Confused about which vintage dishwasher should go in a future kitchen...

[turquoisedude]

It may be premature, but it looks like the apartment in Montreal is sold so Hubby and I are going to have to move our butts to find a new home by September 1st.

 

We've seen a couple of interesting places and are still looking; most places have 'modern' kitchens but I've been favouring ones with wood cabinetry that can be "retro-fied".

 

Anyone close to the Vermont-Quebec border has probably already heard the wailing... Not Canyon, but Hubby's tirades about not having an all-turquoise kitchen in the 'new' home.  Yeah, well, he's not the one at home doing all the cooking, right??  LOL

 

All this to say that I've got a dilemma as to which of my fleet of vintage undercounter dishwashers will make it to a future kitchen...   I've eliminated the '57 Whirlpool (gravity drain installation may be problematic) and the 'topless' '59 GE Princess. 

 

The top competitors so far are: the '58 Frigidaire Spin-Tube, the '63 GE drop-door, or (and it will still require some work) the '63-ish Kenmore 600 Roto-Rack built-in.  

 

The Frigidaire has been rebuilt from the ground up (and a shout-out to Nate is due here - the pump he sent me is what really made this restoration possible).  But I have reservations about if the unique racking system would accommodate the kind of loads we tend to create in our 'regular daily cycle'...  We always seem to have way more glasses and cups than plates and I do cook and bake so there are always going to be bowls, pans, pots, etc.  My test-drive of the Frigidaire kinda made me wonder how well it would cope with such unbalanced loads - we'd probably be running the darn thing twice a day!

 

The GE is practically mint (I have a new motor panel to replace the one the movie production lost but which  later turned up shoved down the condenser coils of the '65 Frigidaire Cycla-Matic...).  The racking system is pretty much identical to the '93 Moffat we've been using daily since we moved to Montreal.  But this is a machine with a Plastisol tub, so I have concerns about the daily wear and tear.

 

The Roto-Rack has been brought back to life, but still needs a couple o' tweaks.  The current front and motor panels are white so I'd want to paint them turquoise.  I've never actually test-washed anything in this machine, but it intrigues me because it's an oddball combination of impeller plus fixed spray-arm (one of the half arms for the Roto-Rack).  But it's a porcelain tub and I think it could possibly be the easiest one to repair if anything horrible happened...  

 

AAARGH!  What to do??

 

And there's still the 'wild card' machines (the '56 Hotpoint and the '72 Viking/Westinghouse). 

 

And Hubby wonders why I can't sleep at night.... LOL 

 

[roto204]

Well...

I love these threads, because it's all opinion and personal experience. But if I went at it from a washability standpoint, I'd pick the '72 Viking. After that, the Frigidaire.

The difference between those would be racking. You'll assuredly fill the top rack on the Spin-Tube before you fill the bottom, unless you generate a lot of plates. Mine never had trouble washing pots and pans placed properly in the bottom rack, but you may have to see how it goes. There are limits to the trickery you can get away with in that machine.

Also, be sure your plates fit, and stand upright in the Frigidaire--no leaning allowed, and I found that anything wider in diameter than 9" would tend to clip the bottom of the top rack, causing much gnashing of teeth.

The others are filterless, so they'll probably do varying degrees of okay given proper scraping and such.

Depending on the condition of your GE (does it have any blemishes in the Plastisol already)? It would probably make an okay daily-driver with careful use. I've found that many of those still rust at the openings of the tank--around the dispensers, or most frequently around the circumference of the sump--even with gentle use, so time will tell whether there's any possibility of abating the inevitable there.

All-in-all, it's probably more about the loading limitations you're willing to tolerate, and the look you're going for in the kitchen. Any of those machines can be made to produce acceptable results with the right combination of loading and preparation. Now, if you said you had a Tappan Dual-Drench on the list... ;-)

 

[turquoisedude]

Tappan Dual-Drench....

Oh don't get me going... One turned up in Montreal about 4 years ago and I've been kicking myself from hell to breakfast 'cause I missed it...  

 

The overall look is the big consideration - I fully intend to install a turquoise refrigerator (either the '65 Frigidaire or the '64 GE, assuming I can fix it) and either the '62 turquoise Flair range OR a '65 GE P7 wall oven paired up with a '64 GE cooktop, both turquoise.  

 

The Viking is currently Harvest Gold, but has presto-chango panels for white, coppertone, or avocado green.  A certain Hubby will probably freak at the thought of another avocado kitchen (his house in Mountain Lakes was all avocado).   BUT I could always paint a panel turquoise...  

 

[turquoisedude]

Mug shots...

Just to really make things difficult, here's a gallery of photos of the machines under consideration.  In order of display here's the '58 Frigidaire, the '63 GE, and the Kenmore 600 Roto-Rack: 

 

[roto204]

The Look

That's a toughie.  Any of those would be stunning in a turquoise kitchen.  No, avocado's probably not the goal here, and I'd have to see the Viking to see if it'd work in turquoise form.  I painted a KDS-15 turquoise from avocado once, and it looked fab because the control panel fit that look, but it all depends on the styling.  

 

LOL  The Dual-Drench would be off the charts on the fun-factor, but you'd be living in a tent in the backyard if you had that installed in the kitchen, and hubby saw the results.  ;-)  Maybe a two-dishwasher kitchen would be in order?

 

One comment I would make is that the Spin-Tube I had was toward the end of the run, and TOL, and had the constant rinse plus double detergent dispensers--that puppy could wash.  In the absence of either of those features, you might see considerable reduction in performance, especially with dried-on foods.  That might nudge you toward one of the other machines.

