Old Kitchenaid dishwasher

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Calling turquoisedude........

It is a KDS-14, made around 1961 to 1964. I love the stainless steel front! It is missing the handle/lock latch and it is also missing the middle cycle button which I think is the blue Full Cycle button. I wish I could see the inside of it.

Turquoisedude: This is in your area!!
 
Here's Mine

Hardly used when I got it.  This is the Imperial.  This was the first series (I believe) to have multiple models (Superba, Imperial, Custom.)

fnelson487++7-15-2011-18-08-42.jpg
 
I love using this machine when I am at Freds, you can remove the top rack and it will hold large pots as well!!  This machine really cleans too and does it in about 30 min. 
 
I have this Superba and it's one of my all-time favorite dishwashers.  I use it at least once or twice a week and can count on one hand how many times I've used the upper rack.

 

This load's for you Bob
smiley-kiss.gif
  We had a family reunion over the 4th, about 30 people.  These were the dishes and serving things I brought home that needed a proper washing.  Love this machine.

gansky1++7-16-2011-01-23-50.jpg
 
When I lived in my other house, I had the 14 and the 18 in the kitchen. Whenever I had guests, I used the 18 for the majority of the prep and serving pieces and the 14 for the tableware. When it was through and I opened the door, it looked like a Hobart ad, eapecially when I used the Centura dishes. They were so beautiful against the blue racks.

I love the washing sounds it makes as the "Six Moving Walls of Water" sweep around the tank and past the door. The fill valve has a funny flutter in the diaphragm so it makes a distinct, but not rude, farting noise during the fills.
 
why are they always so far away?

I wish one of these classic Kitchenaids would turn up in my neck of the woods!  I've wanted one for as long as I can remember.  When my folks bought our first dishwasher I lobbied long and hard for a Kitchenaid but Dad said it had to be either Wards or Sears (roto rack!)  We ended up with Wards. 
 
Tom

My KDI-14 makes that same "flutter" noise on fill.  Thought something was wrong with it, but perhaps not.  Otherwise works like a charm.  As Terry says - this puppy is done in short order and the dishes come out clean.  Greg says that the dishes scream to get out of there.

fnelson487++7-16-2011-14-50-3.jpg
 
I've always wanted one of those too!

When I was a kid, 80 percent of the people we knew that owned dishwashers had the Superba from that series and they all seemed to last forever. The other 20 percent were divided between GE's and Hotpoints and they weren't as durable. I love that cast iron wash arm and those 3 colorful little square buttons.Was also curious for years why the control dial was ankle height and a little disturbed by how short the tub was compared to other machines. It didn't escape me that the insides of those machines were basically the same as the SS ones they used under the counters at all of NYC's Chock Full o' Nuts. Now that's a classic!
 
I've crammed some strange things into mine, I had a load of bird feeders (with bleach) a couple of weeks ago and lots of vacuum parts.  It does a beautiful job scrubbing older woven vacuum hoses if you flip them over half-way through the wash cycle.   Agitators, mini-baskets & filters - if it will fit inside and the door will close, KitchenAid will get it clean.
 
Great knuckleheads think alike!!!

That's exactly how I use my Maytag TL portable in the basement! I take out the top racks and load it with grungy garbage cans, tools, hoses of all description (and I do exactly as you described), vintage agitators and activators and their respective be-crudded lint filters. A great household asset!
 
Dad said it had to be either Wards or

Well, there was no "or" in my parents' household.  It was Wards, Wards, Wards and I hated it.  Their house never saw a decent major appliance other than the '49 Westinghouse stove that out-lived every Wards appliance that came (and went quickly) through it.

 

So with regard to KitchenAid, the 15 series was when they introduced the Hydro-Sweep?  I think that's the model my friend down the street had.  Superba was in cursive at top right on the panel.
 
OOOH!  It's stainless - it would fit the apartment in the city perfectly....  If I even consider this, though, I am going to be looking for a new home...  SIGH!
 
No..

Other Dishwasher compares, in my not so humble opinion, all the new ones are pitiful compared to these, 30 minutes and its done, dishes are clean and dry!!
 
In 1961, we moved into a 1930s house with original kitchen. Within a few months, mom had the kitchen renovation underway. Stainless steel built in Frigidaire double wall oven, Tappan steel coil cooktop, white formica with maple cabinets, a garbage disposal, and the piece de resistance, a KDS-14 Superba dishwasher. It had three buttons: Pots/Utility, Normal Cycle, Rinse/Hold. We were not allowed to push the Utility button because mom had lost the manual and did not know what would happen if someone pressed it! Cycles were either Normal or Rinse/Hold. She added a custom wood panel to it that matched the cabinetry, but the controls and handle were the same as what's pictured here: what today would be called a "semi-integrated" rather than "fully integrated" dishwasher.
 
