WTH is this 50's stove/dishwasher combo by Universal

[petek]

Perusing Craigslist I came across this in Royal Oak... maybe my eyes are bad but it looks like a stove/dw combo? And I'm not talking Modern Maid either

http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/app/2872358102.html

 

[petek]

I keep looking at the bottom left picture and it looks like a glass top dishwasher that slides into the left side of the oven?

 

[retropia]

That is a first for me. Imagine not knowing your hosts had their dishwasher hiding in their stove, and seeing them wheel it out to load after a dinner party. Pretty slick trick!

 

[maytagbear]

That is

a real item, a RARE item.

Yes, that is a portable dishwasher, of a brand called James. Yes, that is a Universal brand gas range. Once in a while, an ad for the dishwasher itself will be a POD.

I think it is actually a brilliant idea, very space-saving. However, the James dishwasher was not very good. Additionally, few survive.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[jetcone]

Yes that is a James

wow never seen that one before. That is definitely apartment material!!

 

[tomturbomatic]

The idea resurfaced a couple of decades later with the Modern Maid high oven range that had a dishwasher under the cooktop. The setup originally had a porcelain tank D&M dw. People had to be careful about replacing the dw because if they put a plastic tub machine in, it melted while dinner was being cooked on the surface units and could not be used for the cleanup afterwards.

 

[jetcone]

Like the

Vinyl chair that melted underneath me when I was sitting in front of the wood stove entertaining 10??

I was talking when all of a sudden I was on the floor with 4 legs splayed out under me. There were 10 open mouths around the table!

 

[wayupnorth]

Universal

Several years ago friends were building a camp on a nearby lake and a friend of their family gave them the exact same model. Naturally, the dishwasher portion did not work but the gas side was fine. I had never seen or heard of one before that and have not since. The price seems quite steep though.

 

[revvinkevin]

All the pix for the archives...

 

 

[petek]

I'd love to go see it but with no intention of buying it wouldn't dare.

 

[hydralique]

I remember seeing some discussion on these before, a truly wacky but endearing idea. Given that the dishwasher unit appears to pull out entirely from the appliance body, how do the water hoses connect?

 

[swestoyz]

I know of one locally, and was able to get a quick look at it. While the range is pretty neat, I'd be all over the dishwasher. Oh so cool. Someday....

Ben

 

[maytagbear]

Hydraulique

-just like any other portable dishwasher....there's a sink faucet connector.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[hydralique]

Lawrence,

Thanks for that. Given that the unit is sort of built into the stove body, I wondered if somehow the hoses connected to the stove.

 

[maytagbear]

In light of Turqoisedude's

recent find of a James dishwasher, I thought I'd poke around in the Patented Search-O-Lator.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[norgeway]

Universal Gas ranges

Were TOP QUALITY appliances, solid as a bank vault.And from what I hear the James dishwashers were too.