New to me...1959 GE Princess!

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Is it just me or is it true that the openings in that singular turquoise plastic grille follow no pattern whatsoever?

As usual, I'm fascinated by whatever GE oddities spring up and I've never seen this grille except in illustrations in brochures and manuals. A couple of close-ups shots would be appreciated. Also, it seems that this grille is held in place by a chrome-steel frame that is one solid piece. Later iterations had side pieces that detached from the main frame and made removal from the cabinet fairly easy. I assume this frame is held in place by a couple of screws?

Also, is there a diagram anywhere on the grille, frame or handle for the operation of the knob, as in "OPEN---------------CLOSED----------------ON"?

The colors on this illustration, for some reason, are completely off.

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Ken, here's a closeup of the grille. It's secured by two allen-type screws, one on each end. You can just make out a portion of the LH one in the pic.

And no, there's no markings for the lock lever. In fact, I had no idea there was a center position until I read that manual (you must apply downward pressure while sliding to lock in the center which I hadn't tried).

PS, I just ran a load through it with lots of 2 day old, "you better soak 'em" type dishes and the results were remarkable. Not a single dirty dish or pan. -C

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Cory congratulations.  Wish you'd taken pics of the 2-day accumulated dish load.  It's too bad GE's TOL impeller dishwasher didn't have a thermostatic hold on its red-buttoned cycle.  It probably would have been rated the best dishwasher for cleaning ability with a time-delayed power soak.   
 
I'm familar with your beautiful DW, my aunt had one. They only came to FL in the winter and I "took care" of their house in the summer. I would camp out for days there and use all the GE toys; push buttom built in hob with the buttom built into the hood/intercom. The beautiful combo fridge which had a freezer light and of course the built in oven all in that lovely choclate brown color; woodtone(?).
BUT the reason for this post is, I suddenly remembered my Coral Gables aunt had the DW with the control wheel in the middle of the door (horizontal) any guesses as to it's birthday? (it was sunny yellow)
 
Thank you Cory.

I guess one has to have exactly they right tool to remove the grille from the unit or you end up with bunches of turquoise broken pieces (which I've seen lots of).By 1959 the grilles had "winds" on the side and special vent holes that were larger to facilitate easier removal. There were also control knob diagrams embossed into both the plastic and the chrome steel handle. Somebody must have complained.

The grille seems to be random in vent placement and size which means it was constructed the same way I constructed the illustration by placing those little hourglass-shaped struts at intervals; probably done with a clay model that was then set on a mold. Randomness in industry is unusual and kind of cool.

I always thought the Pull-Outs with the Power Shower were superior cleaners. CU, of course, did not. Neither must have my Mother who hand washed every dish before loading it. It only occurred to me recently that we wouldn't have had a dishwashing machine (or rolls of paper towels and a Scott Towel holder, for that matter) if it hadn't been for my Father. I think DW manufacturers did a good job of selling the sanitizing feature of these machines to Doctors in the late Fifties. And my Mother, bless her heart, did a good job of thwarting every effort Dad made to keep the kitchen germ-free. But, boy, those dishes came out of that SU-70 steaming hot and now I know why.

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I have one ...

in turquoise, the lite blue interior, and white racks...its been in the garage forever tho, i been so busy....our kitchen in Potomac was sunshine yellow with one of these, but it was installed improperly, and the tub would not roll back completely on the left side, so it leaked onto the motor, and it died in 66.. :(
 
I have one ...

in turquoise, the lite blue interior, and white racks...its been in the garage forever tho, i been so busy....our kitchen in Potomac was sunshine yellow with one of these, but it was installed improperly, and the tub would not roll back completely on the left side, so it leaked onto the motor, and it died in 66.. :(
 
Thanks Ken for posting the control panel drawings. I always thought ours was a '58, but since it had the Turquoise grill, it was a '57. My grandfather (dad's side) bought it for my mom that Christmas, as he lived with us from fall of '55 until he went to a nursing home after breaking his hip in '68. Guess he got it on closeout.
 

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