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Happy Birthday to Us; a trip down memory lane

By on January 12, 2020 in History, Parts, RevereWareParts.com

A year ago we celebrated our 10 year anniversary of selling new replacement parts for Revere Ware cookware.  If you aren’t familiar, the owners of the Revere Ware brand stopped supplying replacement parts for Revere Ware cookware sometime back in the late 1980’s.  For about 20 years, nothing was available.

We started out supplying a handful of parts in 2009 with this basic website, with sales solely on eBay.

Later that year we introduced handles for the post-1968 single screw pots and Dutch ovens, and switched to this beauty of a site; at that point we started selling through our own site, in addition to eBay.

We also started listing our parts on Amazon.com that year.  Over the last 10 years, Amazon.com has become a bigger and bigger part of our business.

The blue is eBay, red is our own website, and green is Amazon.com.

In late 2010 we introduced post-1968 newer style single screw handles for skillets and sauce pans, as well as the smallest handle for the pre-1968 2-screw line, followed by gaskets for the 1574 and 1576 line of pressure cookers.

In 2012, we switched from shipping things ourselves to hiring a fulfillment center to do the shipping for us.  This helped improve shipping responsiveness, and relieved us of the responsibility of shipping things ourselves, which became increasingly hard with the growing volume of sales and the arrival of our second child (now three) in 2011.  We stopped selling on eBay that year, as it was very difficult to integrate eBay sales into our fulfillment center.

In late 2015 we introduced the replacement, cap & trigger, and handle for the 2 1/3 quart tea kettle.  We also switched the the current version of our website.

In 2016 we completed a design for a 3D printable trigger for the 3 quart kettle, but materials that could withstand the heat weren’t available until 2018, when we added the model to Shapeways for ordering.

And all the while we’ve continued to add to our collection of manuals, repair guides, ads and catalogs recipes, and blog posts on Revere Ware related subjects.

We also started our ReverWare.org eBay listing classification site in 2010, with major updates in 2014 and 2019.  If you aren’t familiar, it makes finding the right replacement Revere Ware piece on eBay a snap.

For the last 11 years, it has been our pleasure to do something nice for the community of Revere Ware owners, fans, and enthusiasts.  Enjoy!

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If you love Revere Ware, consider cast iron

By on November 18, 2019 in History

We are probably one of the most enthusiastic fans of Revere Ware cookware, so much so, that we decided to start supplying replacement parts that were no longer available (hence this site and store).

But our enthusiasm for vintage cookware extends beyond Revere Ware, with a nice collection of Pyrex bowls, Corning Ware, and many well made vintage utensils.

What we like about the vintage stuff is that is made so much better than the most of what is available today, and it is relatively cheap.  Given the choice between modern aluminum and non-stick cookware or some beautiful vintage Revere Ware at the same price, we would take the Revere Ware every day.  Modern Pyrex is made of cheaper glass that breaks more frequently than the old stuff.

Along these lines, some of our favorite cookware pieces are our cast iron pans.  We picked these up from thrift stores more than ten years ago, seasoned them well, and have been using them almost daily since.  They have a permanent spot on our stove top, a large one and a medium one.

To be sure, cast iron is definitely in these days, with small boutique makers charging hundreds of dollars for pieces made by artisans in small batches.  But that just smacks of trendy nonsense to us.  We are perfectly happy with our ten dollar thrift store finds.  In our experience, almost every thrift store has some cast iron pans (just like we’ve found them to be a great source for Revere Ware lids).

However, an article I recently came across has me pining for some vintage cast iron to add a little more history to our stove.  As it turns out, cast iron has quite a history, with cast iron vessels being use for over 2,000 years.  The flat cast-iron skillet was introduced in the late 19th century and was really popular through middle part of the 20th century; most households had one.  And restoring an old cast iron pan and re-seasoning it, they seem to work quite well.

Incidentally, one of our favorite ways to use our cast-iron pan is for low-carb cheesy skillet bread.

So here’s to putting more history on our stove as I start searching for my Wagner Ware skillet.

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When things were build to last

By on April 28, 2019 in History

I came across this post on Reddit today:

I’ve got a set of both. Saladmaster is what my grandmother used and what I wanted more than anything. It’s what I grew up hearing (they have a steam release tapper) as a child when she prepared her wonderful food. When my grandma passed my grandfather gave me her set.

My mom always swore by Revere Ware 1801 and that’s what I got back in the 90s when I set up house. I’ve acquired a couple more pans since then.

