Youngstown Dishwasher

[lonestar1947]

Help! I have a Youngstown dishwasher (with an attached sink!)
I will try to attach a picture for you folks. Imagine a metal kitchen cabinet with a sink on one side and a top-opening dishwasher on the other side!

It looks good from the outside, but I have no racks for the dishes, I'm not sure if it works either, as this has sat in a garage for at least 40yrs; I would like to put this in a kitchen eventually, but would like it to work.

Youngstown was famous for their metal kitchen cabinets and counters in the 40s and 50s, I think they "borrowed" the mechanicals for the dishwashers from another company and put their name on it. So I don't think I have to have the Youngstown brand-name only.

Is there anyone out there in "appliance-world" that can help me? thanks.

 

[lonestar1947]

Youngstown Dishwasher

Oops! I forgot to mention, it has jets from a center pole, that seem to be what does the washing. thanks!

 

[christfr]

well i had one that now is roberts.. he did a fantastic job with it too.. there should be racks for the dishes.. you can see how it works just look under the see it wash section its way cool

 

[foraloysius]

There is a movie about the Mullins dishwasher, which is the same as the Youngstown dishwasher on the Prelinger Archives.

 

[foraloysius]

Actually in the movie it is called the Youngstown too, don't know what the text is about.

 

[lonestar1947]

Youngstown

Thanks! I hope to get mine working, I have a Youngstown metal kitchen to put it in! Great Site here!

 

[chachp]

I would love to see pics of your kitchen.

My parents mopved to Youngstown, OH in 1969 when I was in high school. I remember some friends of ours lived in an area of town that was flooded with new track style houses back in the 50s and they all had different styles of Youngstown kitchens all with the top loading and a few with the front loading Youngstown dishwasher. Many were still in place in the lates 60s and early 70s. I got to see a few of them and always thought the metal cabinets were cool. My Mom had wood as far back as I can remember but we did have a Youngstown dishwasher for a while and that ironically enough was in New York before we ever moved to Ohio.

 

[drewz]

Youngstown Kitchens Everywhere!

When I was little our house in Alexandria, Virginia had a Youngstown Kitchen, I often wondered what that man with the bow & arrow had to do with the kitchens, it was on the plate just under the kitchen sink.

As I got older, living in NVA and DC, OMG, just about every home built in the fifties had those Youngstown Kitchens.

Must have been the favorite of every builder. Believe it or not many still have them and people doing retro around them and having new appliances painted by car body shops to match vintage colors.

 

[maytagbear]

That was actually

an emblem of Diana, goddess of the hunt.

Mullins was the company that made Youngstown Kitchens.

One of my grandmothers had a Youngstown Kitchen, but neither model of the dishwasher...not enough room for one and a clothes washer.

A great aunt up the street from us had a Youngstown Kitchen, and the front loading Youngstown dishwasher, which ran reliably for many years, but was eventually replaced with a belt-drive Maytag dishwasher.

The Youngstown Kitchens steel cabinets were very solidly made, and if properly maintained, looked great for years!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[drewz]

OMG! That is a women?

I know they made Diana Cabinets also, but fill me in with more detail about this goddess of the hunt?

What does she have to do with kitchen cabinets?

got any history? or in this case herstory?

See I learned something new today at 45!

thanks, Lawerence/Maytagbear!

 

[chachp]

So who was first?

The Youngstown Center tube Dishwasher (Top and Front Loading) or the Fridigaire Center tube front loading dishwasher?

 

[steved]

The winner is.....

The Youngstown was the first with the spray tube, introduced in 1950. Frigidaire didn't introduce their dishwasher until April 1955. My uncle had the 30" Youngstown dishwasher in his Scholtz 1956 home. That lasted until 1974 when I replaced it with a KitchenAid KDC-17.

 

[chachp]

Someone has one.

Someone in this group has a 30" (that's dishwasher Toggle!!) but I don't think we've seen much of it since he first got it.

I would love to have one of those.

 

[lonestar1947]

Youngstown

My Youngstown is missing the dishwasher racks; was there another brand (top loader) with racks that might work with this? Thanks

p.s. I don't own anything else, maybe I'll get a washing machine..., love to read the Forum anyway!

 

[appnut]

They were unique racks designed to fit only this particular design of dishwasher. not interchangeable with other brands.

 

[danemodsandy]

Two For One...

Lonestar:

Judging from other restoration "success stories" here, it sounds like your best bet is to work on finding another Youngstown Kitchens dishwasher like yours (or very similar) and use the best parts of that one and the one you already have to make one good dishwasher.

I know that sounds very daunting, but look at it this way- you're halfway there! I do wish you luck- I know what it's like to own something that used to be wonderful, and could be again, if it weren't for missing pieces and mindless abuse on the part of former owners. I can assure you- if you fixate on your goal, it will happen. When I got my Volvo 245 wagon, all kinds of people told me I could never find everything it needed to be complete again. It's complete again!

 

[jeff_adelphi]

Pic of 30" Youngstown DW

Heres a pic of my 30" Youngstown front load Dishwasher.

 

[jamiel]

We had that d/w in 1978 when we moved into our new house (built 1959). It was a POS (mind you we were coming from a Kenmore roto-rack 2 cycle from about 1968) and didn't last more than about a month before it was replaced by a Kitchenaid (which was also a POS and only lasted about 10 years b4 the kit was redone). Only interesting things about the d/w was the "vault door" handle (open/lock/on) and the way the door popped open for the drying with the heating element glowing.

 

[chachp]

That looks like new!

Thanks for posting. I love that machine. Have you ever tried it out to see how it works. I remember your post when you got it but don't recall if you had run it at all.