Avocado Tappan built-ins (including a dishwasher) at ReStore Oakland

[philr]

John, are the controls on this cooktop really meant to be at the rear? I thought that the two front burners were the 6" ones, not the opposite! I know that some models had two large burners at the front but weren't the controls also at the front on these?

I'm not saying this is any good! I know someone who used to have a late-1960's Tappan cooktop and she told me it caused her a quite a few problems until she decided to replace it about 20 years ago... She still has her wall oven (similar to this one but a few years older I'd say, and no color trim on the oven door) but the door handle broke and had to be replaced.

 

[alr2903]

Very nice. The oven has the cool side swing door, hinged on the left. Westinghouse had a model like this in the late 1960's.

 

[combo52]

Tappan Appliances

Ops, I could have goofed on the CK, I had a customer years ago in NW WDC that had an electric Tappan installed this way, but she was also paranoid about her young kids and they may have installed it this way on intentionally, however most Tappan Gas and electric CTs did have the controls in the front around this time.

Tappan Revers a-Jet DWs, I am sure this feature must have worked [ at least in the lab, LOL ] But we only ever saw a few of these DWs around here and what we saw was not good. I would love to have a mint one for the Museum, and this one might work, as these appliances certainly were not used much if at all. It would be a great DW to turn Nate loose with, if you want to get it Nate we will buy it for the museum when you are done [ if it actually works ].

Side-Swing oven doors were a bad idea, you would need to wear elbow pads to keep from burning your arms and can you imagine the disaster of spilling a roast chicken or turkey on yourself while removing it from an oven, Emergency Room, here we come.

 

[danemodsandy]

Side-Swing Oven Doors

My objection to them was that they looked cheap, like someone wanted to emulate the look of something expensive, but wouldn't spend the money to do it right.

I can also see how keeping one off your left arm while rooting around in the oven would be a hassle.

The only benefit I could ever see from them was easier access to the back wall of the oven while cleaning, and there were better ways to accomplish cleaning, like Pull 'n Clean and P*7.

 

[tomturbomatic]

easier access to the back wall of the oven while cleaning

Not to mention lift out panels like the Americana upper ovens offered for a time.

Ads for those Tappan cooktops did show them with the controls at the rear. I don't know if the cooktops could be reverse-mounted and still have the markings on the dials as easily read.

 

[roto204]

It would be a great DW to turn Nate loose with

For the next "Machines of Ill Repute" installation?

I'll hold out for a more TOL version. If I'm going to put up with cantankerous, I want it to be on a Cadillac, not a Chevrolet.

Where, oh where, is that rapid-advance unit featured on the brochure? ;-)

 

[rp2813]

Two things.

 

It appears they want to sell everything as a set.

 

I'm also curious about whether the items pictured in the linked Flikr album are current.  As I progressed through them, the caption for a toilet sale at the SJ ReStore indicated an end-of-sale date in September.

 

[roto204]

It appears they want to sell everything as a set.

Sometimes, if you want to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs. ;-)

 

[rp2813]

I'm heading up that direction with Diane this coming weekend for another Urban Ore/Ohmega excursion.  I'll investigate.

 

[alr2903]

"LUSTERLOY"!!!! And a Night Light.

Post #719905, the link has the 4 earth colors and "Lusterloy", which i guess would be brushed chrome or SS in appearance. Thank you both, Peter for the archived scan and Phil for pointing it out. The night light on the TOL is actually a very good idea. alr

 

[bwoods]

not a Reversa-Jet

The dishwasher in the picture was made long after the Reversa-Jet had gone away, sadly.

Sandy hit the nail on the head when he said the Tappans of that era were the bargain basement of appliances. By the early seventies the company that made the innovative Fabulous 400 range and the well engineered, sterling performing Reversa-Jet, had gone down the tubes. It had sold out for "bargain basement" appliance line produced for the masses.

My sister and brother-in-law had this dishwasher. They had a house built in early 1974, and one of the builder's upgrade was the "Wonder Kitchen" which included this dishwasher. So theirs was manufactured either very early '74 or late '73. My brother-in-law often laughed and said he knew why the builder called it the "Wonder Kitchen." It made him "wonder" why he ever bought it to begin with.

This D&M dishwasher was even worse than the D&M Modern Maid DW that my parents had. It had an unbelievably cheap plastic center "tower." Really flimsy and toyish looking. My parents Modern Maid occasionally left some little food residue "nibblets" on glassware. My sister's Tappan was guanteed to, on most everything. It didn't scrub worth a darn.

It was cheap appliances like this that gave dishwashers a bad name. People who had never had a dishwasher before would buy a house with crap like this in it, not realizing there were dishwashers out there that could really perform. So they think all dishwashers are bad and all require you rinse virtually every food particle off of dishes. Unfortunately, many people tend to generalize everything instead of looking at the specifics.