I don't have a Bosch dishwasher, but I do have a Maytag with the third rack. I love having the 3rd rack, on my machine it is a flat open rack on the very bottom of the machine. It makes running the DW very versatile. Fits large bowls, flat pans and most things that would fit awkwardly in a standard rack. When the "regular" dishwasher is full, I still have another rack to load up! I dread the thought of having to go back to a 2 rack machine.

I have a Bosch SHX58E15UC. It is pretty quiet. I don't know that you'll notice a 4 dcb difference. As far as the 3rd rack is concerned, I will never buy another dishwasher without one. It leaves the entire bottom rack open for use for bigger things, and it makes putting the silverware and larger spoons, etc. away a breeze since I keep like items together and just pull them out at once and put them away.

I've never heard of a dishwasher with a third rack, so I went looking for photos. All I can find are photos of the front of this dishwasher, which looks like the front of every other dishwasher, and the top edge of the door, which looks just like about half of all dishwashers made. I did find an online manual which has a line drawing of the rack in isolation, but it's just not very clear how it fits into the whole and its function.

I'm curious. Can someone post a photo of the inside of your dishwasher with a third rack?

I almost purchased the Bosch w/the 3rd (cutlery rack), but I found that finding someone to do repairs in my area was slim. So I went with the Kitchenaide Superba - OMG I love this dishwasher ! I don't use the 3rd cutlery rack much, but I do put some items on it.
This dishwasher is soooo quiet that I have to get up and take a look to make sure that I turned it on !!!
I can't remember the exact model, but I think I got the best one w/the highest rating. I actually read about it on this site, another poster suggested it and purchasing from Plessers in NY and I did get it from them. Saved money on the tax (I'm in PA) and they were less $$ than my closest retailer.
I did get the one w/the display on the front - I like knowing what cycle the dishers are in. I don't like the hidden controls.

No my actual dishwasher, but photo of the inside. 3rd rack is the upper most rack.

This is from the Miele website. It shows all three racks from a side view. I didn't know about them until I went shopping at the appliance stores. I think it is a newer feature for most brands. When I was doing preliminary shopping about 6 months ago, I didn't even hear mention of them. I know Bosch just updated all of their models a few months ago and now the appliance stores are offering this feature in their upperend models. My biggest concern is that may tall glasses will fit on the upper rack with the 3rd rack. If I decide on this model I will probably have to take some dishes up there to see how it will work.

We have the Miele one like in your picture. Our cutlery tray is split, so I can remove half of it to fit some taller items. Also the middle shelf is adjustble up and down a couple of inches to give some extra height adjustment flexability. I definitely would not wsnt to go to a 2 level dishwasher after having the 3 shelves. We have had this one for 2 years.

We have the miele pictured above...yes-tall glasses fit.Stainless sauce and soup pans placed down or diagonal fit as well in the mid section. ....and get clean on the economy cycle. In fact, I use the economy cycle all the time-everything is clean. Your household energy savings makes this brand worthwhile-or other slightly higher priced machines too.

I've had the third rack for 7 years now - I won't go back. Fantastic.

Maytag/Jenn-Air discontinued their 3-rack dishwashers, which is too bad since theirs was the best 3-rack design i've seen, with the small rack at the bottom with enough height (on one side anyway) for smaller pots and pans.

Asko puts their 3rd rack in the middle. I think I like it there better than the top.

Miele has had 3-rack dishwashers for eons, in both 18"w and 24"w models.

We have the Asko 3-rack. Well maybe 4-rack if you include this tiny little knife thingie at the top ;-)

I like it alot. Especially since we went from an KA which had a deeper tub (front to back), to the smaller European size, since I wanted to be paneled. If you panel the "American" dishwashers, they stick out unless you recess it somehow. I feel like the 3rd rack allows us to load as much as we could in the old KA. We can get our whole days worth of dishes in it.

Susan

"Miele has had 3-rack dishwashers for eons, in both 18"w and 24"w models."

That's because they pioneered and patented the idea way back when. Other companies and sales weasels for years poo pooed it, even overtly.

Until the patent expired and now they are all touting it as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Wow, thanks everyone for explaining that, and jamiecrok for asking in the first place. I can never say I don't learn something new here regularly.

