Unless you need a water softener and have REALLY sensitive hearing, get the 800 series. You will be happy with that and that's about the only major difference between them.

I just ordered the 800 a few weeks ago. The biggest difference to me was that the 800+ had the "wings" on the 3rd rack that dropped down to give a bit more space. While I very much thought I'd appreciate that feature, I didn't get it. I didn't think the extra expense was worth it -- plus, I have a hard enough time getting the kids to load the dw correctly when everything is stationary. Telling them, "well, if you move this and this, this will drop down giving you more space over here..." sounds like wishful thinking that will NEVER come true. ;-) Kind of like the adjustable tines. Good in theory -- but probably will never get used by the non-DW tetris players... (i.e., my entire household minus me ;-) )

iMHO The Bosch DW water softener is definitely worth additional $300 it if you have hard water.

There are some reports that rinse aid is hazardous to the environment.

If you dislike using rinsed aid, you can rely more on your water softener to dry dishes faster and spot free. Just dial back the rinse aid to the lowest setting and the water softener should prevent hard water spots and etching. Soft water seems to dry a little better, too.

Rinse aid is about $10 for 23 ounces and you can save a little rinse aid to offset the cost of the water softener over the life of the machine. You will need to buy special “dishwasher salt” for the softener though.


I’ve recently learned that the 800 plus has been discontinued, though.