Magic Chef Dishwashers History

[jamiel]

Yes. They manufactured all PermaTuf in Louisville. Porcelain dishwashers (Hotpoint and portables) were manufactured in Chicago or Milwaukee. Some dishwashers for the Canadian market were made of porcelain and were manufactured in Canada (at CAMCO, I assume). They had a high-performance design with a separate filter which they made in Canada for the Canadian market--it was likely before NAFTA and was more economical than importing the passive-filter PermaTuf.

 

[Chetlaham]

Can you tell me more about the Chicago and Milwaukee plants? Why was porcelain separate? Where were the plastisol tubs made?

 

[angus]

And let's not forget the brief and not so successful 1997 introduction of Jenn-Air washers and dryers. Those were nothing more than rebadged Magic Chef/Norge units but were meant to capitalize on the Jenn-Air name since at that time, Jenn-Air was still considered more upscale. Apparently that didn't last very long...

 

[launderess]

This was more upscale?

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?20326



Am not seeing that much of a difference...

 

[repairguy]

They may not have been as well built as newton machines but they could definitely wash more clothes in a load and did a good job. The washers in the above videos are virtually the same machines underneath. The newest and last Norge design.

 

[paulg]

Maytag, Magic Chef, Admiral, Norge, Glenwood, Sunray

For years, while traveling to work, I would be behind a Maycor / Maytag factory service truck daily.
If I remember correctly, the signage on the door read like this:
Maytag, Magic-Chef, Admiral, Norge, Glenwood, Sunray.
I may have been wrong about Magic-Chef’s acquisition of Hardwick, but it appears they ended up in Maytag’s hands anyway at some point.
So it seems Magic-Chef picked up Norge too along the way.
Whirlpool really ate up a wad of appliance brands. I wonder what they do with all the old designs and patents, if anything.

 

[goatfarmer]

I gave my sister a Jenn Air dryer

Regretted it from day 1. Snazzy looking, but a PITA to work on!