Household appliances that have stood the test of time

Rachel and Sydney Saunders' collection of 1950s appliances sparked interest among our readers

When Sydney and Rachel Saunders put their 1950s household appliances up for sale some of our readers got in touch to champion their own go-to gadgets that have stood the test of time.

"I remember buying my Kenwood Chefette - I was newly married in 1969 and hard-up like most newlyweds," says Wendy Attridge, 70, from Wells in Somerset.

Mrs Attridge says she used loyalty scheme Green Shield Stamps to "save for months" to buy the food mixer from the catalogue.

"It had a whisk, a fancy bowl, beaters and a liquidiser and it was really super. It was quite a luxury at the time," she says.

"I used it for everything - I've made many little children's birthday cakes.

"Probably 15 or 20 years ago the bowl and liquidiser went to meet their maker.

"But I actually still use that whisk if I'm doing eggs, making cakes, meringues, cream, hollandaise sauce - it's excellent.

"I've been married three times, so the mixer outlasted the first two marriages."

Wendy Attridge's whisk outlasted her first two marriages

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Meanwhile, Mandy Chrisham says her Tower slow cooker outperforms all four newer models in her collection.

"My parents gave it to me in about 1988 and it was already knocking on a bit then," says Mrs Chrisham, 50, from Oldham in Manchester.

"Out of all five of my slow cookers this one is my favourite. It's never let me down, when I watch old episodes of Bullseye it pops up as a prize.

"We have slow cooker parties where each person makes a curry, a chilli, a potato hash, lasagne or hot dogs for the kids.

"We take them around to people's houses, plug them in and you all help yourself. It takes the pressure off.

"My old Tower one definitely cooks the best. It's the one I know will be the right temperature. I can put it on in the morning and by the afternoon it'll be perfect.

"Nowadays people chuck things in the slow cooker and expect them to work miracles but they're not the same as the old ones."

Mandy Chrisham says her oldest slow cooker out performs her four newer ones

Stella Mitchell poured her love for 20th Century culture into her museum called The Land of Lost Content in Craven Arms in Shropshire.

Among her eclectic collection are mangles, vacuum cleaners, spin dryers, refrigerators and ovens from days gone by.

"These things lived with you for many, many years so people got familiar with their washing machines," says Mrs Mitchell.

"They got to know them so them donating them means they haven't killed, it's still living in a museum.

"When people see these old appliances here it's like seeing an old friend.

"They invested so much money in them, they weren't cheap like things you get today.

"They were built well and lasted forever and you expected it to keep going."

Stella Mitchell says household appliances like this Debonair spin dryer were expected to go on forever in years gone by

This expectation was shared by many of our readers who took to social media to remark that things are not built like they used to be.

Alison Howard posted: "New ones today you'll be lucky to get 10 years out of them, they don't make them to last like they used to."

So are our white goods really not built to last these days?

Nikki Stopford at Which? says their latest reliability survey results showed that consumers expect the best appliances to last for ten years without developing a fault.

"So clearly these products have far exceeded expectations," she says.