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Retro Tools
For years, I’ve owned a small hand grater that I use mostly for parmesan cheese, but also when I need zested lemon or a pinch of nutmeg. The grater is so gnarled. Recently, I replaced it, except the new one doesn’t work nearly as well, and I find myself reaching again and again for my beat up old gadget. What’s your favorite retro tool?
Ceramic artwork by Katharine Morling
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Hey Wendy,
Not sure if this is really a tool per se, but I have a twenty-five year old electric stove in my kitchen that says “Lady Kenmore” on it. It’s old and ugly, but it works! Oh, and I have a 40 year old gas dryer that’s 70s rust color and I love it. 🙂
Both qualify. I’m trying to picture your dryer. It sounds so cool.
It is of the avocado green, harvest gold era. Good times!
Love it.
My Kitchamajig! Strains, drains, beats, blends, whips, mixes (that’s etched right into the tool). It’s a sort of slotted scooper, chrome-plated and made in the US, probably of 60s or 70s vintage. I think I got it was originally from an old friend of my parents. I use it to sift and blend mostly.
Not a gadget, but I have a set of stoneware mixing bowls from my great-aunt, likely from the 30s or 40s, I love those better than my modern ones!
How sweet to have the legacy of those vintage bowls.
I know this is not what you asked, but I have an amazing zester that I think you would appreciate: Pampered Chef’s Microplane Zester. I try to avoid accumulating too many kitchen gadgets, but this one is worth it. It zests elegantly, cleans easily and fits well in my hand.
What I like about my old grater is that is has a handle. I’m often worried with my microplaner that I’ll scrape myself. I just googled your suggestion and it looks perfect. Thanks, Emily.
I still (inexplicably) carry around my grade school calculator pretty much everywhere I go. It’s not a great machine, but on the back it has a cheat sheet of complex math formulas–you know, in case I ever need to figure integrals and derivatives while I’m out and about. @__@
That is retro.
My favourite tool is my “Swiss” potato peeler – such a simple, effective design (it’s the U-shaped kind, with the peeler bar joining the endpoints of the “U”).