what would be your choice of vintage dishwasher to install in a modern kitchen if you do not went something modern or with manual filter to clean

[vacerator]

DM probably won the bid for Sears. They also only made dishwashers and GE may not have had the production capacity to add. Whirlpool either. Indiana is also closer to Chicago than Ohio or Louisville for visits by management and executives of both.

 

[neptunebob]

Chet, I remember looking at dishwashers in about 1983 and looked at Whirlpool and GE and was not impressed, even the WP seemed cheap and I knew from people who we knew who had apartments that GE and Hotpoint was loud. Then Sears had a sale and to me, the Kenmore actually looked better. I could not afford KA. We had that Kenmore for about 3 years and they did not hold up to daily use. But the Kenmore actually seemed more solid. Eventually, Kenmores became loud (but GE was loud out of the box) and rusted and were on the curb sooner but when its on sale and you don't get your jollies washing dishes, you don't think about that. Eventually, in mid 80s Sears started to source from Whirlpool for the higher priced models called Ultra Wash. The one that "ate the cake" in the ad was a Whirlpool made unit. There were still a lot of D&M units for a long time, probably until 2000.

 

[neptunebob]

DM probably won the bid for Sears. They also only made dishwashers and GE may not have had the production capacity to add. Whirlpool either. Indiana is also closer to Chicago than Ohio or Louisville for visits by management and executives of both.

Actually, eventually, there were GE Kenmore units, but usually the lower priced dishwashers. These were made of solid plastic.

 

[Chetlaham]

DM probably won the bid for Sears. They also only made dishwashers and GE may not have had the production capacity to add. Whirlpool either. Indiana is also closer to Chicago than Ohio or Louisville for visits by management and executives of both.

Ideally, if I was a high powered executive at Sears, I would have sourced the entire 1983-1987 Kenmore lineup from GE with all the models having a filter in the back. I then would have quickly phased in ultra wash from the TOL down to where the the early 90s all Kenmores BOL to TOL would be Power Clean.

Of course, hind site is 20/20. However high end GE dishwashers in the 80s were rated among the best and deserved to be in more homes.

 

[circlew]

DM probably won the bid for Sears. They also only made dishwashers and GE may not have had the production capacity to add. Whirlpool either. Indiana is also closer to Chicago than Ohio or Louisville for visits by management and executives of

I too am really curious about why Sears choose D&M over GE. It might have been GE reputation prior to the Perma tuffs. If I had to pick between a plastisol and a D&M I'd go for the D&M even though both are relatively poor dishwashers in both longevity and performance. Plastisol (no matter how gently it was used) rusting out in a few years was a given. D&M would then come following from behind.

At the time Sears began selling them, Whirlpool didn't make dishwashers. When Whirlpool added dishwashers to their line, they were made by D&M for several years. Sears already had a long standing relationship with American Central Manufacturing Co. (AVCO), as they had been making steel kitchen cabinets for them. D&M was the successor company of American Central, so it made sense for them to continue doing business with them.

 

[vacerator]

D&M was Rex manufacturing when they made steel kitchens. Yes, Sears already had a business relationship with them, so the practical decision between corporate, and Sears designers for the consoles was clear.
It wasn't until the late 80's that Sears offered any GE , Bosch, or White consolidated sourced Kenmore products. After Roper was absorbed/phased out, GE became the main cooking products supplier.

 

[combo52]

Sears Kenmore appliances in the 80s 90s and beyond.

We’re a mix of a lot of things the ranges in the late 80s 90s and beyond were a mixture of GE a lot of Frigidaire and quite a bit of whirlpool from their Tulsa Oklahoma plant.

Most of the front controlled slide in drop in gas and electric ranges under the Kenmore name came out of the old Roper plant that GE got, they were pretty bad ranges. Generally, they weren’t any good under roper, they actually got a little better under GE but not much.

GE built Kenmore dishwashers were mainly in the builder line. They were never considered a serious dishwasher at Sears and there were damn few Bosch dishwasher sold under the Kenmore name, I’ve probably only ever seen about three.

John L

 

[appnut]

Up thread there was mention of dishwashers with paddles at the bottom of the tub that's been very fast and splash the water around those are referred to as impeller dishwashers. That was before the first spray arm dishwasher which was KitchenAid

 

[rinso]

You may not seen dishwashers manufactured before they had the spray arms we are familiar with today. They had a paddle at the bottom that sat in a pool of water and turned really fast which literally sprayed the water up, around and on the dishes and glasses. The first time I saw one was at a friend's house. The whole thing pulled out from the cabinet like a drawer and it loaded from the top. I had never seen anything like it before. I never understood whether they truly got dishes clean as it seemed they were already pretty much clean when they put them in the dishwasher.

We had a top-loading Westinghouse that pulled out like a drawer and had a "paddle" impeller like you mentioned. It had no food particle filter, yet it performed much better than it should have, given its design.

 

[circlew]

D&M was Rex manufacturing when they made steel kitchens. Yes, Sears already had a business relationship with them, so the practical decision between corporate, and Sears designers for the consoles was clear.
It wasn't until the late 80's that Sears offered any GE , Bosch, or White consolidated sourced Kenmore products. After Roper was absorbed/phased out, GE became the main cooking products supplier.

D&M didn't exist until January 1959, when Sam Regenstrief purchased most of AVCO's Connersville facilities. He had been president of Rex Mfg., which had been bought by Philco in 1947. Rex had made refrigerator cabinets for Sears, Crosley, Philco, and others. Sears kitchen sinks and cabinets had been made by Steel Kitchens, Inc. which merged with American Central in 1945, which had become an AVCO division. The name was changed to American Kitchens. The Sears Homart line was a heavily modified style to differentiate it from the AK line, However, it retained the unique faucet mounting as on the AK sinks. The early Sears Kenmore dishwashers were modified American Kitchens units.