That fridge is a survivor by definition. It may even be the last surviving fridge of that type. There may have been 10,000 similar fridges once upon a time, but how many of them broke within the first year? How many of them lasted 10 years?
Speaking of fridges, they along with other large appliances, seem like the perfect products for repair rather than replacement. I imagine that most fridges that stop working do so because of the cooling system. Yet fridges, especially the higher end ones I see in stores, have a ton of large, precision machined metal pieces. The same can be said for washers/dryers. It seems like such a shame to throw something like that out when the cooling or motor breaks down.
Edit: I went to an antiques market in Long Beach a few months ago and there was a vendor displaying meticulously restored, and fully functional, fridges from the 50s-60s along with similar era stoves and ranges. They were fairly expensive, I assume the resto work is quite labor intensive, and since the target market is people who are restoring mid century homes in Socal and want a period correct kitchen, but it was great to see them continuing to function.
You're right, I hadn't considered that. This thread makes me curious how hard replacing and modernizing the cooling system of an older fridge would be.
I'm pretty sure the parts are mostly stamped. The parts that come out of the process are high quality, but it is a rapid process. This How It's Made for a fridge starts with the forming of the body:
>>the target market is people who are restoring mid century homes in Socal and want a period correct kitchen
Apart from the looks, why the hell would you want 60s kitchen appliances? Clunky, loud as hell, inefficient washing machines and dishwashers are something that people not only actively search for, but are willing to pay premium for?
That old Zoppas fridge inner design was actually interesting; a bit more cute, a bit more solid and thoughtful than the fridge I had to buy last year. It felt entirely made for pleasure of using it, instead of the recent ones who put cute LEDs to be like smartphones.
I'm pretty sure the main reason is aesthetics. And to be clear, I only saw fridges and stoves/ranges, no washing machines or dishwashers.
There are actually quite a lot of very nice smaller MCM homes in the area, Long Beach specifically has some great ones, and they are becoming fairly popular to renovate while keeping the original design. Some are quite small, by modern standards, and I think maybe the smaller size of the appliances are also attractive, but I haven't been appliance shopping much and I've never done a kitchen renovation so don't take this as gospel.
I just think that if someone has the money then a company like AGA makes cookers which I'm sure have looked exactly the same for the past 60 years - so you get the vintage look but modern efficiency:
Those AGA stoves do indeed look great. This was a few months ago so my memory is a bit hazy, but I believe the prices for the smaller 24" cast iron stoves were around $3000, which I found to be pricey. The AGA cast iron stoves in that size range seem to be $7000+ here in the US, although this was a quick look at pricing so I may be off. I can see why someone looking for that style might go with a restored stove.
On another note, I can definitely see that modern appliances like dishwashers or washing machines/dryers would be much better and more effective than older versions. I do wonder if there's any noticable difference in comparing something like an old cast iron gas stove to a modern gas stove?
In my experience, the main thing that distinguishes gas stoves is how precise the flame control is and how much heat you can throw off on at least one burner. (And, I guess, the flame pattern although given decently thick-bottomed pans it doesn't really matter much.)
But in general, a gas stove is a ring of flame. There's not much to it. You need enough flame and you need to be able to control it. If you have those two things, an old stovetop is fine.
Ovens are more complicated and I'm not generally a fan of gas ovens.
I would love to give my wife a fully restored, cobalt blue O'Keefe-Merritt Grillevator stove (as part of a full kitchen remodel to boot, because it would require it). Unfortunately, we don't have gas in our neighborhood, and the nearest supply is at the corner of our street (I once asked the utility what it would cost to run a hookup to our house - it would be cheaper to buy another house).
Which is unfortunate - they are awesome looking and very functional units; there is nothing on the market like them today.
There are many other components in a modern fridge besides the cooling system, from thermostats to multiple circuit boards, and the rubber around the freezer door is heated.
Fridge issues are often caused by software bugs and are fixed by reprogramming the circuit board with newer firmware, or just by reinstalling the current version. This also applies to other house appliances with programmable parts, including washing machines.
That's good to know, actually. I have grown up with an "it's broken - chuck it and buy a new one" mentality, and the fact that it often costs a comparable amount: £30 for a repair guy to come out and "see if he can fix the problem", and then undefined labour costs and parts vs known cost of a new one doesn't help.
I suppose if you're chucking the old one out anyway, it's worth trying to fix it yourself for a bit, but I've always got time constraints (I'm a serial procrastinator), and I never do.