These are interesting...I have never seen them~~guess I don't get out much LOL.
Can you remove the extra rack if you have taller items for the other racks?

Phoggie, I just tried to remove my third rack in my Kitchenaid dishwasher and it would not come out but the middle rack can be moved up or down to accommodate tall things on the bottom or middle rack.

I love the third rack and will never buy a dishwasher without it again.

Our Bosch has the 3 racks. The third rack is a flatware rack on top like the picture of the Miele above. Before we had one, I didn't expect to like it; I thought it was just a gimmick. I was wrong - it works great. The flatware and other small flat items load in easily and quickly. It holds a lot more than the flatware baskets in our old dishwasher.

Sometimes in the baskets, two like pieces especially spoons would get nested together and not get clean. With the tray, the flatware is held with a little space around each piece so that it gets cleaned nicely. Larger serving pieces that wouldn't work in the baskets fit in the tray so they don't take up space in the middle rack.

On my Maytag, the bottom rack can come out completely, plus the middle rack can be lowered for extra tall items. I have rarely used that feature. I cannot express enough how much I love the things this DW does. She's 8 years old and I'm getting worried that her lifespan is getting too close to the end :(

Thanks for all of the input everyone! I still have to show DH the dishwasher in person since he just doesn't get the 3rd rack thing. Since there has not been one complaint against the 3rd rack it sounds like it is worth the extra money.

The condo we stay in during the summer has a Kitchenaid with the top cutlery rack. This is the first time I've used this type of dishwasher. I really like it and do plan to look at dishwashers with this feature.

Our previous house had a Maytag (installed about six years ago). I don't recall seeing an option with that third bottom rack at the time. Strange. Did they stop making it? Are they making it again? I loved our Maytag dishwasher.

I love the Miele third rack -- this is the second one we've had, the first in the house we sold in 2001, and I've missed that dishwasher ever since, until our most recent kitchen renovation was complete this year. We use our silver flatware every day, and wash it in the dishwasher (apologies to all who are horrified by that admission), so it is good to have a rack that keeps things from rubbing up against the silver. The Miele La Perla model allows adjustments of the height on the lower racks so that we've been able to fit tall plates and glasses in without difficulty -- the second rack can even be on a slant.
Lynn

I'm crazy about my third rack. I have a Kitchenaid, and the rack is at the top. I love it so much that I took it out of our old house before we sold it and installed it in the new laundry room off our kitchen.

if maytag discontinued theirs, is anyone else doing a similar third rack which is NOT a silverware rack on top but a more practical one which can accomodate casserole dishes and the like??

My flatware doesn't fit in the holders on the cutlery tray. :) Something to make sure of...

> if maytag discontinued theirs, is anyone else doing a similar third rack which is NOT a silverware rack on top but a more practical one which can accomodate casserole dishes and the like??

Asko's middle rack probably comes the closest to Maytag and Jenn-Air's old lower rack - enough height to hold cups and serving dishes.

{{!gwi}}

I have the Bosch SHE7ER55UC that you are interested in. A picture below (in mid emptying) shows some of the flatware in the third cutlery tray + glasses (including a wine glass) in the middle rack. It's a pretty large red wine stem. To get stems to fit, I had to lower that middle rack to its lowest position, but that still leaves room for plates and such in the lower rack.

When it's just the two of us, that works well for wine glasses. I have had to remove the cutlery rack to fit more than four wine glasses in, though. Regular tall glasses are not a problem.

The only thing I don't like is the bottom rack tine spacing/angles. We use more glasses and mugs than plates. In my old Bosch I could easily fit glasses and mugs in the bottom rack. They don't fit as efficiently in this one.

Finally, to echo everyone's comments. Take your plates and glasses and flatware with you to see if they fit. We have an old Dansk pattern for our flatware and not everything fits in the same direction in the cutlery tray. The soup/cereal spoons have large round bowls and the knives have wide edges that are turned almost 90 degrees. But they do fit; we just had to figure out the placement.