BEST DW EVER

1984 and on WP Power-Clean and KM Ultra-Wash standard tub DWs. These are the true king of the big dirty Bob loads. Always done in 30-60 minutes, heats the water at critical times if needed, cleans everything in both racks even if items in lower rack block water to top rack and absolutely no food left in the machine ever. Sears still has some of these machines in stock if you hurry at about $300.
 
Hey Guys...
This is a great segway to this wash system that I recorded at Roberts.
Even though people have seen his machine, this is a different take on it.
 
The dishwasher that Fred has, and Greg's, is ONE of my favorite vintage dishwasher machines ever !
My neighbor had this machine when I grew up back in the 70's - this family had an integrated model that matched a sort of blonde wood look.
 
They also had a boomerang grey counter top where the table was a white , pink , & light blue boomerang pattern imbedded in the sections.

When Mrs Morgan died , her silly daughter and father never used it again !
Soooo they USED IT FOR PLASTIC AND OR  PAPER BAGS FOR STOREGE..EEEK !
I tried for years to turn it on she said the power is off ..."I rather wash dishes by hand" she would say.
Fast foward to the 90's at this time the dial was frozen, the big handle was very loose , but the interior was mint as well as the BIG BLUE wash arm.
 
So I stop fighting for it because she wanted me to fill the hole with a new one and at the time it was not happening.
So I'm looking for one maybe someday but until then I will appreciate some of the members' machines and have fun with their's
until who knows if I get lucky.
 
Steve you're so right ...
Paul you're getting rid of the Inglis set which I'm so sorry they are not working out ...
But I would RUN to get this machine and take his ranting later from Chris lol.
Well hey.. it's smaller then the pair .
 
Fred , Greg , Robert ,  Mike , and others who own this machine how great that you guys are owners of them .
One word BEAUTIFUL !
 
Robert's machine the BIG BLUE pimped open glass dishwasher.
Since there is no element in this model Robert's water was very hot ..
at least 150 to 160 F.
And check out the gravity drain.
Don't dare RINSE dishes with this machine.

Darren k. 
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Well, the load I have in my dishwasher right now, no KA befoe an 18 series could it deal with without me having to run two or three lloads HALF FULL at best.  From last night and tonight's meal prep.  Two 4 quart casseroles, one for ziti and the other for squash.  an 8 in. square pyrex dish.  several plates, cutting board, collander.  Top rack is an 8 quart stock pot, 4 quart sauce pan, 4 mixing bowls of various sizes from 3 qua3rt on down, a 2 quart plastic dish, cutting board, and small misc. stuff.  The pasta related stuff sat from last night and the squash was baked tonight.  I got it stuffed and I know everything will come clean, I dn't care how long it takes it's also very quiet.
 
Well

I guess it is what you are used to.  My first owned dishwasher was a KDS-17.  If you have a couple of the pre 18 machines, and know how to load them, they definitely have their charms.  As far as style is concerned, those old pre-18 machines can't be beat.  Between the KDS-17 in the kitchen and the KDI-14 in the laundry room off the kitchen, I am in heaven!  We love running many dishwasher loads.  And check out the hostess!

fnelson487++7-18-2011-22-27-16.jpg
 
I guess it is what you are used to.

Well, I thhnk it's stupid, especially for the kind of load I have in there right now, I'd be having to run at least two loads in either a 14, 16, or 17 because the bulky stuff wouldn't alow anything to be put in the top rack.  A 16s or 17 would require soadk & scrub.  My 6 gallons of water is much more efficiently used than 20 to 24 gallons for at least two loads out of a vintage 16 or 17.  I don't wash anything by hand and I don't believe in having part or all orf a rack empty and running the dishwasher because it's a 1-level wash wonder.  And y'all b*tch about modern machines not being efficient because of their 1.5 to 2 hour cycle lengths. I seem to rememberr in a 17 or 18 brochure, a soak & scrub cycle used between 1.3 and 1.6 kwhs per cycle.  I don't think my machine consumes that much because of the low wattage motor and heater even though it runs for a long time.
 
@fnelson487

Thanks for the photo of the KDS-14 with the wood panels. Our 1962 KDS-14 was similarly tricked out with panels that matched the new cabinets. We had white formica counters, so the overall appearance was pretty close to what is depicted in that photo.

I never knew that they were still making the "Custom" with the old-style handle into the 1960s. My grandmother lived in NYC but had a weekend home in CT, and she had an earlier KDS model (same handle) in a sink combination unit. The house was built in the early 1930s and originally may well have had one of those 40" long wall mounted kitchen sinks, which were replaced by the sink combo units as an alternative to full remodeling. I don't know the year/vintage of that unit, but I don't think they continued manufacture of combination sink units past the late 1950s.

In the 1970s and 80s as a visitor, I never saw the DW in use, so it may well have been broken and she never bothered to repair it, not sure. It had a slanted top that tilted toward the sink, so it was a good set up for a dish drying rack. It may have been she only used the DW for a large party or crowd, not sure. One thing is for sure: once it was no longer reparable, there was no replacement for it by the 1960s (combo unit no longer in production) so she either had to leave it in place or do a major remodel.
 

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