> My view is that "high quality" is largely an illusion. And you start changing your view of it as you get older.

I disagree. I'd argue your view of it is changing because you can't find high quality stuff anymore, but it used to exist.

My parents have an immersion blender that is nearly indestructible. It has been working for almost 30 years now and the damn thing never dies.

Nowadays if you go to any blender from any brand on Amazon the first comment you see is "I used it to blend some ice and it broke on the first day".