Both Miele and B/S/H (Bosch/Siemens/Home Appliances)run their appliances through tough durability tests. However, Miele is know to be especially strict - that's why they claim their appliances will last 20 years.

BTW: if the door just fell all the way down or wouldn't stay open, it was probably the door tension that needed adjustment. If the tension of the door springs is too weak the door will fall open, if it's to strong the door won't stay open. Many dishwashers (including Miele) have springs that may need adjustment.

Alex

Here is a link that might be useful: Miele Dishwasher Durability Test

Miele is build very well as is ASKO.

First I complained about the door falling. They replaced them with stronger springs. Which wouldn't let the door stay open like it was supposed..
Replaced it again with looser springs and it would fall down. At that point the tech would argue with me that it was operating as designed and they all worked that regardless of what the literature on the product said.

So, I went to lowes and tried all the dishwashers from bosch and non of them worked like that.. They all held the door open as they should and wouldn't let it slam down.

Finally, the tech tried a different dishwasher, agreed mine was not as good and support sent him out with a part to replace and it worked fine.

I don't blame bosch - but wasn't a good tech support experience.

I get GREAT tec support from Miele here in central NJ. I have a friend in another state who had trouble getting support and replaced hers with a Bosch and is very happy. Ask your neighbors.

The last serviceman who came was very helpful. He showed me how a build-up of regular dish soap was keeping my dishes from getting clean. I started to spray my range hood filters with dawn power dissolver before I put them in the dishwasher. I don't know why I started to do that. They used to come out perfectly clean without it. At first I thought, if it can get baked-on stuff off my casseroles, why should it have a problem with soap? Well it does. It suds up the water, and when it drains from the bottom, the suds don't go down the drain. They just keep building up.

Since I became aware of this I'm getting much better results.

I'm a long time Miele DW owner and will continue to be as we buy appliances with the intent that they last a loooooong time. Our first Miele DW was purchased in 1985 and quit in 2002. Actually we could have fixed it at that point for about $300 IIRC, but decided it was cost efficient to replace it. Our G series DW was purchased then and we reused it in our kitchen remodel as well as purchasing an Optima.

The G series is now 7 yrs old and has never given a moment of concern - works perfectly, meets my needs and is so quiet you have to look if it's on.

The Miele tech who has been to our home told me he too has a G series and it's one of the best of all the Miele DW's in terms of service. He said that if he were buying a new DW now, he would get the Optima as well. So I am very satisfied with my choices.

And for what it's worth, Miele tech support and customer service is outstanding!

I think my Miele looks nice and is quiet and I like the cutlery tray and the fact I can put anything anywhere. Aside from that my old $500 dishwasher was functionally better in that it did not etch my glassware and got things clean. My Miele does etch my glassware and the steps I've taken to prevent that, at Miele's recommendation, results in other items not getting clean - like coffee cups. Ultimately Miele's position was that my water is "too soft". My experience with Miele service was very marginal. So in my experience the Miele DW is an overpriced, under performer. Others seem quite happy with theirs - I would not purchase again unless I needed a dishwasher engineered for hard water.

gibby: Fascinating. Our Miele Excellas do not etch our glassware and get our coffee cups (and everything else) squeaky clean. Our water is rather soft (if memory serves me correctly, in the 3 range): the Mieles do not "ask for" any salt but that does not seem to create any issues. How soft is your water? Does your DW measure softness like the Excellas, or have you had it tested? If it is extremely soft I could see it presenting a problem, but then I would have expected similar issues with your old DW. What cycle do you typically use? What type and how much dishwashing detergent?

Our Bosch DW is going on 15 years; zero problems thus far. We know a couple that are totally Miele fans. If Miele makes it, that's what they get. Frankly, I don't think you could go wrong with either brand. Now, whether or not one of them will make it to 20 years better than the other, who knows?

As for cleaning ability, last year's Consumer Reports rated 9 DW, and all 9 received the highest rating of Excellent for washing ability. Even in terms of overall score, all 9 were fairly closely lumped together.

