Thought my mom's $8 rice cooker from 1994 was junk until she made me dinner on it in Phoenix
I spent 3 weeks trying to talk her into a new one, then she pulled the cord out, rinsed the pot, and made the best sticky rice I've had in 20 years, so what cheap old thing did you write off too fast?
My mom has a hand mixer from like 1985 that I keep telling her to toss. Thing sounds like a lawn mower but her mashed potatoes come out perfect every time. I finally shut up about it after the third Thanksgiving where mine turned out lumpy and hers didn't.