Well, that was kind of my point. I doubt many fridges break because the metal corrodes or the doors fall off. A fridge is made of quite a bit of material that isn't comprised of the cooling system, and it seems like a shame to throw it all out when the cooling system could be replaced.
That's a very particular spot to discuss. I often wonder what the hell is in a new washing machine. I suspect that most of the new machines mostly give you a bit newer dashboard and a few program options.
All in all, if house appliance were designed to be modular, you could keep a piece and use another one with it.
Alas I don't want it to end up like the computer world where standard competes and forces other problems.
Maybe a middle ground with blocks that aren't too coupled/soldered and more modder communities to discuss how to adapt etc
You would need standard form factors. Like my ATX tower computer case, which hosted a grand total of three different motherboards before I ended up with some free cap-rot era Dell workstations. After re-capping their boards, I discovered they were not ATX compliant, and couldn't be moved to any other case. My high-quality ATX case thus sits idle, awaiting the day when I get a new board for my newer mini-ITX case, and make it my backup machine.
Those non-standard Dell cases and power supplies will go into the trash.
It's more economical to recycle the metal parts and built new appliances than to reuse existing bodies. There is no technical uniformity in refrigerator designs, so retrofitting each one becomes bespoke engineering rather than simple assembly. Costs would skyrocket.
It would probably be more efficient (from an economic as well as an environmental standpoint) to force manufacturers to design appliances that can be fully disassembled and recycled with a minimum of effort (in terms of labour and energy). That way the raw materials used stay in use with minimal loss, and buying a new one won't be a waste at all.
Not necessarily. In my own case, if I had known, I'd have hacked my now dead fridge. The new ones are below it in every department. The market can aim at stupid if it provides sales and profit; while old models were designed to be actually useful.
We even asked with a two doors large fridge was the same price as vertical-stack slightly thinner one, the salesman ended up admitting that it was because it's designed to be more practical (better volumes).
We still have a 1995 fridge that runs continuously and never had a single problem with it. I suspect even the bulbs are still original. And no, it wasn't an expensive fancy model - just a cheap Electrolux larder fridge.
So...22 years and counting? What I mean is that it doesn't prove absolutely anything. Our electrolux fridge might survive another 40 years. Or it might break tomorrow.
I would lean on the side of that 60-year old fridge being an extremely weird exception, rather than a rule or proof of longevity of old stuff.
You know I didn't mean to say all lived 60 years, but more a "we were wrong on the limit". I've never heard of even 40 years lifespan. At best once a 30yo washing machine. The usual is 20 years (and tears). 3x
That certainly has never been my experience. Oh, I've had repairs now and then. Ice makers are notoriously finicky in freezers. And there was one apparently designed PCB for the display in my oven. (A remanufactured board seems to have finally fixed things.)
But I've got a dryer that was old when I moved into my house 20 years ago. And everything except the washer--which also was in the house when I arrived--was installed shortly after I moved in. I think all my dad's appliances, except for the microwave, are at least as old.
Probably between lower prices in general and more delicate electronics the situation is worse today but major appliances really do last for quite a while most of the time. (TVs have been far worse for me but, then, there tend to be reasons to upgrade them over time.)
Until two years ago I had a Miele washing machine that I bought used from an old lady for 20 € (an inlet pipe was broken but could easily be fixed), and I used it for almost four years before getting a new one and selling the old one to the next owner (it still worked perfectly). And while the new machine is more efficient in terms of energy and water use, the quality of the results is not much better actually. The old machine was built in 1983 and weighed close to 100 kg, with almost all exterior parts realized as enameled metal and all mechanical parts built with (seemingly) large tolerances. The new machine, on the other hand (which is also a Miele) sports many plastic parts and (obviously) is much more complex on the inside, with more control programs and a digital display (it is also significantly lighter, which might be good or bad). I'm not saying that the new model is worse than the old one (it definitely has its merit), I just find it awesome that Miele built machines with such a large lifespan, and I hope they'll continue doing so. We'll see if the new one also lasts 30 years ;)
I've had multiple fridges which were two or three decades old, through renting prefurnished or buying along with a home. I've never had a fridge break down on me. It seems reasonable for a fridge made today to last 60 years.
Of course it could happen today... If you buy it at the same inflation-adjusted price. Drop a few thousand on a Miele and you've got a strong chance it will last 60 years.
Realistically, those old devices should have been shot in the head years ago. Energy wasters, space wasters, toxic materials used in their manufacture, environmental hazards.
