What kitchen items have you inherited and still use?

Jenise mentioned in Bob's food mill thread that she has several spatulas that were her mother's.

I have and love and use the following items that belonged to my grandmothers, who are now gone:

My Grandma Mae's boiling water bath canner, her terra cotta bread pans, favorite serving platter, food processor, favorite paring knife, angel food cake pan, 14 inch cast iron skillet, 2 pie plates, and a ton of her cookbooks, which I treasure mostly for the notes in her handwriting all the way through them.

My Grandmother Anna's fancy-but-mismatched fine bone china tea cups with matching saucers that she acquired one at a time over her lifetime, three mismatched-but-beautiful china serving bowls, one platter, mini tart pans, several souvenir salt and pepper shaker sets, and a madeleine pan.

Several embroidered tablecloths and runners designed and handmade by my great-grandmother Margaret (Anna's mom), who died before I was born.


Wow, until I started making this list I had no idea I had so much!

Oops! Edited to add Mae's 6 quart pressure cooker.

I've inherited so much that I can't begin to take inventory--and I use just about everything I've inherited. My problem is finding uses for the things I buy...

Maybe those old items are superior to modern technology.

I had to stow the wartime British ceramic teapot (enameled inscription on lid, "For England and Democracy" and on bottom, "Escorted to US by Royal Navy") when I was at university because housemates liked to break utensils. Including white-glass bowl of the 1930s Hamilton-Beach electric mixer with exposed motor pole pieces that tend to electrocute the user, but that still mixes so well ...

When my Mom fell ill about 3 years ago and moved to an assisted living home (she passed away last year), I acquired many of her kitchen items, including her fridge, stove and dishwasher (all of which were better than mine), a large pottery pasta bowl, silverware (my sister took the real silver), a set of Corell ware, wine glasses, beer glasses, meat grinder, meat slicer, waffle iron and many other items.

One of many but a favorite.

A potato smasher that is essentially a thick flat metal disk with holes in that is screwed onto a heavy metal handle.

Was my grandmother's, use it all the time.

Love those minimally mashed redskins with just a little butter, wee bit of cream or milk, salt and pepper!

[Robin Garr]

"Inherited"? Not literally, since my mother is still around (in fact, we're off to visit her in Florida this weekend), but in terms of taking over kitchen items that she's shed over the years, a few favorites: A giant spaghetti pot, a heavy black iron skillet and a heavy black iron dutch oven. At one point, an eight-segment black iron cornbread pan in the shape of eight ears of corn, but I think that one may have gone the yard sale route at some point. A set of three Revereware saucepans with copper bottoms that haven't been polished for about 20 years. Probably a couple of other items, but those are the only ones I can think of right now. All durable, ageless stuff that cooks just as well as it ever did.

I still have many items via my mother which once belonged to my grandmother, e.g. egg beater, cookie cutters, ravioli cutter, pizza baking sheets, pots, pans, skewers, potato peelers, can opener (you know, the one with one pointy end and one with a lip for opening jars), etc. A lot of the items are contained in metal tubes and boxes from the 1930's. It's quite a walk through history. Of course, whatever I make with them will turn out in accordance with my sainted matriarchs' current mood in Eternity.

Yes, I feel watched!!

My favorite item is an Italian cookbook, more like a pamphlet, published by the Shop Rite supermarket chain in the 50's. When my mother got married, she didn't know how to cook and she used it as her primer for many of the dishes she so expertly created in later life.

A Toasttiter.

I inherited a couple of 1/2 sheet jelly roll pans from my girlfriend's mother. I noticed that they are considerably heavier than the ones I bought about 10 years ago. I love them! I inherited a nice glass pitcher (with the bowed arm and curved lip) from my grandmother in which I make sweet iced tea every Sunday. (My teas are a bit more upscale than anything held in the vessel prior to my use, I'm sure.) I love it! Everything else in my kitchen I bought with my own pennies. Pitty!

Now that I have a gas stove and wood fired oven I can again use the pizelle iron that my great grandfather made. Passed to my grandmother and mother it has been a decorative item, hanging on the wall. I will use it in December for holiday parties.
Growing up in the era before electric pizelle irons it took hours to make a batch and developed upper body strength as it is terribly heavy. I was alternately annoyed and charmed. The pattern is entirely unique and it represents a wonderful history and tradition.

The pattern is entirely unique and it represents a wonderful history and tradition.

Are there photos? It sounds wonderful!

A Toasttiter.

Um. Er. Huh?

