1980s Kenmore Portable Dishwasher By Request

[mnfrommn]

A couple forum members noticed this dishwasher in the background when I posted my stove in the Super forum and requested pics, so I figured I'd give it it's own thread. It actually belongs to the fellow we rent our house from and was put in when he renovated the house for his family to live in in the 80s. It shows its age, but is pretty good considering its been at the mercy of renters for years. Still does its job quite well several times a week, and as long as I load it thoughtfully I never have to rewash dishes.

 

[toploader55]

WOW.

A D+M Survivor. Amazing

 

[rp2813]

Yeah, the yellow racks on my mom's mid '70s Kenmore rusted out pretty quickly, and it didn't even see hard use.

 

It sure was a whole lot quieter and more capable than its predecessor, a 1970 BOL top-loading Frignature portable from Monkey Wards.

 

[turquoisedude]

Nice - I always thought these were decent dishwashers.  My father had one when he lived in Ontario about 10 years ago.  When he sold the house, the new owners had been told by their building inspector that the machine should be replaced.  They didn't... LOL 

 

[davidblazor]

entry level machine?

Was this a entry level machine or were there other models below it at the time? Did Sears have other Portable models or was this the only one?

 

[turquoisedude]

Back then there would have likely been 2 (possibly 3) models below this one.  Sears always seemed to have a very basic model with just a timer dial control as a 'budget' offering.  Portables were also still fairly popular at this time; it wasn't until the later 80s that the number of models offered as portables shrank.  

 

[oldskool]

Thank You!

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting. To me, it's so much fun seeing older KM dishwashers.

Relatives had one like this.

My favorite older Kenmore models were the ones with the Roto-rack. A blast from childhood. I still have one that survived my house fire last year. Hopefully I'll get it back up and running soon.

John - "oldskool"

 

[bradfordwhite]

Thanks so much for sharing these pics.

I remember in Fall '85 pulling out a Sears mini catalog/flyer from the mail and this model was in it. It look stream lined compared to the models it preceded. It's very middle of the line/bread and butter machine. Has two level wash.

This was the last year that Sears had all their DWs made exclusively from D&M. Whirlpool started with their top of line models to infiltrate the Sears line up after '85.

Though this model still has the steel tub, the door has been changed to plastic with a large indent so the lower rack can be expanded about 2". The control panel is still steel and they're still using a poorly designed knob from the mid 70s. They had used a much better dial with pointer/handle from 1978 to 1982 but went back to these cheap ones.

This was also the time Sears did a special one-time remanufacture of two of the Kenmore square body canister vacuums that they had made from 1973 to 1983. They made them in a dove gray color with red trim. ...which was awkward. I wish I had that catalog.

Thanks for posting. memories.