Waste King

[bajaespuma]

Does anyone here own or have any information on Waste King dishwashers? I've never even noticed them mentioned on this site and before they were discontinued, I remember them as very well made, innovative machines. Toward the end of their run they were part of the Thermador appliance family and the Thermador dishwasher was a rebadged Waste King. They were fabricated out of all stainless-steel way before the European machines were ever sold here and I remember their racks were very heavy duty blue vinyl coated wire with curled tips to protect dishes and glasses. I saw one in a house for sale recently and was saddened to realize that it would probably go out to a dumpster as soon as the new owner moved in whether it was working or not. I asked the realtor if there was a way to retrieve old appliances from houses with no estate sale and, of course, she looked at me like I had three heads.

Oh well, as usual, here in America we throw out only the best.

 

[wannapinkset]

Hey, why not ask?

Couldnt you offer the owner to replace and install a newer dishwasher? If its that special, and you express to them your pasion about this old dishwasher, I cant see why anyone would say no.

I would ask for the owners phone number and work it out with them. There are dishwashers everyday on craigslist for a small amount or maybe they would just sell you that one without replacing. Who knows? You never know till you ask, but for sure it'll go in a dupmster. People replace new appliances because of the wrong color when they move! Money to burn I guess. Too stupid in my opinion.

 

[peterh770]

I have our original very early 1970's 4 cycle WK dw stored at my father's house in central NY if anyone wants it.

Full Cycle, Rinse & Hold, Fine China, Pots & Pans. From what I remember, the Full Cycle was 2 rinses, wash, 2 rinses, heated final rinse and heated dry. P&P was the same without the heated dry. R&H was 2 rinses, and I don't think we ever once used the FC cycle.

Two wash arms, on on a tower. "Goat eye" spray holes in the wash arms. Two silverware baskets. Stainless inside and out. No real food disposal to speak of.

 

[gadgetgary]

Hope this helps...

From a brochure

 

[chachp]

Knock on the door and ask!

There is a member of this site (he can identify himself if he wishes) who is not shy about knocking on the door to ask the new owners if they would remember him should they choose to replace one of their appliances. He has found a few finds that way. People really have called him months after the fact and told him to come and get the old machine if he wanted it. He didn't need to replace it with a new one although that's a great idea. It just depends how badly you want what is there and how patient you are.

 

[MikeS]

Not a bad machine

In the early 1970's, my parents renovated our 1950's kitchen. Mom demanded a dishwasher (actually, my sister wanted it) so we ended up with a bottom-of-the-line Waste King. It was the lowest-rated model tested by Consumer Reports in 1971, but did an adequate job. The stainless steel tub was great, and the racks were easy to use. But the filtering system wasn't the greatest; no matter how you loaded it or how long you ran the garbage disposal before turning it on, there were always specks of food on the glasses and dishes--easily removed, but a pain nevertheless. The DW stayed in the home when we sold it in 1973. Never had a repair problem, however.

 

[appnut]

Peter, the only differrence between Full Cycle and Fine China was the elimination of the 3rd pst-wash rinse that heated water to 155 degrees. Was my mom's preferred cycle because it didn't run too long. I preferrede Full Cycle.

 

[mcmodern]

Going even further back

My aunt put one in their new house built in 1961. I remember she specifically wanted a Waste King, I guess due to a good reputation even back then. The color? coppertone, of course!

It was a fairly simple machine, the tub wasn't stainless, but a plastic-like coating, kind of like what was in my '79 GE. The detergent 'dispenser' didn't open during the cycle, it was simply a little square cup on the door, but it did have a rinse agent dispenser! Single dial with two cycles and plate warmer, no rinse-hold (unless you managed it yourself, which could be done) and the door simply pulled open and pushed shut via a sturdy roller-style latch. I used to sit and just listen to it, fascinated, since we didn't have a dishwasher.

I can't believe I remember so that much, being only four or five at the time (right now, I can't remember where I put the house keys...) But this was my favorite aunt, same one with the Kelvinator washer and dryer. Boy, was that a fun house to visit!

Kelly

 

[peteski50]

Wasteking!

For the longest time I think this was the only stainless steel DW in the USA. I never had experience with them. I think it would have been good if they removed the tower and just had 2 wash arms.
Looks like a interesting machine.
Peter

 

[appnut]

Kelly, our 1958/59 model was most likely TOL. Three buttons (fully cycle, pots/pans, Rinse&Hold). Ours had a detergent dispenser with rotating cover so you had pre-wash detergent & main wash detergent. Otherwise, I would imagine your Aunt's & ours were pretty much the same. BTW, there is a single Waste King POD for both the disposal & DW as a Christmas present to the little woman. Gives a good shot of a loaded dishwasher too. I vaguely remember a time where Maytag/JennAir offer a SS tub briefly, most likely to "compete with WK. This was most likely around 1976 or 1977 when I was still in college.

