Congratulations!
The machine is short because it is basically the interior tub of the built-in machine without the frame around it, just a hinged top added. One advantage of this was that it could be "garaged" under a countertop if the housewife did not want the dishwasher visible when not in operation. That was not a convenient way to have it for adding things during the day unless you accumulated dirty dishes in the sink before loading the machine.
The baffle at the 12 o'clock position in the sump was an important addition to this machine. When the machine drains, the motor spins in reverse. The baffle was placed there to direct the water and food particles down into the drain and to keep it from being swirled up the sloping walls of the sump as the impeller turned in reverse direction. This was a big advance over the previous GE dishwashers where the timer ran off the main motor so the main motor could not stop during the drains. The water and any food soil could not settle out near the drain because the impeller kept spinning. At the end of each drain except for the drain from the final rinse, a sub interval timer opened the fill valve for maybe 3 seconds to flush clean water through the machine. GE did that with their combos also to remove as much soiled water as possible from the sump after each drain since the combos did not spin until after the final rinse.
I think the secret to this machine's superior washing action was not only the shape of the impeller, but the fact that it was metal so it did not develop dull leading edges and, in being hard enough not to develop the dull leading edges, it was hard enough to grind up food soil it hit in the water.
The patterned top is GE Textolite, not Formica, but a similar product.
We sure enjoyed ours. I hope that you have fun with yours.
