1963 Kenmore 31480 clothes washer and matching dryer
1967-1973 Maytag A606 DE606
1969-1972 Lady Kenmore garage door
1969 Kenmore 900 keyboard controls
1973-1979 KitchenAid Superba
1982-1988 Maytag washer and dryer
1967-1973 Whirlpool Imperial washer and dryer.
1964 GE Mobile Maid
1970 Kenmore 800 washer and dryer
What are your earliest and favorite appliance memories?
Visiting the home of my grandparents cleaning lady when she occasionally babysat me. She had a 1961 Kenmore 110.6104500 with straight vane agitator, speckled gray wash tub, 3 cycles, 1 speed, brush lint filter, 3 water levels. Thirty years later, I learned that my Father had bought that machine new when he started his medical residency. After the divorce, the family gifted it to Mrs. Ardis. I was equally happy and disappointed when I visited her at the age of 12 to find a new 1976 gold Maytag in its place.
My Aunts 1963 Kenmore 31480 matched set in all their fluorescently backlit, self cleaning lint filtered Soft Heat air freshenered off balance buzzered glory. She had them 18 years, and I never got tired of them. She also had a 1964 top loading GE Mobile Maid. That mysteriously disappeared in 1970 when the Army relocated the family to a suburban tract house far away that had a built in 1970 Frigidaire in avocado.
Mothers childhood friend had a 1960 Kenmore cycla fabric, the one with the chart of laundry options categorized by alphabet and color coding. As her son and I played in the basement far out of sight, I would crank it up and run it empty. I got caught once, but Danetta merely said to herself "Hrmmm...whats this doing on?" then proceeded to load it up, switch it from my Wash and Wear cycle to the Cottons cycle and run it anyway. Loved the sound of that wig wag. She also had a BOL 1971 Tappan DW that was kinda fun to hang around.
On Christmas Day of my 4th year on this planet, a Suzy Homemaker washing machine and cooker appeared under the tree. Although it was not said out loud as the family were slightly embarrassed by my fascination with laundry appliances (They should cut me some slack - I was also fascinated with gas powered lawn mowers, window unit air conditioners, and automobiles so it cannot be said that I was a sissy), it was implied that the cookstove was for my sister to play with and the washer was for me. I did a complete tear down and rebuild of that thing at least twice during the ensuing years before it was tossed out as being for babies, which I was no longer. Sister busied herself baking chocolate cakes. For a mere childs toy, that oven made delicious cakes.
The day in autumn 1969 when the mis-matched Speed Queen set was delivered to our home. Our first washer dryer set after moving from my grandparents to our own rented house. They served us well with only one repair to the washer until it broke down in a major way in 1984 and was retired.
Coin op self service laundromats. For a kid like me who was fascinated with clothes washers, a room or a building full of multiples of the same machine was akin to going to the carnival. We frequented two of them for the first year of the rented house until the SQ set came. Yellow Bendix front loaders at one, avocado Maytags at the other. GE units in the community laundry room of my Dads apartment complex before he bought a house. Turquoise GE equipment at the coin op next door to my childhood barber shop. Endless fun.
Five years later, we moved into a new construction spec house in a new subdivision. I was over the moon about the wall to wall shag carpeting, the wet bar in the basement recreation room, the central A/C and the avocado GE contractor grade DW. We had no DW in the old house. It took only two years to grow to hate that cheap, crappy, loud, shaded pole machine along with the poorly built slapdash house which quickly fell apart and the absence of trees making me homesick for the rented house next to five acres of deep forest that a boy with an active imagination could just love.
Mothers cousins MOL GE filter flo.
Dads 1976 Whirlpool Imperial washer.
Grandfathers 1964 Westinghouse Laundromat Spacemates and 1962 Frigidaire spin tube dishwasher in copper.
Mothers gal pals 1963 Whirlpool washer with the slimline control tower and magic mix lint filter.
Mothers hairdresser had a 1969 Lady Kenmore garage door washer. Rarely got to see that one in action.
Next door neighbors 1965 LK matched set in *COPPERTONE*. My first sight of that in 1968 set off my 7-year obsession with shaded coppertone. That was replaced in 1977 after a visit to the fancy, newly built home of family friends who had black appliances including a TOL Magic Chef dishwasher at a time when I still loved D&M. And, the disappearing windows on the black glass double wall oven were magical to me. I had never seen a black dishwasher before. The steel framing surrounding the black panels caught the bright sunlight and made a strikingly handsome appearance. I have loved black since.
This family moved from an old, spooky three story home. They had a 1958 GE MOL matched set that they brought with them to the new place. At the old house, I could not take my eyes off that set. To me, the 1950s was 100 years ago, and that was part of their appeal. I would snoop alone down to the creepy basement, hear strange noises, and run frightened back upstairs. Now, one of those noises was the spinning washer banging loudly and walking across the floor. Nice backlit timer dials they both had.
Other family friends had an avocado green 1968 Maytag A606 matched set. I rarely got to see THEM in operation either. I would repeatedly open and close the lid to the wash tub just to watch the tangerine orange pilot light go off then on. That was another obsession, and I begged Mother to buy a coppertone set before she settled on the Speed Queens.
Building our dream house in 1977, complete with Modern Maid dishwasher. I was unable to talk the old folks into black. But, heh it was a D&M.
Granddaddy replaced the Frigidaire with an almond Whirlpool with all the bells and whistles in 1982. I got to run the very first load and after experiencing the quiet but powerful performance, I broke up with D&M, and took up a love affair with Whirlpool DWs that has lasted to this day!
Visiting department stores and their appliance departments. I still enjoy strolling through Best Buy, THD, Lowes even now, though.
Sears and Roebuck catalogs.In childhood, the appliance section and the toy section, in puberty, the sleepwear and underwear models.I suppose it is prejudiced to appreciate looking at young, fit people over old, overweight people, but my newly grown libido likened it to viewing works of art.
Mrs Beverly Bakers new 1976 KitchenAid Imperial DW after a kitchen reno. My playmates familys 1973 KitchenAid Superba, matched to the kitchen cabinets in their ultra modern space age Southern California style mansion.
The aroma of laundry soap and/or bleach wafting from laundry rooms on wash day. Or, throughout coin-op laundromats at all times.
What is the history of appliances you have owned?
1984 KM Design 2000 24 inch with Dual Action and OOB switch & buzzer. I was elected by the family & chose it to replace the SQ.
70s vintage Hoover twin tub
1991 Kenmore portable washer
1992 Kenmore portable dryer
1995 KitchenAid DW - model unknown but MOL bought as a Christmas gift for Mother.
1996 Kenmore Ultra Wash III portable DW
1997 Kenmore 90 series washer and dryer. Triple Action agi, triple dispensers; Wrinkle Guard III with drying rack & lint signal.
2002 Complete Frigidaire kitchen including warmer drawer.
1960 turquoise Frigidaire DW.
Have you ever worked on, repaired and/or restored any major appliances?
