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bajaespuma

bajaespuma

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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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!!
 
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
 
yes they did. Other friends of our in Dallas built a custom home. They had a KDI15 DW and WK cooktop (with the Chambers type of ringlet gas burners as I called 'em) and a WK double oven.
 
When my parents sold their summer home in 1993, the Waste King stainless steel electric stove was still there. As it was a summer home, the stove had less use than usual.

Ross
 
What's "Plastinol"??

The GE's used what they called "Plastinol" as a tank coating for their dishwashers from about 1958 to 1980. Is/was Plastinol just a heavy vinyl coating? IIRC I saw a couple of those dishwashers with tears and inevitable rust but all of ours maintained their integrity to the bitter end.
 
Waste King dishwashers

Hi Guys,

I have some pictures of a Waste King dishwasher if you would like me to post. I also have acquired a Waste King use and care manual for the TOL dishwasher around 1979-80. It was for the "Steam Machine." I don't ever remember how I acquired the manual. I remember coming home from school one day and my Mom said it came in the mail. I must have written to the company for it, which I had done from time to time.

Anyway, when I was growing up, my friend Bobby had a coppertone Waste King dishwasher in his kitchen. It was basically a portable model with a butcher block top but they had run plumbing to it from the floor so his mother didn't have to attach the hoses. I remember from time to time that she would run it when I was there and I thought it was one of the noisiest machines I'd ever heard. His mother told me once they they often would run it after they would all go upstairs to bed because of the noise it made in kitchen.

When I was in high school, I used to take apart and repair dishwashers from time to time for fun (to learn) and also to make a little extra money. The very first dishwasher I brought home was a Waste King portable (sitting in front of a house in my hometown of Sterling, Illinois. I was riding my bike from my grandmother's house to my house and passed it on the way home. I remember begging my Dad to let me get it and work on it. I told him if I couldn't fix it that I would wheel it to the curb. He agreed and we got it. I spent a few Saturdays after that cleaning it up and working on it. Turns out the pump was clogged up and wouldn't drain. I fixed it and sold it at a rummage sale for $75.00. The Waste King machines didn't really have a filter if I remember. They had small holes around a pump in the bottom center.

Once I had it running properly, my Mom and Dad would let me bring into the house and hook it up in the kitchen and we could run a load of dishes through it to make sure it worked before I sold it. --those were the days! This model, too, was very noisy! I don't know how people put up with it. Compared to KitchenAid, I felt like WK was inferior and their rack design too was very inadequate.

Hope this thread isn't too long...I like sharing stories with you guys who might find an interest in it. I certainly love reading your stories.

Oh and by the way, I will identify myself per chachp's request! It is I who has knocked on people's doors and inquired about their newly acquired vintage dishwashers. I acquired a beautiful near-mint KitchenAid KDC-17 dishwasher in this manner. She saved my number for 2 yrs and called me out of the blue one day. (I never thought she'd remember after all that time.)

Todd
 
Please

I'd love to see some more pictures of these machines. As I've said in other posts, I have some brochures packed away somewhere and as soon as I find them I'll share them. You've inspired me to go up to one of my neighbor's doors and knock. I'm going to be known locally as the weird appliance guy, but that's OK; most of my friends already refer to me as "Dr. Appliance" (among other nicknames).
 
Yes, please post the pics. I'd love for you to put the owners manual you have in thatpart of the web site too if you could have it scanned in.
 
Gary, can you post that brochure to the site, or e-mail it directly to me? I would greatly appreciate it!! It brings back such memories. I loved my Waste King dishwasher...especially the sounds it made!
 
History of Waste King?

I think WK may have been a regional brand of appliances sold mostly out west? I never saw one in Pgh but did see them on The Price is Right. Who owned the company?

Varicyclechoice, I was kind of like you too with getting appliances out of the garbage. Most of the time I could not get anything big to work but I have never bought a vacuum cleaner new - all the ones I have are from the curb. I was also an appliance consultant in our neighborhood. It amazes me that people don't know what appliances they have even though they have to look at them every day. One person who wanted me to look at his dryer told me "It's no fun to use so I try not to look at it."

Reason I think WK would have been owned by someone else is that I am not sure if people would want to buy or cook food on a range called Waste King.
 
Thanks Laundress!

It was owned by the same company that owned Thermador and, yes, they were based in the LA area. Waste King disposers are made today by a company called "Anaheim Manufacturing", so I suppose this is/was a divestiture of that parent company. Thermador dishwashers are now somebody else's rebadged but they were originally made by Waste King and virtually identical to them. If you remember TV shows well, family's like the Stevenses on Bewitched and others all had Waste King indoor gas barbecue grills (which I'd KILL for today) in their spiffy TV kitchens. They weren't as popular here in the East but occasionally you'd see them pictured in a high end kitchen designed by somebody like St. Charles or Mutschler. I hear that they were great at grilling but required a serious overhead hood as they were gas fired.

My Aunt Sona had an early Waste King DW like the plastisol one described above. I do remember the cross patterned racking that was described. What I most remember about that machine was a pretty control panel with red and turquoise stripes and a big friendly black dial. Her machine was probably BOL but it worked well; it was noisy and I also remember it had nothing but a pathetic little plastic "trough" for detergent. You measured the detergent into it and it "fell" into the tank as you closed the door. Not exactly state of the art automatic. They were very happy to replace that Waste King with a KDC-17 in 1969.
 
The Thermador Model Steam Machine

In the 80's (my 4th husband, I believe) we moved out to a little island off Saint Patersburg, Florida. (Snell Isle) We did a redo of the kitchen first. I bought the TOL Thermador Steam Machine. Waste King at the time, was using the Thermador name for the cooking appliances, and was using Waste King exclusively for the disposers. (even though you could get a badged Thermador disposer) As I remember, it had 7 or 8 chrome buttons on the left side of the door and as many lights on the right that indicated placement in the cycle. It had one of those electro-mechanical timers under the machine that you could hear clicking when you pushed your selected cycle. I do remember that it was OVER $1,000.00 back in the 80's!!! I really loved the machine and when I moved wanted to take it with me, but the people that bought the house insisted that it stay. :~( It was a little noisy but no more so than my mother's KitchenAid Superba.....and my Thermador could wash circles around her KA! I've still got the brochures from that machine somewhere in the warehouse. When I get everything unpacked, I'll post it. Mark
 

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