<p>I have the Bosch and initially was pretty upset by the same wet plastic you observed on your friend’s machine. Once I adjusted the temperature of my water heater ( adjusted up a bit - needed to do that anyway) , started using JetDry regularly and switched from Cascade to Finish power balls, the problem went away almost completely. Now there’s no wet plastic with the exception of a tiny bit that collects in the wells of recessed glasses. The machine cleans beautifully with no pre-scrubbing (which saves you more than the few seconds spent dabbing ) and it’s incredibly quiet. Also have no issue with having no grinder. I just check the filter periodically - it’s easy and takes only a few seconds to pull out and rinse in the sink. </p>
<p>On the con side, it’s true that the capacity is a little smaller ( not an issue for me since I kept the old Bosch). A benefit is that the machines sit flush with my cabinets instead of sticking out .</p>
<p>Reporting back that my new Whirlpool seems to be doing a great job. (I have not actually read the manual yet, so I know I am not taking proper advantage of various features! ) Like the way it looks, like the way stuff fits inside it. Definitely more flexible than my old one, and definitely easier to fit tall/big stuff. The fact that you can move the silverware rack to different locations can be helpful. I haven’t used those knife-holding slits much. I don’t find them necessary, and they reduce the number of things you can put in. The doohickey that holds stemmed glasses in place is useful, although it doesn’t fit more than 4 glasses at the most. The machine is very quiet. It takes a bit longer to run than the old one, but I gather that is because of the water-saving design now standard in most/all machines. Certainly the cycle length is acceptable. (I haven’t tried the hour cycle yet.)</p>
<p>I’m using it with the bottle of JetDry that came with it, and TJ’s dishwasher powder. (No way am I going to spring for any of those ball things. )</p>
<p>We used this thread last spring when ours broke the night before Passover and bought one on an emergency basis. We bought the Kitchen aid with three racks as well (cutlery shelf on top). Its so quiet you don’t even know its running. The dishes are clean- my biggest complaint is it takes 3 hours to run a full load (there’s a one hour setting and a top shelf setting). My BIL and FIL both bought the same one after we did.
I’ve been using Finish as they suggested it with the Jet Blue. I bought a huge box of the pellets at Costco and will use that when my current box is done. I bought a plastic drawer to put under the sink to keep them in</p>
<p>OK, we have finally made our purchase–a Bosch at the LOCAL Sears. They were good enough to honor the very good price we got on-line at Sears.com and said there have been a lot of problems with Sears.com and people unhappy with them. It will be delivered on Saturday and we’re hoping it will work out as well as we expect! H is especially happy he won’t have to manually handwash any more, especially as we head toward the holidays!</p>
<p>Also a fan of Miele. We have two in our house in Hilton Head and got two for our recent reno here. Very flexible interior for loading, upper silverware and utensil tray, so quiet you have to literally put your ear next to the door to hear anything at all.</p>
<p>ARGH! One more complication–will need the plumber to come in & replace the hot water valve so the dishwasher can be installed. The installation guys were here trying to install the dishwasher but couldn’t because we couldn’t get the water to switch off. Oh well, will have the plumber come & then the installers will return & get the dishwasher out of our living room & replace the broken dishwasher that they have disconnected. <sigh> It’s always something! Let them leave the dishwasher right beside the dining room table so it will be easier when they install. Hope the plumber can come soon!</sigh></p>
<p>When we had our dishwasher replaced, the installer commented on our new valves. He said it is quite common to get to a home and the valves won’t work. We had discovered for ourselves that none of our sink valves would shut off and had them all replaced. Thankfully, we discovered it without a major problem. Hope your dishwasher is installed real soon!</p>
<p>Yea, we’ll have him replace both valves AND the metal basket under the kitchen sink and perhaps the hot water valve by the hot water heater. NONE of them would shut off the water for the kitchen sink so the dishwasher could be installed. Oh well, hopefully it will all be finished before S comes home on Christmas Eve!</p>
<p>We have lived here 15 years and had two Bosch dishwashers, and I can’t say enough about them.We have very hard water here and mineral deposits are a problem, and the first bosch we had still worked fairly well, but the heating coils were exposed and they were heavily encrusted, but it still lasted us 10 years. The newer models of the Bosch have the heaters under the stainless steel floor, and so far no sign of build up or anything. The machine is incredibly quiet, and it uses a lot less water then most other dishwashers, and for the money IMO it is a great value. Based on what I have read on the blogs on consumer reports and from friends of mine and acquaintences, the knock on the mid range US dishwashers like Whirlpool and such is that they are made cheaply, that the parts they use are flimsy to save money and they have found less then great reliability. Miele makes great appliances, but you also are paying a hefty premium over Bosch or other mid range units. No, this isn’t a unit with a build in food disposal so you can dump plates in with large matter left on the plates, but I don’t recommend doing that anyway (take care of your dishwasher, it will take care of you), but it works great otherwise.</p>
<p>One tip, we don’t use jet dry, we use plain old vinegar in the plastic gallon bottles, it works well to help prevent spotting</p>
) Like the way it looks, like the way stuff fits inside it. Definitely more flexible than my old one, and definitely easier to fit tall/big stuff. The fact that you can move the silverware rack to different locations can be helpful. I haven’t used those knife-holding slits much. I don’t find them necessary, and they reduce the number of things you can put in. The doohickey that holds stemmed glasses in place is useful, although it doesn’t fit more than 4 glasses at the most. The machine is very quiet. It takes a bit longer to run than the old one, but I gather that is because of the water-saving design now standard in most/all machines. Certainly the cycle length is acceptable. (I haven’t tried the hour cycle yet.)</p>
Oh well, will have the plumber come & then the installers will return & get the dishwasher out of our living room & replace the broken dishwasher that they have disconnected. <sigh> It’s always something! Let them leave the dishwasher right beside the dining room table so it will be easier when they install. Hope the plumber can come soon!</sigh></p>