An upstanding basket for use in a vertical axis automatic washing apparatus characterized by having an axially disposed hub portion on a bottom wall of the basket with agitator vanes extending outwardly from the hub portion along the bottom wall. The hub portion has an axially extending stub for telescopically receiving an end of an agitator extension which is removably mounted thereon. The agitator configuration of the basket can be changed or varied to be either the configuration of the hub portion alone or a combination of the configuration of the hub portion and the configuration of the agitator extension which extension can be provided in various sizes and with various agitator vane configurations.