Making Mealtime Meaningful: Discover how we're giving back with the 12T Cares program →

How we cook has really changed over the years. But, if you’re an aficionado of everything vintage then you’ll be familiar with some of the charming old tools that used to be in nearly every kitchen. You probably even have a few of these in your own collection! Have a look at 12 old kitchen items that only true vintage lovers will remember!

Via/ Flickr

12) Pans With Sliders

Nothing else can help make sure your cake comes out so well as one of these pans. They are less popular today, but we can’t figure out why!

Via/ Ebay

11) Pound Measuring Cups

For back when recipes called for a pound of sugar or flour, these elegant cups did the trick nicely.

Via/ Ebay

10) Hoosier Cabinets

The best kitchen furniture ever created (besides the step stool) is the Hoosier cabinet. Elegant and functional, nothing reminds of an old-fashioned kitchen as quite as much.

Via/ Facebook

9) Wacky Salt & Pepper Shakers

We can remember all kinds of crazy cute salt and pepper shakers over the years. Thankfully these little guys are plentiful in antique malls and vintage stores.

Via/ Flickr

8) Bakelite Handle Utensils

Brilliant and beautiful, these utensils are more rare today. But, there is no other material that looks or feels quite like Bakelite.

Via/ Flickr

7) Crank Hand Mixers

To make quick work of a job these little mixers really did the job.

Via/ Flickr

If you love vintage decor and history, though, you most likely have used some or all of these wonderful old kitchen tools. We can remember the homemade cakes and pies, freshly squeezed orange juice, and savory meals created the old-fashioned way: by hand. Vintage kitchenware is one way to feel connected to all the cooks who have gone before.

6) Glass Rolling Pins

For getting just the right pie crust these rolling pins, filled with ice cold water, really helped everything go smoothly. We love to see them in jadeite like the one below, a real rare find!

Via/ Ebay

5) Juice-o-mat

The chrome finish and the efficiency of these little citrus juicers still amazes to this day.

Via/ Flickr

4) Silex Coffee Maker

The iconic design is really something. This atomic coffee maker graced many a breakfast table back in the ’50s and ’60s!

Via/ Flickr

3) Pyrex Storage Containers

Anyone who has ever had their plastic tubs go orange after holding spaghetti leftovers will know how much the glass of these little containers was valued. It’s a real shame they don’t make more containers like these today! And, nothing quite has that cute look like these Pyrex refrigerator containers.

Via/ Flickr

2) Dazzling Kitchen Clocks

They came in just about any design you could ever want from dogs to stoves to Dutch children to flowers and beyond. They made every kitchen just a little cheerier.

Via/ Ebay

1) Cake Breakers

Many young folks don’t even know what these are for today when they see them for sale. But, these handy tools really did a good job of cutting through layer cakes without destroying them. In those days layer cakes were the cat’s meow!

Via/ Ebay
Subscribe to 12 Tomatoes