Any DW with 3 spray arms and a heated wash cycle coupled with a good enzymatic DW detergent will get your dishes clean, although maybe not dry. $600 is about the bottom price level to find that though. A stainless interior holds onto the heat from the final rinse cycle better, which leads to a better condensate dry. However, if you truly want dry dishes with 100% certainty without having to fiddle with the settings, you want on with a heated dry cycle. There just aren't that many that fit that bill and are decent quality machines. Yes, you can find heated dry on apartment cheapies, but those tend to have some type of "tower" spray arrangement that doesn't really work to spray the dishes. Getting everything in one package may end up breaking your budget.

Stainless steel by nature does not retain heat. An easy procedure to confirm my statement: Heat some water to boiling. Hold a sturdy plastic container in your hand, pour in the boiling water. The plastic insulates your hand from the heat. Now do the same with a metal pan such as an 8" round cake pan, and note how you'll feel the heat passing through and quickly be forced to drop the pan.

Condensation drying actually depends on the stainless tank cooling so moisture on the hot dishes is drawn off of them onto the tank surface (like moisture condensing onto an ice-cold glass on a hot day) where it collects and runs down to the bottom.

Stainless Steel interior is the best for the staniation.( bateria grows in plastic tubs) and allows the temp to heaqt up and drying is much faster.

Thank you for your thoughts. We ended up getting a SS tub in the next to bottom KitchenAid model.