First vintage appliance

[andic29]

I bought my first vintage appliance! It's a Hobart made KitchenAid K5-SS stand mixer. I have been through no less than 5 modern KitchenAid mixers in the last few years and was to the point of swearing off KitchenAid for good but then I started reading about plastic parts and plastic gear houses and the suggested solution was to buy an older machine when they were manufactured by Hobart.

I found one on eBay in perfect working order with a small bit of rust on the base for $81, including shipping. People charge quite a premium for these older mixers so I feel like I got a pretty good deal.

It churns through heavy bread dough with little effort and no overheating!

What was your first vintage/older appliance?

 

[cuffs054]

Andic, I advise using extreme caution. I firmly believe old apps spawn in the dark...

 

[wiskybill]

Caution indeed...

These two innocents started it all for me. The Hoover
Dial-a-matic and the Sunbeam perc.

You can't turn your back on them for too long, they conspire
to bring others into the fold!

 

[twintubdexter]

Of all the nerve!

I have that same "vintage" KitchenAid mixer but it's the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">older</span> model without the SS /solid state speed control. I purchased it new so I guess that makes me pre-vintage. No respect for old people today, that's the problem. All kidding aside, congrats on your purchase 

 

[mikael3]

Osterizer 463.

Here’s the little blender that started it all, just as it appeared in the eBay ad. 

 

Over the course of 10 years or so, I’d been through several new and supposedly good-quality stoves, blenders, and other assorted appliances, all of which were worthless.  So I was saving up to spend a boat-load of money on all sorts of high-end stuff, thinking that the problem with my appliances was that they just weren’t expensive enough. 

 

But as I was googling around for advice on the “best” blender, I ran across several recommendations for Osterizers--from the ’50s!!  I figured there wasn’t much to lose by trying a cheap one off eBay.  But when this thing came into my kitchen, I was absolutely shocked--speechless, aghast, downright discombobulated--by the strength, efficiency, and overall quality of this little old thing that most people would have thrown away--or added to the “art” collection on their shelf of ’50s tchotchkes.

 

That was only about 18 months ago, so I have really only just begun acquiring the things that I want.  But the craftsmanship, beauty, and utility of each new appliance continues to amaze me.

 

[vacosaurus]

I also bought vintage Hobart Kitchen Aid

I recently bought a used Hobart built 5 quart K5A stand mixer for my son and his new wife. About a 1980's model in white from a older couple in their 80's that were downsizing to move into a condominium. They bought it new and used it for their family till they were all grown up. It was in excellent original shape and I completly disassembled it cleaned it spotless lubed all moving parts and replaced the original grease in the gear head. The mixer is almost thirty years old and anything that old that is going to be used in daily service needs to be gone over and relubed. As a replacement grease in gear head I used Tri- Flow food grade synthetic grease # TF 22021 I bought it from WW Grainger in a 14 oz. tube. Kinda pricey about $22.00 but it did 2 Kitchen aid mixers with some left over. I also gave my daughter a older Hobart built Kitchen Aid model 4C from about 1964 that my older sister bought new when she was first married. Quite involving to go over them in this detail I took many digital pictures of them as I disassembled them for referance to reassemble them correctly. Also a tip for replacing the gear head grease. Save all grease removed so you know the correct amount to use as replacement. These ARE GREAT mixers very well made all metal gears. They came out beautiful and I am sure they will run another 40 years for my kids with no problem.I also have picked up later Whirlpool manufactured Kitchen Aid mixers from the scrap yard where I take my scrap metal to be recycled.They are really not to bad a mixer overall but they used plastic gear boxes and plastic gears which do not hold up under heavy mixing like bread dough. I do not understand why they chose to be cheap and use plastic in these critical areas of their mixer. Kitchen Aid had such a solid reputation why destroy it for a few bucks saved in manufacture. These also can be repaired fairly easily. A metal gear box is available for replacement and the gears are not too much money and there are several service tutorials on You Tube to show how it's done. so If you have one of these and it's broke mabey it can be salvaged for not to much $. But for me I will stick with the older Hobart built Kitchen Aids.I myself have a K5A in white my mother bought me for a wedding gift over 30 years ago. It's mixed a lot of cakes and cookie mixes and mashed alot of potato for my family and never a issue. Also great Oster blender you have I have a 2 speed model love it's looks and the feel of the glass container that was real quality. Hope my info helps someone keep one running out there. Bill,

 

[rp2813]

I love the Hobart K45 (no SS here either, Joe!) I got for $30 at a thrift store.  It cleaned up nicely and is quieter than anything Whirlpool has produced.  I wasted no time in kicking the raspy shrieking Swedish motor KA Professional down to the basement in favor of the K45.  I disliked the bowl-lift design of the Professional anyway.

