Nehaveigur

The oldest piece of kitchenware I own is a stainless steel teapot. The previous occupants had left it behind in a flat in England I rented with my girlfriend when we first moved in together 15 years ago. We have been married for eleven years, moved to California, and had three daughters. The teapot is still as perfect as it was back then, as it will be 15 or 30 years from now.

In the same 15 years, we went through several iterations of mugs, plates and plastic food storage containers. What I’m getting at is that stainless steel is a miraculous material. It gets its corrosion resistance from the addition of chromium, making it close to indestructible. It’s also hygienic and looks good. Stainless steel cutlery also has the advantage that it doesn’t have any taste of its own. Spoons and other cutlery used to be made from silver, which has a metallic taste.

The only reason we don’t use stainless steel more in our homes is that it’s the preferred material of institutions like prisons and hospitals. Ironically, its utility and cheapness is also what makes it less popular than it’d be otherwise.