Amazing exciting news: Authentic Dishmaster Imperial M-59 faceplates for today’s Dishmaster M-76 kitchen faucet are available, made again — new. They come from THE SAME tooling used back in the day — all the way to 1959! Here’s the story:
I first heard a twinkle of this news from a reader on March 24. I can’t remember who. So sorry — you deserve super props, mystery reader!
I immediately reached out to Roger Swayer, owner of Dishmaster, and a longtime friend. He replied in a flash, but swore me to secrecy:
Good to hear from you. Before you read further or open attachments you must swear to keep this a secret for at least a couple more months, cross your heart, hope to die, stick a pin in your eye. Details are not yet carved in stone and we are not prepared to deal with all the phone calls.
Here are the details he gave me:
Our face plate vendor was acquired. The new owners decided we did not fit their business profile and gave us the boot. When they bundled up our tooling to send to us, they discovered they had all the old tooling back to 1959! We are presently prototyping the sunburst face plates in gold (pictured) and in black with gold accents. Along with that, we are working on both black and white covers and knobs. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the black face plate (the only one in existence in the whole wide world) on the black cover before it was sent off to the new vendor but it is an amazing look. You will be the first to know when we are ready to pull the trigger on all this. It will be the main feature of our 70th anniversary celebration.
And then, today, I come back from walking Astro, and see that Roger has sent me five covers to look-see. Yikes! Can I publish now, Roger? They’re on the website, I say. He says:
Have at it. Will let you know when the black plates arrive in a week or so. Black & white Imperial Fours are waiting on black & white screws for the knobs. Who would’ve guessed that would be the hold up?
So here you go, folks! Straight from 1959: Dishmaster Imperial face plates! Yeehaw, it just never stops being exciting.
Where to buy the face plates and Dishmasters too:
- See/order the black one here
- See/order the gold one here
- M-76 faucets to go with are here.
- See all my stories about Dishmasters here.
And, you can get the faucets on Amazon too:
Nathan says
I hope they do the “Solaric” one eventually. The faucet is on its way now.
Rachel says
I was able to get the Solaric faceplate about a month ago through their site. 🙂
Nathan says
I did find it. I found it using Google and going to the part page dieectly, but best I can tell you can’t just surf to it from in the website at this time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Amy says
I’m pretty sure I saw one of these pretties in the Rambler Ranch (in Elizabeth, Colorado) kitchen.
Colleen says
I am so thrilled that these are still around and look the same! My parents bought a Dishmaster for their first house in 1961 and took it with them into two other houses. That spray nozzle was the envy of the other neighborhood kids because you could scrub a sibling’s face with it, not just spray water up their nose. I told my Mom she could get a nice new one but for some reason she isn’t interested. Hubby and I need a new kitchen faucet so I will have to work on him a bit…
Maria says
How fabulous! Want!
Now, if I only could find away to patch some chipped spots on my tiled in 1959 sink.
Mary Elizabeth says
Totally cool news! Am thinking that this year is the time to finally buy one.
Linda E Howard says
Are they coming out with “new” knobs/handles as well? I’d love the ones like you have on yours, not the ones on the dishmaster website.
Thanks for the great info!
Pam Kueber says
Mine are salvaged from an even older Dishmaster. You might be able to find proxies/alternatives as replacements, I’m not sure about how such things are sized.
Lynne says
Has Astro fully recovered??
Pam Kueber says
Yes, he’s good. He has a bad UTI — he’s on mega antibiotics. Very chipper, a great guy!
Junie Hilmer says
My poor little schitzu Moonglow had one recently also. It was so scary and sad. Having a great Vet really helped. Glad Astro is better too. Still loving the website. ????
Jay says
Whoo Hoo ! I have to read your old posts. A Dishmaster looks like fun but I have gotten used to the single lever faucet. Those vintage faceplates are sharp looking.
Allen says
Dishmaster makes a single lever version as well. It looks pretty cool to me since the lever is on the side of the mounting deck and they use the same faucet arm as on this version. I’m thinking the single lever version would fit very well in a mid 1960’s though 1970’s kitchen.
Scott says
Once I saw the Dishmaster there was absolutely no other choice for me, but by the time I found out they were still being made the stash of vintage faceplates was long gone. I wasn’t really that disappointed, any Dishmaster is glorious, but the 1959 faceplate is so beautiful now that’s its available again it’s really a must-have.
You rarely get a do-over on things like this so I’m having trouble even verbalizing how exciting this is. While placing the order I don’t think I’ve ever typed so fast in my life!
Pam Kueber says
🙂
Joyce says
Oh, I’m dying over here! I want this SOOOO badly for my renovated 1950s kitchen, but I just bought the Central Brass 0122-A a few months ago and there are other things I need to spend money on right now. But it would look super fabulous on in my Youngstown kitchen complete with drainboard sink! What to do, what to do?!?!
Steven Keylon says
Buy the plate now, in case they ever disappear again. Then you can get the faucet later…..
Allison says
You can always sell your Central Brass faucet on ebay for close to what you spent for it.
If you pass up the opportunity to get what you really want, it may never come around again.
Ask anybody who has tried retro-renovating 🙁