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Thread Number: 57484
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
1980 Sears Builder Catalog |
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Post# 798600 12/11/2014 at 13:46 (3,422 days old) by Unimatic1140  (Minneapolis) |
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I was recently given this very interesting 30+ page Sears catalog from 1980 which I've never seen before. It is a 1980 Sears Builders Catalog, highlighting Kenmore appliances which builders can use to pick out new Kenmore appliances for their new residential construction. Very interesting to say the least. The BOL coin-op washer and dryer listed I've never ever seen before. Anyway its now in the Ephemera Library for anyone who would like to see.
Appliances included in this catalog: Built-in Cooktops, Built-in Ovens, Electric Ranges, Drop-in Ranges, Gas Ranges, Range Hoods, Micro-Classic Microwave Range Combinations, Microwave Ovens Side by Side Refrigerators, Top Freezer Refrigerators, Frostless Refrigerators-Freezers, Automatic Defrost Refrigerator-Freezers Dishwashers Garbage Disposers, Trash Compactor Hot Water Sink Dispenser, Water Heaters Coin-Operated Commercial Washers and Dryers, Automatic Washers and Dryers Wood Burning Fireplaces, Central Heating Furnaces, Split System Heat Pumps, Wall Air-Conditioners Central Vacuum Cleaner System 
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Post# 798604 , Reply# 1 12/11/2014 at 14:18 (3,422 days old) by kb0nes (Burnsville, MN) |
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I remember that catalog! I saw it on the wall at the Burnsville Sears back in customer service back in the day. Remember when they used to have a catalog for every department?
I distinctly recall my adolescent brain being attracted to the homemaker's eyes on the cover. Oddly I bet I overlooked the appliances then lol | ||
| Post# 798612 , Reply# 2 12/11/2014 at 15:27 (3,422 days old) by bluejay (Havre de Grace, MD) | ||
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Post# 798613 , Reply# 3 12/11/2014 at 15:32 (3,422 days old) by tennblondie78 (Bowling Green, KY) |
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| Post# 798632 , Reply# 4 12/11/2014 at 18:15 (3,422 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas) | ||
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There is something about that photo that just screams cheap, cheap, cheap! Even though TOL appliances are shown, it just looks cheap. Maybe it's the cheap wood paneling on the cabinets, or the flooring. | ||
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Post# 798647 , Reply# 5 12/11/2014 at 19:42 (3,422 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Cheap...Cheap...Cheap
Allen the thing that ruins it all is thinking about the soaking wet shag carpeting caused by the crappy D&M DW leaking.
Yes there are some very good appliances pictured, the ref for one, but the white smooth-top cook-tops just never were practical except the orignal Corning tops with thermostatically controlled burners that saved the tops from severe discoloration. | ||
| Post# 798698 , Reply# 8 12/12/2014 at 04:48 (3,421 days old) by arbilab (Ft Worth TX (Ridglea)) | ||
Dispensing with age-old conventional wisdom, I'm gay but I'm NOT an interior decorator. I had a 70s house FULL of that exact shag-- coral I think they called it-- and I didn't care. Except that they carpeted the bathrooms too, which I'd never seen before or since. Mildew farm. But who carpets KITCHENS??
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Post# 798710 , Reply# 9 12/12/2014 at 08:46 (3,421 days old) by DaveAmKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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Tempted to purchase this catalog! Looks like at least you could still buy a good REFRIGERATOR from Sears! (I like the "Tilt Ice" and through-door "Waterfall" Dispenser...)
'Course, in addition to the Kenmore name going on fridges & freezers, (the Coldspot name, long-gone!) was the era of black-paneled washers & dryers being the leader of the laundry room...
And still "Sears Best" in appliance sales, though nothing being the same after the brief appearance, then discontinuation of the Hidden Control and Radio Dial-models, among the other Washer & Dryer novelties that helped buoy leads in laundry appliance sales...
-- Dave | ||
| Post# 798725 , Reply# 10 12/12/2014 at 11:47 (3,421 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
 There's plenty to dislike in that kitchen. Carpeting, how unsanitary! Those beams on the ceiling scream "plasteek" and the popcorn finish doesn't help either. The laminate on those cabinets sort of reminds me of the worm wood paneling in Perry Mason's office although it looked fine there...Della must have picked it out.
