The first stand mixer in our home was inherited from my Uncle Ted. During our college and seminary years, I baked bread regularly, often baking for other families as well as our own. We were just a couple then, and it was easy to bake three loaves at a time, but I generally doubled the recipe and baked six. Without a mixer, I mixed everything by hand. I learned the art of using just the right amount of flour when kneading the bread. We hadn’t really set up a household yet. We married as students and received many gifts, including dishes, silverware, pots and pans, and baking dishes. We bought a large stainless steel mixing bowl for bread baking. Because we were living in furnished apartments, we did not need to own furniture. When we graduated from seminary after five years of marriage, the only furniture we had was a desk.

Our first job out of seminary came with a parsonage, but no furnishings. We scrambled to collect the things we needed, mostly using extra items from our families. Among the things we brought to that house was a Sunbeam Mixmaster that had belonged to my Uncle Ted. I don’t know how old the mixer was. My Uncle Ted wasn’t much of a baker or cook. I think my Aunt Florence probably used the mixer before she died. Nonetheless, the machine worked well. It didn’t have dough hooks and wasn’t heavy enough for bread dough, but it worked well for cookies, cakes, and whipping cream.

That mixer showed signs of age, but it didn’t completely fail. We replaced it when my mother decided she no longer needed her KitchenAid mixer. It was larger and more powerful than the Sunbeam, and it had dough hooks. I could place the ingredients for bread into it, and it would mix three loaves without a problem. It was a labor-saving device. I don’t know its exact age, but it is at least 50 years old. Once it started making a grinding metal sound, I was able to obtain a new transmission for the machine and replace it. It can be easily disassembled with hand tools and has very little plastic in the design.

This year, however, the motor finally failed. I could replace the motor, but the cost of the motor is more than half that of a new machine. I would like a larger mixer for when I am baking for the family. The available ones are very similar to the one we have, though they aren’t available in the vintage 1970s color we have. Costco seems only to have red mixers at the moment. Color isn’t important, but I have been hesitating. I can mix and bake without a machine.

We are not rich, but we have enough money to buy a new mixer. My hesitation is twofold. I could buy a new motor for the old mixer. It would likely last the rest of my life. The result would be less garbage in the landfill. The second reason is that, in our experience, appliances are not as well-made and do not last as long as those made a few decades ago.

The materials economy is a system of producing, consuming, and disposing of goods. We all participate in that economy. That system thrives on constant consumption. Corporations exist to make profits. The more they sell, the more profit they generate for shareholders. There is little incentive in the system, the way it currently operates, for companies to make products that last a long time. For example, we have the knowledge and technology to make a dishwasher that would last for a century with regular maintenance. We know this from the duty cycles of commercial dishwashers in restaurant kitchens. However, a company that makes dishwashers for home use makes more money if consumers need to replace their dishwashers every few years, rather than selling machines that last for decades.

We bought new major appliances for our kitchen when we purchased a home in Rapid City, SD, in 1995. The refrigerator and stove were still working and in good condition when we sold our home in 2020. The house we bought here featured an updated kitchen with newer appliances. We have replaced the stove, refrigerator, microwave, and dishwasher in the four years we have owned this home. I can tell similar stories about our laundry washer and dryer.

The notion that a kitchen appliance might be something passed down from one generation to the next has disappeared. Our children are already well established in their homes and do not need the appliances in ours. It remains to be seen what our grandchildren will need when they begin to move out of their home, but it seems unlikely that they will want Grandma and Grandpa’s old stand mixer.

One thing about being retired is that many decisions are not particularly time-sensitive. I don’t have a deadline to solve the problem with a stand mixer that isn’t working. I will bake a few buns for Thanksgiving, but our son and his family will be traveling, and we'll be caring for the farm, so that we won’t have a big celebration dinner. We are traveling to our daughter’s home for Christmas, and she has a beautiful stand mixer. The next time I will be baking for a crowd at our house will be New Year’s Day, and I can easily mix up a double batch of bread by hand. We still have the large mixing bowl I used when we were students. We probably have the same wooden spoons, too.

There is a German Company, Open Funk, that is deliberately selling high-quality products. It sells a blender that is designed to be easily repaired when it breaks. They apply principles of high-quality materials, repairability, modularity, open source, and the right to repair. They sell all of the parts of their blender. Unfortunately, they do not yet manufacture a stand mixer, and a blender is no match for bread dough. I like the ideas of their company, but I don’t need a blender. Still, I hope their company succeeds. We need more appliance options.

I’m still pondering what to do about the mixer. I’ve got the time.