POD 4/22/11 GE top load portable DW

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tomturbomatic

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The angle from which this picture was shot is very strange. I guess to show the lifted portion of the top rack as well as the front of the machine,they had to shoot at an angle which only barely showed the front half of the lower rack. The lighting was such that the lower left side of the tank looks like it is covered in black mold. After having used a dishwasher for more than 50 years, I will make the observation that it is unusual to have more plates than glasses and mugs in most daily loads for a family. A family friend who originally had the APEX and then the WP with the telephone dial (and a full time domestic) used to complain to my mother, once she got the KA Superba (and lost the family retainer), that the way she had to keep loading glasses and rearranging stuff throughout the day in the top rack made it seem like she worked in a bar. Of course, it was different than having the APEX which held a service for 6 and was run after every meal and was loaded and unloaded by someone else. As Ken has often pointed out, the lower racks of GE's wash arm DWs never had the capacity of their machines with the bow tie impeller and the 8 sided lower rack, but filling the top rack with dessert plates and saucers does not reflect usual usage.
 
I don't think I've ever seen any promotional photos of a fully loaded dishwasher which represented "real-life" usage.  Add to that how many times you see dishes in these photos loaded in such a way that they would never get clean.  Notice in the POD pic the cups on their sides facing the wall of the tub.  My guess is the person who staged the photo doesn't have much experience using a dishwasher!
 
In the hold

Getting the plates in and out of the back half of this style dishwasher posed the greatest challenge to daily use.  Once blocked in it was harder to rethink the loading pattern as more dishes were added.  Its good that dinner plates were smaller in diameter and flatter in those days making them easier to work with.  The lower rack has a "real"in home use appearance with a dog from every town mis match of plates and utensils.  Tom is correct in pointing out most homes would have more glasses and cups but again it demonstrates the tolerances possible.  Nothing was more frustrating than loading plates or utensils on the top rack and having them catch on the hinged portion preventing the lid from raising.  I remember fishing through the opening trying to move the obstruction while holding a flashlight, raising the lid and reaching in with a yardstick.
 
In the hold

Getting the plates in and out of the back half of this style dishwasher posed the greatest challenge to daily use.  Once blocked in it was harder to rethink the loading pattern as more dishes were added.  Its good that dinner plates were smaller in diameter and flatter in those days making them easier to work with.  The lower rack has a "real"in home use appearance with a dog from every town mis match of plates and utensils.  Tom is correct in pointing out most homes would have more glasses and cups but again it demonstrates the tolerances possible.  Nothing was more frustrating than loading plates or utensils on the top rack and having them catch on the hinged portion preventing the lid from raising.  I remember fishing through the opening trying to move the obstruction while holding a flashlight, raising the lid and reaching in with a yardstick.
 
mismatched plates

We always got the one FREE place setting of the usually once a year dinnerware promotion at the grocery stores. Sometimes it was earthenware, sometimes Melmac. We loved the novelty, but we mostly ate off the Fiesta and never felt quite comfortable about it until years later. Everyone else had dishes that were all the same pattern and we had plates, cups & saucers, bowls etc that were like a rainbow. The Fiesta looked really neat in the lower rack of the Mobile Maid, like they were frozen in the middle of a contaigion by Busby Berkeley.
 
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