 

Your Hobart will easily outlast all of your previous Whirlpool mixers combined.

 

 

 

[chachp]

My KitchenAid Mixer is 26 years old..

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">.. and going strong.  It's the 5 Quart Pro Line whatever that means.  But I will tell you it has made a TON of Pizza Dough, Bread, Sausage and I can't even count how many batches of cookies.  The thing is a beast.  I hope you get the same luck from yours.</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">My first Vintage Appliance was this KitchenAid KDS-17A dishwasher.  I was a a single owner machine.  There is a picture from when I brought it home and after I installed it. </span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">It wouldn't be running or looking the way it is today if it wasn't for a number of very generous people on this website.</span>

 

[turquoisedude]

I don't have a close-up photo of it, but right in the centre of this photo of one of my coffeemaker displays is a 1919 Royal Rochester electric perk (it looks like a trophy!) that I bought when I was all of 13 at a garage sale in old Pointe-Claire.  This is what started it all!!

 

My very first vintage large appliance, acquired in 2002, was this nifty Canadian-made McClary electric range!

 

The rest, as they say, is history... LOL 

 

[brib68]

Nice turquoise!

I like that range, Turquoisedude...but even more, that Club dutch oven is BEAUTIFUL! I've never seen that color before. My mother had a couple pieces in the same sickly beige that our rotary desk phone came in, and a newer dutch oven and skillet in harvest gold. And none of them were in such perfect condition.

 

[cuffs054]

Turq, what brand is the coffee maker third from the right in your pic? Think I have one also.
Of all of mine, my favorite is my "Magic Maid". It has a clear pyrex pot that slips into a stainless holder with decorative cutouts. The heating elements is an open coil in the bottom of the holder. It's fun to watch it brew!

 

[turquoisedude]

Cuffs, it's a 'Canadian Beauty' automatic made by the Renfrew Electric Company formerly of Renfrew, Ontario, Canada.  It was one of those things you'd see at every yard or church sale for years, then they suddenly disappeared.  

 

[andic29]

Wow guys, thanks for sharing!

Im loving the pictures!

turquoisedude, that pot.... it looks awfully familiar. Did they happen to also be made in a peachy/pinky color?

 

[rp2813]

Pictures

The K45 I mentioned above wasn't my first vintage appliance.  I couldn't tell you what that was, but since you asked for pictures I've attached a shot of the K45 along with a K4 I got from Kelly. 

 

I love the design of the K4 and the handle up front makes perfect sense on a tilt-head model, but mixing bowls are sort of a one-off design and not easy to find.   The original mixing bowl seen with the K45 doesn't have a rolled rim and as a result was responsible for some serious scratches near the top of the pedestal.  I've changed it out with a later K45 bowl that has a rolled rim, and am using a coated beater and dough hook on it since those can be machine washed.

 

[turquoisedude]

Andi, I guess I was looking at the wrong perk - the pot you've mentioned is a West Bend and yes they sure did make it in a pinky-peach finish.  I've got one like that, too!   

 

[andic29]

Vacosaurus,

Thank you for the info/tips on caring for the mixer. My husband finally got around to spiffin' it up and it's running smoothly and even more quiet than before!

Turquoisedude, I have the pink/peachy one! It was my grandmothers and looks pretty rough. She would store whatever she cooked in it, in it, and it's pretty pitted.

 

[midcentnurse]

Not exactly the same Electrolux I had but that thing really made me take stock of what was really becoming available, and more importantly what WASNT available anymore.. But I love my osterizer blender, I probably bought it in the late 90s but it's a steel beast as well.. Nothing even slows it down.