From a standpoint of attractiveness, the white appliances are very nice but I could do without that burl wood on the dishwasher. I even like the Mobile Maid kitchen in today's POD, but then I'm the oddball who hates stainless steel, old Foodaramas and loves Windows 8. | ||
| Post# 798736 , Reply# 11 12/12/2014 at 14:07 (3,421 days old) by firedome (Binghamton NY & Lake Champlain VT) | ||
The 80s were a low point ... | ||
| Post# 798794 , Reply# 12 12/12/2014 at 19:04 (3,421 days old) by jeb (Mansfield Ohiio) | ||
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Sears kitchen In 1979 my mother did a complete kitchen remodel including all TOL Kenmore appliances (they had the Sears card). The stove and refrigerator were gone by year 15 but the dishwasher was still going strong at 30 years old and it was run almost daily.Jeb | ||
| Post# 798816 , Reply# 13 12/12/2014 at 22:26 (3,420 days old) by roto204 (Tucson, AZ) | ||
Fridge May be good, but that's a stupid design to have the handles so high. That would be aggravating in no time flat.
We had a carpeted kitchen (and bathrooms!) in a rental home we had in college. Ick! Talk about impossible to keep clean! At least the magma-orange countertops kept the ugly streak going strong.
This is like a picture that screams "everything lousy, all in one place." It does capture the essence of late-seventies, early-eighties design.
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| Post# 798821 , Reply# 14 12/12/2014 at 22:56 (3,420 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas) | ||
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In one of the houses we had the bathrooms had shag carpeting in them. When you walked in the room it smelled of ammonia! We ripped all that out and installed tile before we even moved in. When they ripped up the carpet, you should have seen what the slab looked like around the toilet! It was pee stained! No wonder it smelled. | ||
| Post# 798919 , Reply# 15 12/13/2014 at 18:02 (3,420 days old) by roto204 (Tucson, AZ) | ||
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Ew! | ||
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Post# 798947 , Reply# 16 12/13/2014 at 20:49 (3,419 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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 My first house I bought July of 1980 was built in the spring of 1980. Came with Kenmore appliances. The gas range I had looks like the same one that's the least expensive gas range with a backsplash. It just had a 4 hour timer and continuous clean oven. It had pilot lights. I had the builder upgrade to the same look, but it had pilotless ignition. The builder decided to upgrade the dishwasher that was in the models. What was in the models looks like the one that's the least expensive of the 24" ones in the catalog. What he chose to upgrade to, is not pictured here. It had the big fat knob like the one that's the top of the 3 mechanical models. It had 3 buttons on the left (Pots & Pans, Normal, Rinse & Hold--then a bit of a space and then heat or cool dry buttons. | ||
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Post# 798964 , Reply# 17 12/13/2014 at 23:02 (3,419 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
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This was fun to see!
I started working at Sears in 1981 and some of these appliances were still available but probably tweaked a little here and there for "newness". Other than refrigeration products (yawn) the Sears offerings of cooking and cleanup product quality was pretty sad. It's curious that with their buying power at this point and high ranking reputation that they didn't source better.
I always thought this TOL Dishwasher was one of the best looking they made in this era, despite the woodgrain. The electronics were a marvel of the time and many were leery to buy an appliance with the newfangled, sure to fail, unnecessary hocus pocus. At the time, the woodgrain was all the rage and most appliances featured it. Within a couple of years after this, the dishwashers would all have the sloping panels as shown on the 18" models. I had no use for this design, I thought it was cheap looking and lacked any chrome. Yuck. I never saw these home laundry models on the sales floors or general catalogs. These builder models were often found in manufactured housing and was the only place I'd ever seen them. | ||
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Post# 798971 , Reply# 18 12/14/2014 at 02:21 (3,419 days old) by jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers) |
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I loved fake  rosewood paneling back then. It meant modern, it meant we were far away from Colonial !!
About this time for SHOP I made a rosewood & lucite lamp. The glues back then weren't strong enough it didn't survive. But it was cool.
From the catalog:
"Dramatic black glass oven doors" I'll never look at my Thermador's the same way again !
Its amazing how the 'ham bomb" appears in several pictures lol !!!
Jenn-Aire must have built those modular ranges .
WOW my Mom had the same belt as the model with the microwave oven !!
My heavens range hoods were ugly blocky affairs back then
This post was last edited 12/14/2014 at 02:36 | ||
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Post# 798980 , Reply# 19 12/14/2014 at 05:08 (3,419 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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