For me, it’s time for a new washing machine and clothes dryer, and so I ran out to Sears to buy a pair of front-loading machines (color : wild cherry red!) with round windows. Sears will deliver it on Saturday. So this little article in Wednesday’s Frankfurter Allgemeiner newspaper asks : why are all dishwashers then windowless? The writer notes that when the first electric washing machines were sold in 1901, people were anxious to know what’s going on inside. Is it working? Is it mangling my clothes? And so it was not long before washing machines and dryers were fitted with windows. Dishwashers only caught on as a mass market appliance in the 1950s, by which time consumers trusted that it can do its job. Besides, the article notes : it’s more fun to watch one’s clothes tumble in a washer or dryer, than it is to watch those dirty knives, forks and plates sitting in one place, and getting cleaned !
