Vintage Kitchenaid Dishwasher

[sudsmaster]

I have a chance to pick up a vintage Kitchenaid dishwasher.

It's got a porcelain steel interior, and needless to say, it still works just fine. The current owner estimates it's at least 15 years old, but he's not sure as it was in the home he bought 10 years ago.

What is putting me off is that it has a plastic control panel. The panel has a combination timer knob and push buttons.

It's a model KUDI220WWH0. S/N 2406977.

Does anyone have an idea how old this dw is, and if it's a desirable model?

 

[appnut]

Rich, OH YES, it's a desireable model. The I is for Imperial. Only the Superba had the all push-button with rapid advance timer. This Imperial was actually a very popular model. It was on the market new in the early 1990s.

 

[gansky1]

This is a '94 on ebay, I bought this same model new and had it for three years before we moved. Not a bad machine at all.

 

[sudsmaster]

Soooo.. KA was still making porcelain steel DW's into the mid-90's? When did they convert to plastic interiors? Is this model as good as the older ones made by Hobart?

 

[mrcleanjeans]

KitchenAid-for the way it WAS made

they were triple coated porcelain on steel until 1995,when they became stainless steel interiored.The tri-coat porcelain tub was Tridura,two coats of premium porcelain with an overglaze baked onto it that resisted the elements so to speak.They were never plastic interiored,nor are they.Of course Whirlpool makes plastic tubbed machines,but not with the KitchenAid name on them.

 

[petek]

I remember when I had my KA portable with the porcelain interior that thing got hot and stayed hot for quite a while after the dishes were done, moreso than the stainless steel.

 

[kevinpreston8]

Gansky's pic...

...is very close to the model that I installed in about 94/95 in our old house. Our model may have been one step up, I remember a few more button/options on it.

The porcelained interior was the selling point for me. The other ones we looked at had rather cheap plastic-y interiors. That thing worked like a charm, and we wash ALOT of dishes, and my eldest sons baby bottles, and and and.

It was quite a workhorse, quiet, nice. I installed it myself and it never needed service.

In the new house, we got a new KA Superba, with the built in food crusher/disposer, etc (never heard that work, as I refuse to load a dishwasher with dirty dishes. That's just me.)

 

[sudsmaster]

Thanks for all the information and input on this.

I do agree that this is a desirable DW. However, upon further inspection of the area where it would go, I've realized that it would be better to get a vintage portable roll-around DW for that location. The location is the second kitchen on an enclosed patio; the applances are all grouped alone one wall (which is really the exterior wall of the house). The cabinets to either side of the sink are 30" wide, which wouldn't look so great if I hacked one of them out for a built-in DW. The nearest 24" cabinet is on the other side of a 30" drop-in range - perhaps too far for a drain hose to reach.

So I've decided to pass on this 90's porcelain tub KA ... for now. I'll be on the lookout for a portable DW instead. The second kitchen doesn't generate too many dirty dishes, anyway, but a DW in there would be handy for the occasional patio party/dinner in the summertime.

If the KA were of an older vintage - say, 60's - I might go for it, cabinets be dammed. Meanwhile the Bosch built-in in the main house kitchen is going strong and I don't plan on replacing that with a vintage version.

 

[gansky1]

This version of KitchenAid wasn't the old Hobart pump/motor design but had a Whirlpool (Powerclean?) version in it. It washed very well but the cycle times on mine were rather short and very dirty, baked on soil wouldn't always get completely clean. Mine had a delay start option which was a good thing since with the timer dial, it was easy to overshoot the start of the cycle and miss part of the first fill. I bought this KA because the Mart had a better (contractor's) price on this one than a higher-model Maytag that I went to buy.