Dormeyer

[fan-of-fans]

Yesterday at an estate sale I saw a Dormeyer for sale. I didn't see what model it was but it was the white with a gray handle and bullet shaped back. It had the beaters, grinder and pestle, juicer and small bowl with it. The price was $20 and it looked in good shape, but the cord looked too new, it was a flat cord and most I think would be round.

I thought about getting it, my grandmother used to talk about her Dormeyer. But I already have a Mixmaster so didn't really need another. Today is 1/2 price but I didn't feel like driving the 20 miles to go back and it may not be there.

Who knows, it may turn up in the thrift store. I went to another sale from this company and spotted a green Hoover Slimline, passed it up. Several weeks later, the very same one turned up at the thrift store, with sticker still on it. lol

It was an old house and had green sculptured carpet, very little updating. The appliances weren't that interesting, a newer 40" Frigidaire range. There was an older Oster juicer and chrome GE iron as well in the kitchen. I wish I could have gone sooner as I think there were some old fans too. I know in the pictures there was an Emerson Seabreeze roll around fan but it was gone. Tons of antique tools also.

The vacuum was a Rainbow D4 PE but it was gone too.

 

[johnrk]

Dormey

Dormey were/are fine appliances. I owned a Dormeyer stand mixer, worked perfectly, and gave it away about a decade ago.

I still own my Rainbow D4 PE, but my Kirby gets more use. I bought a Rug Doctor about a decade ago which obviated the need for the shampoo function on both of these.

Amazing how many brands of small appliances are gone: Dormeyer, Dominion, Universal, Manning-Bowman, etc.

 

[mixguy]

Dormeyer Mixers

I always found their design less efficient when compared to Sunbeam, Hamilton Beach and GE. I found the beaters undersized compared to the bowls and too much of a gap between the beaters and the side of the bowl. There was no method to facilitate bowl rotation. Back when Consumer Reports seemed to have rigor in testing, Dormeyer ranked low in their tests as well. Also the local stores did not stock their products. Sunbeam, Hamilton Beach and GE were all displayed in the appliance, hardware and furniture stores that had small appliances. Dormeyer was only seen if you had a catalog from Sears, Aldens, Spiegel, or Montgomery Ward. A mixer is one appliance that word of mouth, and observing in use, was the best seller during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Sunbeam, GE, Hamilton Beach and Dormeyer were advertised in May, November and December issues of women's magazines of of the same decades mentioned too. Each pointing out their strengths and differences over the other brands w/o naming, a kind of advertising war.

 

[norgeway]

Re Dormeyer

Dormeyer mixers are what just about all my family had, My Mother and Aunt had Mixwells, Grandmother a Dormey portable ,her sister a Chrome Dormey, Aunt Mable had a chrome Princess, I never saw a Sunbeam until I was a teenager, I knew of 2 Kitchen Aids growing up, a few GEs,They all had good points and bad, The Dormeyers ran much faster than a Sunbeam, but as noted, took a lot of bowl scraping to give good results, A Hamilton Beach was the quietest running mixer of all, of course a Kitchen Aid was heavier duty, GEs had governor troubles, but the triple whip makes a fine grained cake, Kitchen Aids do NOT make as nice a cake, especially very fine grained cakes, overall a Sunbeam is pretty much un excelled in cake making, A Kenmore from the 50s was about as good, I'm using a Westinghouse now, it is really good, but requires more bowl scraping than a Sunbeam.

 

[ea56]

Dormyer is what we had too. My Mom got a Dormyer stand mixer when she was married in 1948. She used it until about 1974 when she got a Kithchen Aid stand mixer. That old Dormyer worked just fine to me, but then I didn’t know any better either, having nothing else to compare it with. I did however want Mom to get a hand mixer, preferably one that could be hung on the wall, with a detachable cord. I thought this would have been just the limit it modern small kitchen appliances. Bettie said, hell to the no, the Dormyer worked just fine, so that was that.

My Mom’s boss was a country doctor and his Dad was the manager of the Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio. Any excess food that was ordered was either thrown away, or he would sometimes bring it to us. Once he gave us two bushels of oranges. I squeezed everyone of those oranges on the Dormyer juicer in one session. That mixer never so much as overheated. But I was sick for a day from all the insecticide that came off from the orange rinds onto my hands, yuk what a smell.
Eddie

 

[norgeway]

The Motor

That Dormeyer made was as good as any ever made I thought.

 

[paulg]

Dormeyer Appliances / Chicago

Dormeyer was Chicago-based, and was essentially a sister/parent-company to Webcor (electronics).
They had a bad accident in Chicago years ago. Before the world understood dust explosions, their mixer-beater factory exploded due to ignition of aluminum dust. Workers were blown out of the building onto the street.
I have a Dormey, a Dormeyer hot pot (which I LOVE) and a stand mixer that needs beaters. Alas, I rely on my 20 year old Kitchenaid but have the classic Sunbeam 1950s stand mixer that I pull out occasionally. Tip of the hat to Kelly Beard...

 

[johnrk]

GE Triple Whip

I had a mint GE triple-whip, that model like in photo #5 and #14 above. It was fun to use and certainly it made decent cakes. My mother had a black-and-white Sunbeam for many years (hated that Nutone mixer) before my father bought her a K5SS in the late 70's. Hers had that auto-bowl-turning feature but she always did her own bowl with a spatula.

My first mixer in college was the Bosch, and I still own it (and 3 other newer models) and think it's the best available all around. But I played with that GE triple-whip for cake batters and owned a restored 1947 Mixmaster for about 5 years; gave them both away.

I can only imagine how heavenly it must've seemed to those women of nearly 100 years ago to be able to mix without using a spoon for 100 strokes or whatever! A good stand mixer is still a good friend to young people with new kitchens these days.

 

[circlew]

Do you have a K-M?

The first mixer I remember my mom having was a Knapp-Monarch, and it was the only one I've ever seen in person. She got it sometime right after WWII. It lasted until sometime in the later 60's, then one day when she was making cookies, smoke started coming out of the motor. She put it out for the trash (except bowl), and then got a Sunbeam model 9 from my dad's aunt that she wasn't using anymore.

 

[norgeway]

I have oneI will try and post a picture

Its a odd ball thing.

 

[mixguy]

K&M stand mixer

A K&M stand mixer & hand mixer

http://https//groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/WACEM/search/photos?query=Knapp#zax/albums_493849966

 

[norgeway]

I have both

Portable and stand.

 

[circlew]

Russell, thanks for posting the Redi-Mixer pic, but I could not access the link, as I'm not a member of Yahoo groups.

Hans, I'd like to see pics of yours when you get a chance.

 

[tolivac]

I would like to have and try a Dormeyer mixer-have Sunbeam,HB,Kitchen Aid,and Kenwood type mixers.Seems like with Dormeyer folks love them or hate them-and I used to have a Mens Sunbeam Shavemaster razor-so miss those-BEST electric razor ever!

 

[fan-of-fans]

Interesting, I didn't know Dormeyer didn't do bowl rotation. That's one of my favorite things about my Mixmaster, aside from the bowl-fit beater design.

The only mixers I knew in my family were my mom's harvest Waring stand/hand mixer 6 speed, my grandmother's white Sunbeam Mixmaster 3 speed and my other grandmother's Dormeyer which I never saw. I think she later had a cheapo hand mixer.

Did Dormeyer do colors like avocado or harvest? All I've seen are white, yellow or chrome it seems.