What the hell happened to my Revere Ware?

[human]

No, I don't really expect you to know what has become of my cookware; I just find it odd that it has disappeared. So Saturday evening, I was washing the dishes and decided to polish the copper bottom of my Revere Ware tea kettle for the first time in recent memory. It came out so nice and I had so much fun doing it, that I decided to go ahead and polish the few other pieces of Revere Ware I have (or thought I had) but the only one I could find in my pots-n-pans cabinet was a one-quart saucepan. I know darn well I had a second one of those, a two-quart saucepan, both lids, and a little skillet. I know that when I moved into this house six years ago, I got rid of a few pieces of crappy cookware I never used but I would not have gotten rid of the Revere Ware. There's an outside possibility that they're down in the barn in the Rubbermaid container that holds miscellaneous camping gear, which I have not used in several years. The only thing is my normal routine with camping was to pull the pots out of the camping box when I got home, wash them and put them back in the cabinet. That box lies buried and inaccessible at the moment and it's too hot to start excavating.

I became so obsessed with this little mystery yesterday that I did what any (ir)rational person would do—I headed out to a couple of Goodwill stores. At the first one, I found a one-quart Revere Ware saucepan for $2.99 with no lid. A few feet away on the shelf was a lid the right diameter that was obviously a Revere Ware knockoff—the design was right but the handle was wrong—but I convinced the cashier that they belonged together and got it thrown in with the deal. I also found a nice, heavy non-stick skillet in great shape. I'd never heard of the Cooks brand but for $1.99, I nabbed it as well. At the next store, I found yet another lidless one-quart saucepan for $1.99 and despite my better instincts, I bought it as well. Living alone and mainly preparing food in small quantities, that's a size pan I use a lot but three of them is overkill.

But I still wasn't done yet. I had also been obsessing over this apparent loss online and found a set of four Revere Ware saucepans (1.5 qt., 2 qt., 3 qt., 4 qt., all with lids) and paid a bit too much for them. I hate it when I get like this.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Yeah I've been trying not to acquire more stuff too. I was doing well but I made a couple thrift store stops Saturday and got some things.

FYI: The Cooks brand is JCPenney's kitchenware and small appliance line.

 

[human]

No wonder I didn't recognize the Cooks brand. I think it's been at least 15 years since I last set foot inside a JCPenney and it was never a place I shopped for housewares as an adult. Mom and Dad bought their first microwave oven there (a JCPenney branded GE) in the late '70s but that was an exception. We bought mainly clothes at JCPenney but for housewares and hardware, Dad was mainly a Sears guy.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I was just in 2 of those stores this week.

It's such a nice store.. a shame it's never full of customers!
I've gotten beautiful Stafford dress shirts there. I think it's called Stafford. I've also gotten nice home products too. I picked up a beautiful Christmas tablecloth there for under $10.00. I have tons of tablecloths.
Never was a Sears guy, except for their paint. I LOVED their paint. I was told it's "Benjamin Moore". I'll have to investigate.
My late brother was a diehard Sears guy.
I have a nice , large set of Revereware , copper bottom. The trick is to NOT put them in the dishwasher, as, it dulls the shiny black handles.
gas stoves are brutal on the copper bottoms. I polish them all the time. My late mother got them . She'll be dead 22 years in Sept. So, you know how old they are. And, they look like they did then!

 

[human]

Yes, I used to love JCPenney back in the day. I remember my mom sending me up there with her JCPenney charge card to buy Plain Pockets jeans and other clothes for back-to-school. Stafford was JCPenney's house brand of dressy men's clothes. I've got a few Stafford shirts myself and I think I may still even have a Stafford suit from about 30 years ago. They've definitely fallen on hard times in recent years, sort of like Sears. Changing times and inept corporate management don't make for a winning combination.

My mother had a nice set of copper bottom Revere Ware that I think my nephew ended up with. I don't put mine in the dishwasher; in fact, I usually don't put any pots in the dishwasher because they take up too much room, but they've occasionally gotten in there when someone else was helping me clean the kitchen and I wasn't paying attention. I'm definitely not the best about consistently keeping the bottoms polished. I take it in spells and sometimes I forget to buy more polish when I run out. When the handles get to looking dull, you can bring them back, at least somewhat, by rubbing them down with a little vegetable oil on a paper towel. I'm sure there are other products one can use but vegetable oil is non-toxic and it readily absorbs into the bakelite. I reapply it whenever I notice the handles looking a little discolored.

