PURCHASING BRAND NAME PRODUCTS

I have come to the conclusion, that when it comes to appliances, there is no need to depend on well known brand names when purchasing.

There was a time when brand names meant quality, but that is no longer the case. 

Two years ago, we decided to replace our toaster and opted for a Cuisinart from the local kitchen store.   The outside of the toaster is stainless steel, but the metal is so light that if it were any thinner, we could fold it; also, the plastic knob that is used to push the bread down regularly falls off.    In one slot the toast gets dark in the center but stays light around the edges; in the other slot the toast comes out darker on one side then on the other - which means we have to turn the bread around and toast the other side.    I am fairly certain that the heating elements are probably the exact same Chinese elements found in every Walmart special.    We will eventually replace this toaster with a cheap one from Walmart.

We also have a Cuisinart slow cooker.  I like the functions that allow us to sauté and slow cook in the same pot; but again, the stainless steel is paper thin and the bottom of the non-stick removable cooking pan is pitted, like some one stippled it with an ice pick (for those of you that remember what an ice pick is.)    We have used only wooden spoons in the pan, and so the quality of the non-stick is in question.   We will eventually have to replace the cooking pan.

We recently replaced a solidly built, forty-year-old gas cook stove, because the oven thermostat went out and parts are no longer available.   We purchased a new Whirlpool.   The bottom drawer does not line up properly and the metal and plastic are so thin that I am certain I could rip the stove to pieces with my bare hands. 

Perhaps there are still some brands that produce quality; but they are the exception to the rule.    We have a twenty-six-year-old Rainbow vacuum cleaner, with heavy weight stainless steel wands, that is as powerful and efficient as the day we bought it.

 

My Honda motorcycle, which I loved, had plastic fenders and the chrome was not metal, but chrome covered plastic. 

My car is plastic.  There is no where inside that a magnet would stick.  I do get good gas mileage and it is dependable.

 Perhaps this only bothers old men like me, who remember when cars were made of steel.  You could even bumper up to a stalled car and push it without damaging either.

Young people today have been born and raised in this plastic throw away world.   It is all they know, and a normal part of society.   Technology has advanced so rapidly, that I doubt by the twenty-second century if there would be anything left that I would recognize.

the Ol’Buzzard