 

[roto204]

Roto-Rack

Hey, isn't that an impeller Roto-Rack?  I'd probably opt for a wash-arm machine of some sort over an impeller, unless the inherent restrictions in impeller machines don't deter you.  (I still remember when a small screw worked itself loose from a rack in the Hotpoint, entered the wash stream, and created all sorts of interesting havoc--happily, on an empty run, and no damage done to the machine before it was noticed.)

 

[turquoisedude]

Roto-Rack

It's an impeller model but it does also have the 'half-arm' that sprays continuously on the rear half of the Roto-Rack.  Having the '56 GE impeller machine down in Ogden has gotten me into the habit of not expecting baked-on food to be washed off the casserole dishes BUT this here Kenmore has the 150-degree wash option that should extend the wash cycle long enough to cut through at least some of the heavy soil.   Maybe the take-away here is that I should get the Kenmore down from the loft above the garage and try a test-wash!!  

 

[roto204]

OMG!

Beautiful! Thank you for all the pics.

Hey, an impeller with non-circular bottom racking? How's that work?

 

[turquoisedude]

Awkwardly??   LOL

 

I'd have to guess that the plates on the right hand side of the rack would face forward and the ones on the left would face the rear, but this is assuming a clockwise impeller rotation.  I think you'd be able to place pots and pans and bowls open-end down on a rack like this (I've seen illustrations of loading the top-load version of a machine like this, but I think it had the more typical D&M circular lower rack...).  Gotta get that top-loader one of these days, too!

 

More incentive to get the built-in beastie down to play with... LOL 

 

[lordkenmore]

>Hubby's tirades about not having an all-turquoise kitchen in the 'new' home. Yeah, well, he's not the one at home doing all the cooking, right??

And I suppose he'd rather have stainless steel, just like everyone else has. Which begs the old question: "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you follow?"

Turquoise, on the other hand, is unique--at least relatively speaking, and in this era. Having it would show the world all sorts of valuable things, such as "we value original thought here!"

Plus turquoise is prettier than any modern color.

And I think the "he's not the one...doing all the cooking" carries a lot of weight in my mind.

 

[roto204]

"He's not the one doing all the cooking"

Word. In that case, choose what YOU love! The best kitchen appliances are the ones that don't get in your way when you use them.

 

[toploader55]

Unportableize the KDS-14.

 

You know you'll have good results with that.

 

If you want to go Coppertone, I know someone with a KDS 55 (Tapping Fingers)

 

But if it were me... (and it's not) (and I also have no Hubby) I would go with the Roto Rack or at least a 2 armed machine as the DD. Then a Back Up Portable for the Heavy Prep and Baking Days.

 

[jkbff]

Not that I know much about vintage machines, their washability etc, but my two cents:

Two built-in machines. One that can be used for glassware and one that can be used for heavy duty stuff.

I've got that setup going now with my maytag and edgestar countertop unit, but the edgestar is being replaced with a Miele gen6.

I love having the ability of washing glassware and cookware without having to worry about breakage or etching.

I know it sounds dumb, but I'm addicted..

Also, I might add, Make the most of this, if he wants some modern stainless stuff, get some items you both like, but two turquoise dishwashers would make fabulous accent pieces with all that stainless. I've always loved the two colors together.

I could see a beautiful kitchenaid stainless 48" commercial style range, 48" stainless hood, two turquoise D/ws and turquoise enameled 3 bowl sink. I'd think white cabinets and black countertops would look great, but also a white back splash with random hints of stainless, black and turquoise... Then again, I've always liked odd color combos.

Anyways, just my two cents.

 

[roto204]

Agreed.

Modern code requires two dishwashers. Trust me.

 

[114jwh]

Perhaps it is the slight bit of OCD in me.....

But if it were me I'd do the entire kitchen GE if you have a matching DW, fridge & cooktop/oven, especially since they are all close to the same age. Something about having matched appliances makes me happier and gives it more of an all original look. Self cleaning ovens I love and plastisol is pretty durable - you don't ever have to worry about chips/rust in the tub. Just rinse off your spaghetti dishes first.

But just my 2 cents.....

Good luck on your house hunting Paul. I just moved myself!

 

[philr]

Paul, any serious dishwasher collector like you needs to have at least two built-in dishwashers in his kitchen and a portable too! Maybe you should get a spot for a machine that's not too likely to break parts that are impossible to find or to disintegrate itself as a daily use machine and one spot for the odd or less durable machines that you could use lightly and rotate as you feel... So if you ever find another Tappan, you'd have a spot for it!

 

;-)

 

[gansky1]

Most definitely, two dishwashers. A KDS-18 with the later 19-21 series upper rack and then install quick-connect plumbing for the other machine. Then you can satisfy everyone in the house.

 

[jkbff]

"Then you can satisfy everyone in the house."

Is breakfast included? ;-)

 

[turquoisedude]

Hmmm....  I was warned about getting two dishwashers, but if I can pull it off, that would be the perfect solution.  Of course that will depend on the state and size of the future kitchen...  One place we are looking at tomorrow has a basement kitchen with what looks like an unused dishwasher cut-out - that would be fun!

 

I'm more than likely going to pair up any built-in unit with a portable, but I'd sure like to keep all the appliances brand-consistent (I have plenty of GE goodies that would make that possible, but I can almost do an all-Frigidaire one, too).

 

Greg, the idea of a KDS18 in particular has been popping in and out of my addled brain, 'cause I know where I could get one in a hurry (wink, wink, cough... Phil???)

 

And breakfast is always included... LOL   I make terrific waffles!