I have been a pretty loyal Rowenta customer for years. I go through irons really fast, due to keeping them on for hours at a time, and steaming the dickens out of things. A good iron lasts me a year, maybe two, and then I need to replace it. My last Rowenta, gosh, I bet I have had it for three years or more now! As were the other four or five Rowentas I have owned, my current iron was made in Germany.
It has been starting to act up, not steaming as it should anymore, and in fact, fairly frequently, the steam button gets stuck in the down position and won't come back up. Lately, I have been complaining to anyone who will listen that it is time for me to buy a new iron. My husband always responds, "A new iron? Already? Didn't you just buy one a few years ago? An iron should last you a life time. Why, my blessed mother used the same iron for 40 years, and it didn't even have a steam feature. She used to sprinkle her ironing and put it in a plastic bag overnight in the refrigerator...." etc, etc, etc.
Well, something must have sunk into his brain, and when he was shopping for new frying pans (don't ask--that is another blog post entirely) at the Macy's in Monterey, he saw they had Rowenta irons on sale. And he bought me one.
I was pretty excited, as I would rather he pay $89 for new iron, than me have to do it. Only this didn't cost $89. It was only $49. And it isn't made in Germany. It is made in CHINA.
And it spits like crazy. I hate it.
Added later: My husband just sent me an order confirmation from Amazon.com. He ordered me the Rowenta made in Germany! Woo Hoo! I take back all the bad things I said about him.