I can sell either but just wanted others opinions on what they think is the better of the two, to keep, with out the emotional value attached.

I realize that neither of these would be used in a professional kitchen.

My husband and I move as DOD contractors every 1-2 years and am looking to size down the household.

I’ve never seen Saladmaster cookware in person, but based on the era it was purchased, I would have to say it has to be better than 90’s era Revere Ware.  As a refresher, Revere Ware made good, quality copper bottom cookware from 1939 to 1968, the stuff with the process patent stamp on the bottom.  Starting in 1968, they went to reduce the cost of the manufacturing and cut in half the thickness of the stainless steel and copper in the cookware.  That made it much less effective at spreading the heat, one of the things Revere Ware was known for.  Fast forwarding to the 80’s, 90’s and up until 2018, when Revere Ware products were discontinued, the quality got worse and worse.

I would happily choose any 50’s / 60’s brand over newer Revere Ware.

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The demise of the Revere Ware brand – the insult continues

By on March 10, 2019 in History, Interesting

In the ongoing saga of the thoughtless silent termination of the official Revere Ware brand, I have come across yet another prescient indicator of how little thought actually went into the decision and its aftermath.

If you search for Revere Ware on Google, here is the first result:

This takes you to this page on the Corelle website:

How fitting … it simply no longer exists.  But you can still sign up for Revere news and promotions.  And, rather than revising this page further than the no longer exists message, they left the prior categories of products (Stainless Steel, Hard Anodized, Open Stock, and Sets) and simply replaced the images with stock photos of other Corelle products that don’t at all related to the titles.

And to top it all off, they proudly announce at the top, Revere, since 1801.

Despite the fact that the most iconic Revere Ware products, the copper bottom cookware, was a complete dud as a quality product for the last decade few decades, it is sad that Revere Ware met such a demise, rather than passing the brand on to someone else that might make a better go of it.

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Corelle buys Instant Pot

By on March 5, 2019 in History

In what is being called a merger, Corelle Brands, which owns the Revere Ware brand, but quietly buried it last year, is acquiring Instant Pot maker Instant Brands.

There are a couple of reasons this is considered news with respect to Revere Ware.  The first is that, in the news releases and other coverage about the merger, there is no mention of the Revere Ware brand.  To date, we haven’t seen any coverage of the quiet demise of Revere Ware, and this is no different.

The second, is that, as we pointed out, the Revere Ware Meal-n-Minutes is somewhat the spiritual precursor of the Instant Pot.  The Meal-n-Minutes, which came out in the 80’s, is almost exactly an Instant Pot.  This is sort of a full circle for the owners of the Revere Ware brand.

Similar?  You be the judge.  Instant Pot on top, Meal-n-Minutes on the bottom.

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Strange speckled handles from the early Revere Ware days

By on February 25, 2019 in History

Karen sent us these picture of some very strange Revere Ware handles, that appear to be black paint over a speckled (Bakelite, we think) handle.

From our photo guide, we know that the logo and handle style put the piece somewhere between 1939 and 1946.  My guess is that this was some kind of early production model or prototype.

If anyone has more information on this type of handle, please contact us.

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Revere Ware may be gone, but it isn’t forgotten

By on February 10, 2019 in Ebay, History

While the official Revere Ware brand may be gone, it certainly hasn’t been forgotten, as we are reminded this week seeing Google search results for Revere Ware.  It seems that major retailer still see good reasons to try and draw people in using the Revere Ware brand, even though they don’t offer any actual Revere Ware products.

Neither the Bed Bath & Beyond link nor the Wayfair link lead to any actual Revere Ware products.

Interestingly enough, as Google Trends shows, Revere Ware as a search term is actually getting slightly more popular.

Who knows, this may be a second renaissance for the brand now that it is officially dead, which nostalgic interest building, plenty of inventory in the used marketplaces, and prices relatively reasonable still.

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It’s our birthday – 10 years of replacement parts

By on January 11, 2019 in History, RevereWareParts.com

Image result for vintage 10th birthday

10 years ago today, we listed our first set of Revere Ware replacement parts for sale. Prior to the availability of our parts, there was a 20 year period where new parts were not available at all, as Revere Ware stopped selling any replacement parts in 1989, after being bought by Corning in 1988 (more company history here).

Prior to our parts, the only option for someone looking for the like new look, or to fix a piece that was no longer functional, was a complicated Bakelite refurbishment process that involved repeated sanding with progressively finer sandpaper; very labor intensive, and expensive.

So wish us a happy 10th birthday, and enjoy your Revere Ware for another few decades.

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