RV Oven to Dishwasher Surprise

My wife and I have been fulltiming in our 38' diesel pusher since April, 2006. Come to think of it, in just a few days we will have been on the road for three full years.

Our coach came equiped with a separate washer and dryer. So, we had almost all the comforts of home, except one . . .

My dear spouse (She who must be obeyed) had let me know on many occasions that she desired an automatic dishwasher. You see, although we shared the cooking duties (I'm really a pretty good chef) she almost always did the cleanup.

Every now and then we'd see a dishwasher in a new coach at this show or that but at $900 dollars or more plus installation we would lower our heads (hers was especially low) and move on.

Well, as it happens, I now work for an RV dealer as Webmaster and "Doer of Many Things" during the winter months. So, shortly after our arrival back in Gainesville, Florida last fall I asked our Parts Department Manager about dishwashers. He showed me our catalog page with the VESTA dishwasher. The retail price was about half of the other units we had previously seen.

I'll pause for a moment and describe my observations and idea. . .

Our rig came with a factory installed propane oven and cooktop. The cooktop was great. But, the oven was useless to us, except for storage. There were two reasons for this: (1) the heat was not evenly distributed in the oven and everything got burned on the bottom and (2) we have a good size convection microwave oven that made baking and roasting a breeze.

So, the plan was to remove the cooktop/oven combo and replace it with the VESTA dishwasher and a new cooktop.

Now, my wife often climbs aboard a jet plane and travels to Long Island to visit our grandbabies for several days at a time. Before one such trip (about 3 weeks before her birthday) I told her that while she was gone I would take the rig to the shop for some needed service.

After she arrived in Long Island I drove the rig to work and our service team went to work. The dishwasher had arrived two days earlier. By the end of the day the old oven and cooktop were gone and the new dishwasher and cooktop were installed. Unless you looked closely, you couldn't tell that the oven was gone as both units are black. I hung a dish towel on the cooktop towel rack. It looked like nothing was changed.

I then went to the store (Wal Mart, of course) and bought dishwasher gel and the smallest bottle of rinsing agent I could find. I put the gel in a cabinet and proceded to gift wrap the rinsing agent. I laid the "present" on her pillow and headed for the airport.

When we returned to the rig she headed for the bedroom without even looking at the "oven." She was surprised to find her gift and tore off the wrapping. Before she saw the label she asked "You bought me mouthwash?" I said "read the label."

As she read the label her eyes almost exploded out of her head. "I have a dishwasher?" she screamed as she jumped past me to the kitchen and looked. She could not tell that the oven was gone. I pushed a button, the door opened and she saw the inside of the washer. I thouht she was going to pass out!

I think she was happy. Don't you?