps going – despite the Hills having a more modern toaster machine ready to use if this one ever gives up. It’s been 56 years since the Hills got married, and despite the toaster being thrashed when they had teenagers at home, it still makes a perfect toasted cheese sandwich.
The Kambrook microwave it’s sitting on in the photo is also getting on. Bought in 1991, it’s still being used every day 34 years on.
Sue McCully is pictured with her “old friend” – a Kenwood cake mixer her mother bought around 1978. “Mum whisked up many impressive pavlovas using it, much to the delight of her children and grandchildren. I have used it for many years and am about to pass it on to my daughter-in-law. It is still performing well. The only thing that has ever been replaced is the power cord. So, three generations of reliable (if noisy) service.”
Our product test writer Bryan Wall has written a history and celebration of Kenwood Chef mixers.
Bryan quotes the designer behind this versatile product, Kenneth Grange, who died just last year: “I’m of an age where repair was commonplace, and you’d never think of not repairing something, be it your bicycle or your trousers. Whatever it was, it was repairable, and that makes a big difference to a person’s outlook. What better merit can you give a product than knowing it is actually going to outlast you?”
We want repairing appliances to be the norm not the exception – for the sake of both consumers’ back pockets and the environment.
Sick of wasting money on products you can’t repair?
Learn about our campaign for a right to repair and help us demand a mandatory repairability label.