 

[bajaespuma]

I'm not that shy about asking but some things and some people aren't worth the trouble. I have one neighbor who has a COVETED 1961 GE filter-flo set that belonged to her mother sitting in a storage unit in our town. I've called her a dozen times begging her to either let me pay her or arrange a date to drive her to the unit to see them. She says she'll be glad to let me have the machines for free but getting her to commit to go the storage unit has been like pulling teeth. She's either too busy teaching or too busy driving to church on the weekends. She tells me now that she can do it once school is out for the summer vacation. I find that because people see this as an unusual avocation that they don't use usual rules of common courtesy or sense. I will kill the woman when she tells me that she got tired of paying for storage and subsequently threw everything out (exactly what my Mother would do). Patience is necessary for this collecting game, but honestly, you have to choose your battles, as most of you well know. The other thing I've learned is that I NEED a pick-up truck; I've missed more good stuff on the road for lack of a truck and a hand-truck.

...and thanks for the posting of the brochure. I fogot about those "goat-eye" water spouts.

 

[tomturbomatic]

WK dishwashers originally had a pretty good filter and very small holes in the wash arm, but that changed after the first design. The first tanks were porcelain, then within a year or two they went to Plastisol tanks. They might have been among the first dishwashers to have a spray arm, or half an arm, under the top rack. A stainless steel tower in the center had a half width wash arm under the lower rack and then under the top rack another half arm stuck out on the opposite side of the tower. The big fat heating element in the sump was a variable resistance heater. The hotter it got, the less wattage it drew. This meant that it could use full wattage for water heating when the heat was pulled out of it very efficiently by the water. In the dry cycle, it came on full, but as it heated up, the wattage dropped so it produced a more gentle heat. Once or twice during the dry cycle, the pump turned on to pump out the condensate that rolled down the tank walls and into the sump. I liked the way the early machines had that lower rack loading pattern where plates were loaded, facing the center, from 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock and smaller plates, bowls and stuff were racked in the corners and facing in. The top racks were about the least restrictive I have ever seen with only one front to back divider on the left side, I think, to maybe hold glasses and the rest of the area was wide open with a slight arch in the middle.

 

[chachp]

I thought I rememberd that kind of lower rack design

but I thought maybe I was mistaken. I remember a friend of mine who had that machine but I couldn't remember whether it had a wash arm or if it was an impeller washing system. Thanks for the great description. That is exactly how I remember it.

 

[appnut]

Kelly, we had some friends that moved from Houston to Dallas spring/summer of 1965 (spent that Turkey Day with them and rode in my dad's new 1966 Impala SS). It was a new Fox & Jacobs subdivision (their more upscale models) and came with Waste King kitchens. It was a BOL model and had racks that were kind of "transition". The top rack was what became the norm for WK dishawshers (the brochure above--flat, not curved like Tomturbo described above. But the bottom rack was still arranged just like our 1958/59 and what Tom described above.

 

[mcmodern]

WK in a F&J?

Hi, Bob. Your friend's house would have been a 'Flair' model (love that name). There's a neighborhood of them from the early 70's adjacent to mine - an oddball, as the surrounding homes were twice as expensive. I'm surprised they used WK even in those, but there were more options those days, particularly in their more expensive neighborhoods. SS interior on that one?

Back on subject: Was Waste King considerably more expensive back then, compared say to KA? or TOL of mainstream brands?

Kelly

 

[appnut]

Kelly, no since this was 1965, the interior was plastinol. As Tom indicated above, they moved to plastinol probably for the 1959 model, which ours was. Waste King aws a good machine, albeit somewhat cheaply made. From what I have larned here, motors were vulnerable. They were a KA-wanna be. But had good features and a better capacity until the KD15 series. My Dad probably opted for the WK because it was so similar in design style to KA, without the better build. Our second WK was installed the day MLK was asssinated. Lasted until 1974 and was still going, but mom wanted somethihng new. It had the double wash arms as shown in the brochure above. Some friends in Houston, as well as friends in Sea Brook, both got the same SS Interior WK in about 1978 or 1979. It was a sSteam Machine. Had the same 4 cycle buttons but Steam Cycle supplanted our Cookware cycle. It also had a knob you pushed in to start rather than the timer "behind a plastic cover you saw through". That late 1970s machinie loaded just like our 1968, but it had SS interior. It was also slightly quieter than our old one.

Oh, and Gary, THANK YOU for posting that brochure!!

 

[westyslantfront]

Not wishing to get off the topic, my parents had a stainless steel, 24 inch, drop in Waste King electric stove back in the 60's.

Ross

 

[appnut]

They had good looking cooking equipment Ross and performed quite well form what I remember.

 

[andrewinorlando]

They certainly did Bob. Didn't they adopt the Chambers design for their gas cooktops?