 

[oldsuck]

I’ve certainly been there!
Where could all my 60s butterprint Pryex keep disappearing to?!?!
My better half is about as clumsy as they come, so despite all the denial, I think I have a pretty good idea.
Then I get mad and dust off the credit card and find replacements in a fit of "It’s-not-fair, I-want-my-stuff-back!".
I have old Reverware too. I It.
I get a special kick out of using the buffing attachment on my Kirby vacuum to polish them.
You know, you can polish even the dullest handles back up to a nice shine with heavy duty rubbing compound followed by a lite polishing compound.
And maybe try getting a pot rack. I bought one recently after moving to a house with less kitchen storage. I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, but I had little choice.
We were very pleasantly surprised. It not only looks nice, it’s always organized, and it looks like someone who actually knows how to cook lives here. And it encourages me to keep my copper bottoms shiny. But best of all, no more stooping into dark cabinets clang-banging around for something that is ALWAYS under everything else, shoved way in the back.
I am officially too old for that bull.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Revere Ware Roundup!

When I learned that Revere was closing down their business I quickly pulled my inventory of all things R-ware.Most of what I have is handed down from 3 generations of family. I needed to order new handles for a couple pots and a skillet that had only the metal handle left. I also ordered one of their newer offerings, a copper bottomed and clad with stainless steel I think. It's two layers thick. Here's a funny thing I saw while cleaning a house that was to be put on the market. In the hall closet there was a large covered opening to the crawl space below. It was pretty beat up so I took the lid off to paint it. I stuck my head down for a peek and saw a 2qt. sauce pot, Revere, about 15 feet out from my vantage point. It looked good so I crawled down and retrieved it. Well the inside told the story. Somebody had badly burned what ever they were cooking, I mean almost to ashes, like it boiled down and was still cooking away . Had to of smoked up the kitchen, So somebody didn't want mom or wifey to know they ruined what appears to have been a fairly new pot. I can tell it was a pot from the 60's era. The dust build up tells me it had been hidden for probably 20-30 yrs. ago. The poor mom never did find out what became of that pot. Yes! I took the challenge. With a couple rounds of easy off oven cleaner and my drill with a wire brush added, I gave that poor pot a new life. The phenolic handle needed replacement, luckily I could then order a new one. You will most likely find your missing R-ware in the barn I'm betting. People used to hang their pots and pans above their center island or or other location, if the ceiling height is sufficient. I've got a stock pot and some other items that hog up all the cabinet space like a copper colander with a huge brass handle. At home we used SOS pads,copper brite,Zud, Brasso to clean copper bottomed pots. The SOS pads left a nicer shine when finished, but more labor intensive.

 

[human]

My copper polishing routine starts with Barkeeper's Friend to get off any burnt on crud, then I use a copper polish like Twinkle or Wright's Copper Cream. I hardly ever see either of those in stores anymore. I recently had to order some Wright's from Amazon.

I'm thinking my recent Revere Ware purchases will have me pretty well kitted up but I'm sure I'll be scanning thrift store shelves more regularly for pieces I do not have but I'll stay away from the more recent Revere Ware made in Indonesia, which is total crap quality. The next time I have a confluence of free time and a cooler weather, I'll dig out the camping box and see what's there. I know there's an incomplete Revere Ware coffee percolator that's in great shape but missing the little stalk that brings the water up to the grounds. I hope the other two pots are in there but I just don't know.

My sister and her husband have a commercial grade gas cook top in the center of their kitchen with a hanging rack above it. It's a pretty cool setup because nobody walks under it and they have a high ceiling so there's plenty of clearance for the cook top. I'm not sure something like that would work with my kitchen's eight-foot ceiling.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I used to really like the Stafford shirts. They don't wrinkle and fit me perfectly. A few years ago 2016 maybe I bought a few new ones and they felt like they were made out of some kind of impermeable material! There was completely no airflow through the fabric unlike the older ones. A shame since they still fit me very well.

Unfortunately the JCPenney here is on the closing list. I knew it was probably coming, the place just hasn't been stocked as well since hurricane Irma came through a few years ago. All of the departments seem to be scaled back and there is a perpetual clearance department the last few years.

A shame, since most of their store brand stuff was nice quality and fit me well up until now.