Oh, how could I forget! Last year we had a visiting scientist from Japan at my job. She was here for 4 months to work with my Principal Investigator on a research paper about nutrition and alzheimers in Japanese elders. She and I became fast and inseparable friends. Her first question to me was "do you know how to cook a-southerna-flieda-chicken?". We had a great time weekends teaching each other our traditional meals (I learned to make dumplings). When she departed, she presented me with her chef's knife. I thought my knives were sharp!! It has now become my preferred knife in the kitchen, and I won't let anyone else use it. When she returns in September she is going to take me knife shopping and teach me how to sharpen and hone my knives to get that hair-splitting sharp edge. I can hardly wait.

Um. Er. Huh?

Sorry Cynthia I put an extra "t" in it. Now, does it make more sense? A toastiter is a circa 1950's implement made of steel that is hinged at one end, followd by a round sandwich maker, and then has two long rods leading to wooden handles that have a clasp to hold them together when closed.

You can make a sandwich of cheese, or peanut butter, or ham and cheese or most anything you want; and then toast it over gas or electric heat, or a grill, or a campfire, or any other source of heat.

Yummy!!!

Ahh, a low-tech Snackmaster. The modern version is one more for my "nice to have" list.

edit: I see the trademark is now used for something else. The real Snackmaster is one of these:

http://artvoice.com/issues/v5n9/toastmaster

When my grandmother passed away last November, my uncle arranged a day on the weekend in which to lay claim to what my grandmother had. There were things that were promised to certain folks, so those were off-limits.

I went through the kitchen utensils, and grabbed what I needed. Most of what I got were things I needed for my own kitchen. This included, a few spatulas, some individual frying pans, a few baking accessories, and plenty of kitchen dish towels.

What I wanted and was saved for me, was a grinder which my grandmother and I used to make piccalilli. We used her mother's recipe. For the inquiring minds, it is similar to a relish, which you make from green tomatoes. The last time we made it, my grandmother gave me the recipe from the piece of paper with 'her' mother's handwriting. I'll do the solo attempt when the green tomatoes are abundant.

A toastiter is a circa 1950's implement

Oh! Thanks, Carl! I never knew it had a special name. I should have suspected, of course. My grandmother called it something else, but I can't remember what now.

A toastiter is a circa 1950's implement

Oh! Thanks, Carl! I never knew it had a special name. I should have suspected, of course. My grandmother called it something else, but I can't remember what now.

My Grandmother called it a Pie Iron or something like that IIRC. Ours was a round design and the sandwiches did resemble a pie of sorts. Them were some mighty tasty grilled cheese samishes. Time for me to find one at a yard or estate sale.
BP

From my grandmother (Nana)--bread loaf pans.
The powdered sugar shaker
A very cool brushed aluminum sauce boat (pitcher with its own saucer)--Made, I think, by Alcoa.

I used to have her grater, but that just got pathetic...

I love that a couple of things have "Irma" scratched into the bottom...we Fredas had some big reunions. You had to get platter back!

b

A toastiter is a circa 1950's implement

Oh! Thanks, Carl! I never knew it had a special name. I should have suspected, of course. My grandmother called it something else, but I can't remember what now.

We called it a 'Quixie' though I suspect that may have been a brand name. The Aussies called it a 'jaffle'.

My Grandmother called it a Pie Iron

That's it! Thanks, 'Winger. It was driving me crazy.

[Jenise]

Cynthia, in addition to the spatulas, I have a potato masher and a ladel that would have been part of a set, all Ecko Flint with the black bakelite handles. They've cracked and chunks have broken off over the years, but fortunately I have a hubby who can repair those with some kind of bondo, so they're practically immortal. I also have a turn-of-the-century Dutch oven complete with bail type handle for hanging over a fireplace that had been a great grandmother's, and a set of Pyrex bowls of different colors.

The bowls had been my grandmothers, and I grew up with them at her house. From large to small, the colors go yellow, green, red, then blue. My husband despises them because I won't allow them to go into the dishwasher--it will haze the paint--but they make my house feel like home, and though 40's-50's old they were so popular that they're not that hard to replace whenever one breaks. They made this set in other colors too, and some where all the bowls are the same color, and I've even picked up a few extra in different colors of the large yellow size--very useful for baking--but it's the yellow/green/red/blue set that makes me happiest.

I also cannot force myself to part with Mom's RevereWare 8 quart stock pot and giant frying pan.

From large to small, the colors go yellow, green, red, then blue.

My grandmothers both had a set and so did my Mom. At one point in my extreme youth I borrowed them from my aunt (who had inherited them), but had to give them back when I got a little more financially stable and could afford my own mixing bowls. Lending them was one thing, she was not going to flat out give them to me!