Love my 3rd rack. Took my plates, pots, silverware to the store to test and came home with the Miele.
I have another friend who makes fun of my rack - I want to challenge her to load and unload and betting that I win in the end.
BTW - the Miele DW soap is awesome. Just switched after some free samples. Although everything came clean before, everything now sparkles!!!

"I have another friend who makes fun of my rack"

girls will do that form time to time

I'd seen the 3rd-rack-on-top-for-flatware before, but not a middle or lower rack. I'm salivating!

I'm curious about the flatware-on-top models: it sounds as though you have to put each piece individually into a slot on the top rack. Does that mean no more dropping a random handful of stuff into the basket? My kitchen servants (kids) usually just plunk in the flatware by the handful, without rinsing (confession: I do, too). I'm not sure any of us are willing to take the time to put the pieces in so carefully.

So this may not be the right DW for my family -- but I'd be willing to consider it (because I love my Miele vacuum cleaner sooooo much). My question: are there any other former flatware-plunkers out there who have surprised themselves by *loving* this type of flatware rack? Have you changed your ways? Or does this type of DW simply attract a naturally tidy, orderly person?

I have a Kitchenaid dishwasher with the third rack, love it. It does not come out or at least I haven't tried but the two trays in it do. It's great if you need to take out a side tray on the top rack to fit taller things below. The middle rack also is adjustable.

The third rack trays have the slots for the cutlery if you want to use them but the dishwasher also comes with the regular cutlery drop in bins which I mostly use due to time. I use the top rack for flat things like the pizza cutter, plastic spoons, large knives.....

I used to be a basket fan but after having the separate rack I have to admit I'm hooked too. It takes a little longer to load it but it is much quicker to unload. I divide the rack into 4 'zones' - one for each utensil, i.e., large spoon, small spoon, knife and fork and then just gather them up and they get put back into the drawer - and they always come out spotless - much better than the basket ever did.

I agree. Slower to load but a breeze to unload. You either sort going into the dishwasher or on the way out. I don't rinse anything - just put it in and let it run. I don't even run it everyday!

I have a Miele with the third rack at the top for cutlery - and love it. It took some training of the family, but they are finally starting to get it. It also took a little getting used to on my part as far the sequence when I am loading - at first, I had to keep switching racks, going back and forth, but I think that was a little bit of a learning curve that you would have with any new appliance. As far as being fussy about loading the cutlery, it does take a moment extra, but if you load your stuff in zones - all the small forks together, all the knives, etc... it makes emptying the diswasher a breeze!!

I have been renting a home with Miele dishwasher with the third rack. It is a PAIN! Not every piece of flatware fits in the spots, it takes time, most of the time I just place it randomly on the third rack, go try it at a store before you commit. Give me a Bosch basket flatware holder any time.

I can't get my brand new Bosch third rack to come out all the way . There seems to be a white plastic hint in middle of it holding it back .. Afraid to break this off ? Any ideas

See my comment on your other post.

I have the Bosch with the 3rd drawer and I love the 3rd drawer but disappointed with Bosch. Bought 2/17/15 and it never fully dried dishes, left water on top of dishes. Smelled melting wires on 12/11/20 and had to shut down. We rewired it and it and it died completely. If the pump, it will cost more down the road, something caused it to fail. They don't last long.

I have a 3rd rack since one year ago. I dislike it, it takes much longer to load, and puts you moving 3 drawers rather than 2, I am currently buying a new machine for beach house and it will be with 2 racks.

Have Bosch with third rack and we love it. Much easier than basket and I think it gets cleaned better - overall I would highly recommend. Takes getting used to but we’re really happy with it.
This is our second Bosch and no complaints. Super quiet and adding the third rack improved an already good dishwasher!

My daughter has one and will
Never go back to two rack system. I love Bosch, but bought mine before the third rack was available. I have had three Bosch DW and love love love them. Plus exceptional customer service I think!

I had removed my 3rd rack shortly after purchase in order to get taller items into the 2nd rack. I put it back in recently to give it another try because there ARE items that should work better in there. Didn't last. back to two.

This is an old thread (9 years ago)

But thought I would respond with something I didn't know. My State Farm home owners insurance has a rider that covers replacement of built in dishwashers. The rider was $25.00 per year w a $500.00 deductible, but covers both the dishwasher and installation.