KitchenAid superba "portable"

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here's another shot of the o'keefe range. Its a model 3049. I guess that means 30 inches and made in 1949. It is filthy right now, but it is SO easy to clean. I swear, home appliances are the best proof that things are not getting better.

The market calls for really cheap crappy appliances because that is all anyone can afford nowadays.

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I bought my wife that same dishwasher when we lived in our first apartment in 1984. It was great. We had it 13 years before it had a violent death in the summer of 1997. We compleletly remodeled our kitchen but were keeping the KA, but we think saw dust must have gotten into the motor and after a few loads of dishes the motor burned up and white smoke was comming up from underneath it. it was replaced by a TOL Frigidaire which lasted 9 years and now we have a Bosch, which has been the best one yet.

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Great stove!

Those two back burners with the "simmer" grates must rock for long, slow soups and stews. Nice!
 
lower rack flaps

I think they do 2 things, Gary.

They help ensure that the lower rack is completely seated back into the tank and also help scoop up some of the water going up the corners of the door gasket and throw it back into the tank, helping to minimize door gasket leakage.

I do believe I learned these things while working at Alco appliances in Beltsville for Jeff & John LeFever some years ago.

B
 
appnut and dadoes, thanks for the info!!! I put the rack in right.

Bundtboy, LOL. No one had a chance of guessing that about the flaps. "I can't be sure but I think..." LOL nice delivery!

PArunner, HA! That is the exact same one! I would like to get the avocado panels for mine though.

Charbee, those back burners are so killer because they essentially transform my cheap pots into cast iron, heat-retaining mutants from hell. There is no substitute for lots of iron--whether you are talking about electric motors, transformers or ranges.
 
I would trade in my Maytag portable for this dishwasher! By far it is my favorite dishwasher of all time! Actually, I would kill for this machine or the Maytag WC702 portable with the plates on top. Haven't found either for sale on ebay or craigslist near me. I'm in Mass.
 
Nice Kitchenaid dishwasher. When my parent remodeled the kitchen in 1979 I insisted they put in a Kitchenaid Superba dishwasher in like your portable. It was the best dishwasher I have ever used to this day! The rack design is the best for a varity of loading configurations. I like how you can load dishes on the left side,sideways,so they don't roll back and forth when pulling the rack in and out. I also like the heater/blower for drying. I would buy another one if I could hunt one down.

Jim
 
You say you want avocado?

You probably have it. At least for the door and the lower panel.

The two front panels look like the type where you can remove a few screws and slide out the panel. Most of these machines included two panels, which were painted different colors on each side. I have one machine with White, Black, Almond, and Avocado, and a slightly older one with Gold, White, Almond, and Avocado.

The portable and the built-in versions of most of these machines were the same basic unit, but the portable had wheels, side and back panels, a butcher-block top, and a cord reel. If you took all that off and added leveling feet, you'd have a built-in.

-kevin
 
Looks just like a machine I have!!

Well, that certainly looks like a KDS-19 Series portable which is identical to my built in unit which is sitting in the garage because its timer decided to pack it in for the long haul.

If there is anyone out there with a timer for this machine, I would appreciate knowing about it. Maye we could arrange a trade of similar importance or an outright purchase.

Just for the record, the major difference between the 19 and 20 series was the return of the HEATED air drying system on the 20. They gave you the option of no heat dry otherwise they were identical machines.

The 21 series was the truly radical departure for Hobart at the time and was the forerunner of nearly every pump system used since that time. It was the first Hobart dishwasher that had a reversing motor for draining and washing but the real technological advances were in the wash pumping system.

This was the first machine to use what would be considered a true food waste disposer in the pump. It had a metal impeller with chopping vanes on it that went thru a sort of sizing mechanism to break the pieces down to really small size and they were pumped into the holding chamber under the washarm, beneath that white fine screen you would see if you lifted out the washarm. This filtered any residue out of the water and resulted in really clean water recirculating in the tank. When the machine drained out, the spray holes under the washarm would send the debris right down the drain and then the process would be repeated thru the rest of the cycle.

The 21 series also preheated the wash water like the 19 and 20 prior to washing and added the short purges between cycle events which helped insure hotter water being brought to the machine.This design remained unchanged for the 21 and 22 series machine and was changed to a whirlpool based derivative system for the 23 series. I never had a 23 series unit but have had ever model machine since the KD10 and have to say the 21 and 22 machines cleaned the best and based on my experience with the whirlpool/kenmores I have had based on that 23 series which were all the same, they did a great job of cleaning albeit all had relatively long cycles which usually translates into better cleaning results.
That 19 machine in the picture will last many years and the only reason you may have to get rid of it would be if something like the timer goes bad since theya re no longer available. There are still pumps and motors and racks and valves for it so you have time left and life left from the machine.
 
let's take another look!

I will be darned.. I am slipping for sure.. I looked again and that is definitely a KDS-20 series machine. It has the stainless steel air diffuser in the right rear corner which indicates it has the hot air drying unit. The 19 series had the white plastic diffuser in it without the hot air. Guess I was thinking of my own 19 series machine which I converted to the hot air blower and have the same stainless diffuser now in mine. But rest assured..it is a 20 series unit in the picture. Great machine, washes really well. But it was surpassed by light years when the 21 series debuted. Now those machines really cleaned!
 

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