A Vintage Dishwasher

All mine. Wooooh hoooh.

I was perusing Craigslist the other day, looking for used cabinets to put in the studio. I found an ad for vintage built-ins that a woman was trying to sell. In the add was a picture that had a dishwasher and a stove -- "definitely vintage," I said to myself.

I wrote to her and asked if they were vintage. The stove was a drop-in, which I don't see a lot of for vintage models and the dishwasher was this cutie...

A Kitchen Aid Hobart model KD-12, I was so excited to find this, I was looking for a NEW dishwasher, but per the usual, was procrastinating on choosing one. I'm a HUGE procrastinator, but I have found that many times it has worked to my advantage...like now. 

She and I emailed back and forth because I needed information if I was going to spend some moola on putting this thing in. She said it worked, and she's been using it for the past 17 years, but has finally decided to do a kitchen remodel and this and the stove were going away. Oh, how I wanted to rescue the stove, too, but I have a vintage 1956 Frigidaire 40" that I love and have no room to store hers.   

Although I found very little information for this model, I did find a couple of YouTube videos and other information on forums. It seems to be a well liked machine. It came in stainless and pink, too. What I read most about was how much people liked KitchenAid Hobart and the gravity drain system that these machines have. What that means? I'm not sure and more research needs to be done so I have the knowledge. 

I do have to say it was a difficult decision for me to make, getting this dishwasher. I'm a huge advocate for protecting the environment as much as you can, recycling, reusing, efficiency, etc. I couldn't find any information on how much water this will use. I did find a timing schedule for the cycles and it seems it will run faster than a new 'efficient' machine, and I'm surprised at how much water a new machine in the $400 range still uses and they run for an hour and fifteen minutes or more. I would have loved to own a Bosch, which meets a lot of efficiency requirements but they are a bit more ching than I have to spend on a dishwasher.

So, I'm calling the plumber and getting this baby hooked up. It's not huge inside, and who knows, I may change my mind about it, um, because that's what I do, but in the meantime, I'll visit with it and enjoy it's vintage pedigree.