What's your best yard sale or thrift store cookware find?

[visciole]

Vintage 1960s aluminum cake carrier with handle and the clever little latch on the bottom at the local thrift: $1.99. I LOVE this thing!

What's yours?

[Pat Hammond]

My beautiful, efficient Dualit toaster. $5.

[Tucsongal]

Last week I bought a Gaggia Gelateria for $12 at a local thrift store-it works beautifully and here in Tucson its almost always ice cream weather.

[beauxgoris]

A full set of Le Creuset for $10.00 (at a yard sale).

[hobbybaker]

WOW, are they mint conditions? If so, I want to move in your neighborhood;)

[beauxgoris]

^^They were in very good condition. Used but not abused, no scorched enamel (on the ones that were used), no chips, etc. It was back when I lived in Upstate NY. I had to leap over a crowd of other people to get them, they were all in one large box. I paid and left (more like ran to my car). I didn't even look at what else they had - too worried they'd change their mind! 10 years later it still serves me well.

[hobbybaker]

Although I haven't checked yard sales that often yet, I understand how you are thrilled and ran like crazy! I know the feeling the ultimate deal is coming up to you! My luckiest LC was I paid only $110 for my 6.75 qt OVAL at WS outlet on New Years Eve. It was 60% disc and a first quality; so I am satisfied still today. Actually, my neighbor picked up the same model for $10 at a yardsale and blagged what a waste of my $, but it was really old, scorched & chipped, and discolored .... nothing like usable at least to me. I do not want to pay even a buck for it!

[David A. Goldfarb]

In another thread I've mentioned the two 9.5" Mauviel 2.5mm copper stainless lined splayed saucepans that I picked up in the clearance section at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $19.98 each.

Around 10 years ago I bought a block of seven Sabatier 4-star Elephant carbon steel knives plus a steel at a stoop sale in Brooklyn for $40. The knives were probably a wedding gift, were hardly used, and were caked in vegetable oil, which I stripped off. After a few years, I decided the 10" chef's knife didn't feel right to me and sold it for $80 on eBay.

Maybe 11 or 12 years ago, they were renovating an apartment in the brownstone where I lived, and I noticed the contractors discarding a 25x25x1.5" side-grain maple butcher block, and I've been using it as my cutting board ever since.

[johnlockedema]

Four assorted heavy duty Magnalite pieces-talked them down to $10 for the lot.

[Cary]

Two vintage All-Clad CopperChef pans. One 4qt and one 3qt sauce pan. Free.

At the end of the school year in college, some students left these out with the trash by the garbage chute at my apartment building. I still use them.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Set of Perfex salt and pepper, $ 7 for the pair; 1940's commercial butter cutter, weighs a ton, works like a charm and cost $ 4; Maille pottery mustard container large with cork for $ .50, they sell for 40-60 Euros in France.

[purple goddess]

a 60 y/o glazed Le Creuset-style cast iron pot, with $800AUS in it.

At a pre-garage sale rummage-through, at a friends deceased father's house.

Returned the money, kept the pot. Use it for everything from slow cooked pork to oven tuna bakes.

Alqways makes me think of what might have been in all those other pots/canisters/boxes that we threw away and never opened.

[lagatta]

Too many things for one to stand out! I systematically patrol the chic neighbourhoods on my bicycle on a Saturday for garage sales. Rather recent finds include my $1 Crockpot (works fine, knock wood, in any case it has paid for itself) and a long-handled, professional quality tool that is like a big round spoon or flattish ladle with holes in it. Don't know the name in any language. It removes seafood and spring rolls from hot oil in my wok safely, and also pasta from a pot. This and a few other goodies belonged to a local chef who was moving to Asia. Unfortunately almost all his knives were sold - only huge long carving and slicing knives remained, and I have neither the skill (in terms of safety) nor the need.

On another note, I LOVE duralex glasses: only have two "gigogne" but a whole lot of "provence" in different sizes. They are no longer made, and many, many people miss them dearly.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Those flat perforated ladles are known in english as skimmers or spiders, though spider may refer only to the wire mesh ones.

[mtpaper]

Two Donvier ice cream makers, crank-style. At different times. Two different sizes. One for fifty cents, and the other for $2. Love them during the summer, for kids' slushy ice cream treats.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Sabatier 8" chef's knife $1.00 at a yard sale. It was in with a lot of garbage knives; and has been my main knife since I got it years ago. It was old when I bought it.

[jayt90]

I bought a new Sabatier 10" chef's, carbon steel, on Canal St., N.Y.C., quite a few years ago, for $10. At my worst, as a student, I pounded it through frozen roasts with a mallet. It survived and is still doing a fine job.

Once I found a Cuisinart DLC-7 in a Sally Ann store for $10. Another good buy.

[meatn3]

What is a Sally Ann store?

[lagatta]

Salvation Army charity shop.

"She's wearing rags and feathers,
from Salvation Army counters"...

[buttertart]

Thank you for the Leonard Cohen reference. I don't think I've ever heard an American refer to the Salvation Army as the Sally Ann - which is common Canadian usage. They don't seem to be quite as prominent on the scene here as in Canada.

[nofunlatte]

Not cookware, but barware. Leather travel bar, very late 60s/early 70s, with a locking key and a very dated (and oh-so-fun) recipe booklet for Southern Comfort. One dollar. Always a hit at the annual overnight work retreat.

[meatn3]

Recently found a little Krups espresso maker at a thrift store for $5. Appears to have been used only a few times. Works great and fits the tiny available bit of counter top real estate perfectly!

[Jennalynn]

If you're in L.A... it might have been mine ; )

I got it as a gift and never used it.

[adamshoe]

A 1930's or so potato ricer in flaking orange enamel. Use it at least once a week. The inside is not enameled so I'm not worried about eating metal/glass bits. 2'nd fave is a "bean-x" french bean slicer aka. guillotine. They were each less than 3 bucks! adam

[MMaineroe]

Years ago at a thrift store in the Maryland suburbs of DC I found three pieces of Le Creuset, unglazed cast iron. I got two French ovens, two quart and five quart, and a gratin pan. All in perfect condition, not a speck of rust or any sign of use. I've never seen unglazed Le Creuset anywhere else. The three pieces totaled about $10. I still use them just about every week if not every day.

[Beckyleach]

Two come to mind: a brand-new, never used Cuisinart hand blender, in box, for $4, at the Goodwill (back in the days when shopping there was fun, before they put all the good stuff online in auctions. @@) And at a thrift store, I found two flame Le Creuset dutch ovens--a 4 qt and a 2 qt. The larger was burnt out some inside; never have been able to restore the finish, but it's still useful for things that aren't like to stick. But the smaller was pristine. I think I got them both for $8.

The one that got away? One day, as I walked in the door of my local Goodwill, I could see ALL the way across the store, on the top shelf, a Vitamix blender!! Literally as I ran back, I saw someone stop their cart and grab it. SCREAM! The clerk told me it had sat there for five entire days, before the two of us walked in....