In 2012, I anointed Cullen Meyer the “Crown Prince of Kitsch,” in amazement at his Brooklyn time capsule apartment, which he has decorated with all manner of vintage wonders. Recently, I saw that he had added a new toy to his playhouse — a circa-1948 Dishmaster faucet — the original hunka hunka. It’s sitting quite pretty — don’t you think? — on his Youngstown Diana sink base.
I asked Cullen for the back story. He said:
I’ve actually had it for a few years but I thought I asked for so many vintage installations from my landlord that I was waiting for an excuse and recently my kitchen faucet had been acting up, so I took the opportunity to put in the Dishmaster.
More link love: We tipped off the New York Times to Cullen’s apartment — and they did a story about it!
For readers who may be newish to Retro Renovation, the Dishmaster is an early design “dish washer” whose key feature is a brush wand that dispenses soapy water when you push a red button. There’s a built-in reservoir that holds the soap, and it is mixed with your hot water via that brush nozzle thingie. Cullen says that he was able to get the contraption to work as intended. Note, to those of you considering using old kitchen faucets: Be aware that they, like other old products, may not meet current safety specifications/contain hazards — get with a pro to assess what you have so that you can make informed decisions how to handle, yes, Be Safe Renovate Safe.
The Dishmaster is still available for sale today — although the design has evolved and the casing is no longer that heavy chunk of steel; it would be way too expensive to replicate, the owner of the company told me when I visited the Dishmaster factory. Yes: I went with my Mom on a road trip to visit the Dishmaster factory in Indiana. I also own three versions of the Dishmaster — an early model, like Cullen’s, and one each of the current designs. I also own several vintage faceplates. It’s hard to pass up a Dishmaster once you get the bug, they are so… ridiculous. In a good way.
More stories about the Dishmaster:
- Bronwyn turned me on to the Dishmaster in 2009, early days of the blog.
- There are two designs of Dishmasters available today.
- Vintage Dishmaster faceplates available (readers snapped them up).
- A competitor is discovered: The vintage Magic Queen kitchen faucet.
- Carrie put a Dishmaster into her epic kitchen remodel.
- Sarah put a Dishmaster into her cute kitchen remodel.
- Hot in Cleveland — the TV show — has a Dishmaster in its kitchen
- Rebecca, too!
- Oh… there are more…. it seems I have 84 references to the Dishmaster here on the blog that come up if you type Dishmaster into the search box. Holey Dishmaster, Batman!