Antique Toasters

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

These toasters were made to last, I'm sure, which is something we don't see anymore in mass-produced appliances, or anything else, for that matter. As I mentioned in a previous post, my grandmother had a toaster like the one being discussed here. It lasted years, if not decades, and may well have been working even after she died in 1985; this speaks volumes for the manner in which appliances were built in the 1920s to about the 1960s. We wll never see this kind of quality again, as I am about to explain.

I had a Sharp microwave for 20 years; it finally gave up last month, but I wasn't disappointed when it quit. It gave me excellent service in that time (I bought it new when I moved to my apartment in 1999), which again speaks volumes for how things were built until everything was being made in Japan and elsewhere in the Orient.

However, when my Sharp microwave finally quit (it began throwing sparks near the end, and I saw a bit of smoke in the cavity as well the last time I used it), I bought a Black and Decker microwave, which works very well--for now, anyway. I do not expect the new one to last anywhere nearly as long as the old one did, given the cheap and often slipshod way many if not most appliances are built nowadays; however, what can you do?

The B&D oven is probably a low power one, something like 600 or 700 watts.
They don't cook fast enough for many users.
The GE over-the-range microwave in my place is 1800 watts and you have to watch how it's used. It could easily overcook or make an item too hot. It's made in Korea and been trouble-free for 18 years.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The B&D oven is probably a low power one, something like 600 or 700 watts.
They don't cook fast enough for many users.
The GE over-the-range microwave in my place is 1800 watts and you have to watch how it's used. It could easily overcook or make an item too hot. It's made in Korea and been trouble-free for 18 years.

The cooking time is not an issue for me. If the item I'm cooking isn't hot enough by the end of the cooking cycle I originally set the microwave for, I just run the same item another minute or so. Nine times out of ten that does the trick.

BTW, I purchased this particular B&D microwave because of the price point (well under $100) and because it is much smaller and lighter (25 pounds) than the one I had. As it is, I needed some help to discard the old Sharp microwave due to its size and weight (due to a bad fall I had several years ago, I am somewhat unsteady on my feet, so I don't trust myself carrying anything that heavy anymore) and to install the new one (even at 25 pounds, it is still heavy enough to throw me off balance all too easily).

Your Korean-made GE microwave is doing well after 18 years. My Sharp microwave was in terrible shape when I finally got rid of it; the paint was flaking off the cavity, which may explain why the microwave was throwing sparks shortly before I ordered the new one. The old one would probably still be working today had it not been for that problem, although there were other small things going wrong with it by that time as well, such as the end-of-cycle signal having become so weak as to be inaudible; this signal also alerted the user when any button on the keypad was pressed, and of course I could barely hear that signal either.

The sparks I saw when the Sharp microwave was running were an unmistakable sign the machine was very close to the end of its useful life; had I continued to use it in this condition it could well have started a fire, if the microwave did not blow a fuse first. I live in an apartment, so I have to watch these things very carefully, for obvious reasons.



I have no idea, however, how or why the paint started falling off the inside of the cavity. I did not in any way, at any time, abuse the microwave ( e. g. slamming dishes, etc. into it), so this is truly a mystery to me. I am at a loss to explain why this even started in the first place.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

The cooking time is not an issue for me. If the item I'm cooking isn't hot enough by the end of the cooking cycle I originally set the microwave for, I just run the same item another minute or so. Nine times out of ten that does the trick.

BTW, I purchased this particular B&D microwave because of the price point (well under $100) and because it is much smaller and lighter (25 pounds) than the one I had. As it is, I needed some help to discard the old Sharp microwave due to its size and weight (due to a bad fall I had several years ago, I am somewhat unsteady on my feet, so I don't trust myself carrying anything that heavy anymore) and to install the new one (even at 25 pounds, it is still heavy enough to throw me off balance all too easily).

Your Korean-made GE microwave is doing well after 18 years. My Sharp microwave was in terrible shape when I finally got rid of it; the paint was flaking off the cavity, which may explain why the microwave was throwing sparks shortly before I ordered the new one. The old one would probably still be working today had it not been for that problem, although there were other small things going wrong with it by that time as well, such as the end-of-cycle signal having become so weak as to be inaudible; this signal also alerted the user when any button on the keypad was pressed, and of course I could barely hear that signal either.

The sparks I saw when the Sharp microwave was running were an unmistakable sign the machine was very close to the end of its useful life; had I continued to use it in this condition it could well have started a fire, if the microwave did not blow a fuse first. I live in an apartment, so I have to watch these things very carefully, for obvious reasons.



I have no idea, however, how or why the paint started falling off the inside of the cavity. I did not in any way, at any time, abuse the microwave ( e. g. slamming dishes, etc. into it), so this is truly a mystery to me. I am at a loss to explain why this even started in the first place.

It's amazing how inexpensive they can build an item today! I bought a Panasonic microwave oven in 1986. It was $269 back then. It's a 650 watt and it seemed to do every thing I needed. It was used daily until 2003 when I moved into my present home. I still have it in my warehouse.