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National electric coffee percolator

Retro National electric goods are great quality – I have a National blender that’s been going for years, and still looks and works as well as it did the day I got it. This ‘fully automatic’ percolator is in great nick, with the only signs of wear and tear being a few scratches in the metal. The inside parts are pretty much spotless! I think this coffee maker has great style – I particularly like the shape of the handle, and the spout which has a certain elegance to it. If you’re into coffee, and want something that’s going to look fabulous in your kitchen, then this is the machine for you. A great piece of functional design.

Dimensions: 30cm tall (with lid on) x 12.5cm in diameter (at its base)

Price: R250

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National coffee percolator

This coffee percolator was manufactured by National, the same company that made the fabulous blender and toaster I featured a while back. I’ve sold quite a few of these electric percolators over the years, but I think this one stands out somewhat – I think it has great lines (just look at the way the handle flicks out at the top) and I love the simplicity of the control dial which offers a varying strength from mild to strong. Unlike most kettles/coffee machines you find today, you can clearly see that this item was actually designed as opposed to just produced.

P.S. Apologies for the poor quality of the pics!

Dimensions: 26cm tall x 12cm in diameter (at its base)

Price: R250

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National toaster

This toaster is from the same company as the blender I sold earlier this week, a great brand if I do say so myself (I have a blender by National). I very seldom buy old toasters, but I just couldn’t resist this handsome devil! My two favourite parts are: the logo that appears on the front and back of the toaster (come on, that’s a really good looking logo!); and the way that the pushy-down button (technical term) stands out white against the black handle. The metal is a bit scratched in places, but because of its shine you don’t really notice the scratches. What you can notice is the way the shine has worn away on the top of the toaster, and the chord that’s a bit sad-looking in places, but overall not in bad nick given its age. I made myself a snack with the toaster earlier today and it worked like a bomb – amazing after all these years!

Dimensions: 24cm wide x 19cm high x 14cm deep

Price: R160

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National Recipe Blender

This is possibly one of the coolest blenders I’ve ever come across! It’s a National, which is the same make as my blender that I’ve had for years and still works like a bomb, and it has a built in ‘recipe’ function. Instead of the speed control being a simple ’1,2,3′ or ‘slow, medium, fast’ this blender has recipe cards that control the speed. For example, if you want to blend soup you’ll put it on the chop/mix function which is the second speed (it has four speeds), but if you want to make baby food you’ll use the puree/liquefy function (the fastest speed). It also has an automatic function that blends specific ingredients for a set time, and a cyclic blend that stops and starts the blender repeatedly. My very clever boyfriend opened the blender up to give it a clean (it’s like new now!) and was super-impressed at how well it was made and Chris from Wooden Spoon gave it a run yesterday afternoon and made us the most delicious soup – the blender worked like a pro. And aside from how good it is at its job, it’s also a very cool looking machine and is in excellent nick. This machine has already been around 30 years or so and I’m pretty convinced that it will still be going strong long after most of the blender’s made today have gone to the kitchen graveyard!

Dimensions: 37cm tall x 16cm wide x 26cm deep

Price: R390

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