As for brand repair history, Miele and Bosch were tied for tops with Whirlpool and Hotpoint. Several other brands were very close behind and in a virtual tie, statistically-speaking. Fisher & Paykel was dead last, with Asko and Maytag tied for next-to-last. Although their stats covered purchases made between 2003 and 2007, I suspect there must be some correlation between repairs needed in early life vs. many years later. Maybe not. Yet I'd rather not take my chances on a brand that has a poor track record early on.

I personally would not put too much weight on the comments you got from the two appliance stores. Just too much disparity between two excellent brands. Good luck with your selection!

I used to work at Home Depot, and ofcourse they don't sell Miele, but I heard from some other salesmen that Mile was REALLY good. Another DW I would recommend is a GE profile with the stainless interior. GE's have a pretty long lifespan as well and great customer service and tech support. They're my top choice.

DD1's GE is a disaster. The wheels melted after 8 months. She uses a sanitation cycle for baby utensils and it seems the rollers are not up to the heat. It also doesn't get things really clean. Service tech said not to use the sanitary cycle--but that was one of the reasons she bought the DW. It's only 18 months old.
I wonder if the Bosches and Mieles purchased in the past few years will last as long as the ones purchased 10+ years ago. I have two of the Bosch Integras in the 990 series (probably manufactured 3 1/2 to 4 years ago) and they've been wonderful, but there's no telling how long that will be the case. A tech who came out to replace my KA ice maker doesn't think any appliances are as good as the old ones.

I have a Miele La Perla that is just over two years old. I LOVE IT! My friends come over and can't believe that the dishwasher is actually running -- you can't hear a thing. My friends are also amazed at how clean the dishes get, and that I don't have to pre-rinse my dishes before loading.

The Optima and La Perla have built-in water softeners, and work best if you let the dishwasher make water quality decisions for you. If you feed these Miele units with water from your whole house softener, you will have major etching issues. However, if you feed them unaltered water and allow the Mieles to soften as needed, you should have perfect results every time. If your unsoftened tap water has a hardness of less than 7 degrees, you should be able to feed that to your Miele and shut off the built-in softener.

If you have no choice but to feed pre-softened water to your unit, install some sort of mixing valve so that you can mix some unsoftened water into the fill to achieve a maximum hardness of 7 degrees. If you must use pre-softened water with zero degrees of hardness, or have naturally soft water with no hardness, switch to a non-phosphate detergent and use a lot less.

I now have a KA for 6 years without any repairs and it cleans very well. I had a KA before this one for 12 years and only bought a new one to update the kitchen. I can't imagine having a dishwasher for 20 years because it would be so dated. I will probably replace this one for a stainless in a year because I have replaced all the other appliances for SS.

A question for sshrivasta - you state that you should by-pass your DW with your water softener? Why would anyone buy a dishwasher which would require that?? Since water softeners are in the basement, you'd have to run a special line to your dishwasher in the kitchen. Major plumbing expense, not to mention cutting through floors and walls. That would make purchasing a Miele a slam-dunk - no way! Sounds like a ridiculous remedy.

Jane

I bought the Miele G5775 SCSF and paid the overpriced fee to have Miele do the install directly. This was for a new house. Just moved in and tried to use the dishwasher for the very first time. It immediately went to a lockout state with an error message, and will not even run the very first load. Called Miele and was told it would be 10 days before they could get a tech to even look at it (and I'm hoping he won't have to wait to order parts). Needless to say I'm not at all pleased moving into a new house with a new top-line (supposedly "reliable") dishwasher, then having to hand-wash dishes. Miele's so-called "Concierge Service" is a joke. Don't know if Bosch is any better.

In many places, Miele use local techs from companies they have accepted as suitable. If such a company has a lot of business backlog then service delays will occur. The obvious solution of businesses hiring more people is in conflict with political interference with the economy, so I recommend patience.

kas