Buying good-quality items that are meant to last a lifetime can be a big financial win, regardless of the initial investment. However, just because an item says it comes with a lifetime guarantee, it doesn’t always mean it will actually last.
In a Reddit forum of savvy shoppers, member @qdobah posed the question: “We’re at or near middle age. Have bought any ‘buy it for life’ products? How are they holding up at the midway point?” They followed it up with, “Good, bad, neutral. Give us all your reviews.”
The shoppers divulged the products that have stood the test of time. These are 32 long-lasting items that lived up to their excellent quality.
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“Lodge cast iron pans are going strong. It’s wild to have any belonging that will literally outlast me. If you don’t mind the maintenance required for seasoning them, they are a slam dunk purchase.” —@RerollingAfterDeath
“I love my cast iron collection, but honestly I love my All Clad pans more, simply because of the ease of maintenance. We received a set of stainless All Clad pots & pans 20 years ago, we use them daily, and they still look as good as the day we got them.” —@IHeartChampagne
“My KitchenAid mixer. I’ve had it for 5 years and I use it at least once a month but it’s going strong.” —@bigkatze
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“Vitamix! They have had the best reliability, amazing customer service, and it’s a single consumer product I use every day and have not found a single issue/ something I don’t like about it. Great quality, great team based in the USA. My Dyson vacuums are so/so – customer service is trash. Lexus cars have been extremely reliable. It difficult to find items that aren’t short-term-use junk, marketing hypes, cheap crap made in China, horrible for the environment, etc.” —@WhiteRabbitOrngePill
“Le Creuset dutch oven. Can cook bread, pasta, stews etc. anything. It’s held up well.” —@Consistent-Duty-6195
“Sorel boots for snow. Lodge cast iron pans. Stanley thermos with the little cup on the top. My Stanley camping pot that comes with two cups inside. Honestly this Stanley camping pot has lived through hundreds of miles of backpacking and dozens of cups of coffee.” —@djn3vacat
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“People hate on them because they mistakenly think it’s an MLM but CutCo has been good to me. I signed up to be a salesman in college. Scheduled a bunch of fake demos with friends and family to cash in on the money they gave you to do it. Can’t remember what it was but I made like $3000 over the summer and only did like 2 actual demos out of the dozens I claimed to do. To top it off I never returned the demo set they loaned me. It was like a $2k set and I’ve had it ever since. Once every 5-8 years or so I spend like $10 to ship them off for sharpening. They’re sharp as hell and I use them every single day and have been for like 15 years now. Can’t beat literally being paid for a product haha.” —@dnvrm0dsrneckbeards
“Darn tough socks.” —@Traditional-Job-411
“Corelle dinnerware and my flatware. Definitely not replacing and they’re perfect after like 10 years already.” —@RainyMonster2635
“We have a nice set of henckels knives and pot set for at least 15 years now. Going strong.” —@Working-Librarian157
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“Lodge cast iron is solid although I probably hold a record for longest ikea furniture keeper. My corelle dishes are solid as is my Miele vacuum both acquired in 2005 when I graduated high school. My vitamix is holding up well, was a 2013 diploma grad present.” —@Clevernamegoeshere__
“My grandparents had weirdly modern taste and bought a Rosenthal tea set in 1957 that still looks chic and modern today. If it had been covered in floral doilies it would have gone into a box in my basement or sold, but this set is sleek, simple, elegant, and the most intoxicating, iridescent, mother of pearl blue. The set is 68 years old and I still use it all the time.” —@augustinthegarden
“Fiesta plates. Easy to wash and never chip.” —@Familiar_Luck_3333
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“My NES and Gameboy. These were OG from my childhood and still hold up today.” —@Pogichinoy
“Copic markers. Not even kidding. My mom bought me a set in 2010 and I still use that grayscale set. You can replace the nibs and refill the ink. They are worth every penny.” —@UnderlightIll
“I’ve been almost daily cooking on a Stargazer cast iron skillet for about 10 years now. It’s still going strong on its original seasoning. I also have a 1940’s Griswold skillet that makes magical pancakes.” —@RickS50
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“I bought a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife (camper model) back in 1993 when I was 10. This thing is still razor sharp and working as good as when I bought it. But the tweezers and toothpick are long gone.” —@halfway_23
“My kitchen is the most important room in the house. That’s where we’ve decided to spend our money because our kids have food allergies and I need everything to just work when I need it to. I want to buy once, cry once. But if it’s truly buy it for life, finding deals secondhand is absolutely possible. Viking oven. We bought ours second hand about 6 years ago and it was already 15+ years old. It needed deep cleaned and one hose fixed. And because I bake a ton, we have to replace the oven ignitors once every 2 years or so. It’s a beast and I love it. Because it was secondhand, we only spent like $600. New they are $10k+ All my burners are “the good one”. It doesn’t have any fancy electronics either. It ovens and stoves. That’s it. Thermador dishwasher. It’s the luxury sister company to Bosch. Ours is only 4 years old BUT it’s doing much better than the Samsung that we had prior. The salesman said that Samsung isn’t designed to last more than 5 years or so. One of the few BIFL items we’ve purchased new, no regrets. We really had a hard time deciding between Bosch and Thermador. The racks were what sold it. Thermador has better quality racks.” —@nutkinknits
“I bought a Zojirushi rice cooker at least 15 years ago when I was in college. I use it daily and it’s still going strong.” —@mishmashpotato
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“Well my Craftsman tool set certainly outlasted the company.” —@5oldierPoetKing
“I bought a burberry trench coat. 6 years ago. Looks exactly the f*ckin same as when I bought it. I dunno if its life but I think it has 20 years in yet. Worth it.” —@pokemonandgenshin
“My rainbow vacuum. My Yeti 30oz tumblers (idk about their coolers yet).” —@In3briatedPanda
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“Wolverine waterproof steel toe boots. Bought these for a job when I was in my early 20s, still going strong in the winters, but they only got about 8 months of consistent use before being shelved for snow days.” —@starwarsyeah
“DE safety razor merkur 34c saving money and getting better shaves.”—@ 808_surf
“I’ve had a Cuisinart Food Processor for 20 years and it’s as good as the day I bought it.” —@dunnkw
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“Still have my Doc Martens from 7th-8th grade. Aside from laces fraying, they look and feel just like they did back in the day.” —@bcathy
“Mine are all hand-me-downs from grandma. I have Corelle from the 70s, Pyrex glass bowls from the 80s, Tweezerman tweezers that were used when she gave them to me 20 yrs ago, and lots of cast iron. All of this stuff will likely outlive me.” —@cat_at_the_keyboard
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