Retailers discontinuing portable dishwashers in New Orleans

[mavei511]

While researching the purchase of my portable dishwasher recently,I found out that retailers here in metro New Orleans are no longer carring portable dishwashers in stock-in fact,most(except HD and Sears)don't even carry display models.They point you to a book,a brochure a web site ,call them a "special order item",and tell you 10-14 days delivery.Some have discontinued the sale of them altogether.
I even had one say(i'm paraphrasing),"you could get a better machine than that GE" I took that to mean that you could get a nicer built-in for the same or slightly more money. I told him,"well,I can't use a built-in. I have no cabinet space for one." He changed his tune,even though I decided not to buy at that time.He compared portable dishwashers to stackable compact top-load washer and dryer combos(for special applications).

Reasons?
I guess it is because,in this post-Katrina market,of the number of flood-damaged
gutted houses needing all-new cabinets in their kitchens,making it very convenient to add a built-in,as well as existing construction that already has built-in machines installed.(Our suburban house didn't flood!)

The retailers said that they were very slow selling.One said that they only sold 10 a year,on average and that it costs manufacturers more to produce- Whirlpool,for example only builds or ships them to order(4-5 wks.delivery).

Is this happening in any other markets?
Does it have anything to do with upgraded energy efficiency standards?Or just consumer demand?

 

[toggleswitch]

I will proably be needing a portable unit soon, and have run into the same situation. Not a great many choices in portables, and then the ones you do find tend to be the BOL or near-BOL models encased. YUK! Probably a method of keeping the price-points low.

Worst case scenario, IKEA sells cabinets for dishwashers. I may have to encase a built-in myself.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IkeamsSearch?storeId=12&langId=-1&catalogId=10103&searchType=product&pageNumber=-1&orderBy=score&category=%23%7EProducts&query=dishwasher+cabinet

 

[maytagbear]

It's mostly consumer demand,

nothing deliberately evil. Portable/convertible dishwashers have been a fading market segment for decades. Consumer Reports no longer even mentions which machines are available as portable/convertibles any more.

In fact, the last CR dishwasher report that made much mention of portables was the one in November(?) 1968.
The top 3 were a Whirlpool front-loader, a Whirlpool top-loader, and the Maytag top-loader.

Since (at least around here) most new apartments come with BOL built-ins, they've lost most of the rental market, and since most home owners, after they get the "dishwasher bug" build in.....

Of the 6 dishwashers I have used regularly/owned, 3 of them have been portables. To me, the sheer delight of not having to do dishes by hand is worth the slight hassle of moving it and connecting it.

Maytag (as recently as last year, uncertain about
this year) offered a fairly deluxe portable. It was in the Jetclean, not Performa line. I'd still buy a Maytag dishwasher.

Lawrence/Maytagbear