I love my 3rd rack. I love that I can touch handle only when removing and I keep utensils sorted. I don't use the baskets so I have more room in bottom. It's no big deal loading.

I love my Miele's 3rd rack! Would not have a DW again without it. You are being way dramatic about laying the flatware in the tray. It's no biggie, really. You can just scatter the flatware in the tray. If you want to be careful and put each one in a groove you can. It's up to you and it's really great. The 3rd tray also makes unloading the flatware much faster. The idea of a basket with my flatware jammed all up and mashed against each other, and often coming out with food still stuck in the tines - now that is shudder-worthy.

Loved it. We're in a new to us house and I'm already planning on a new Miele. And I;ve been here since about 2001, did a major remodel in 2002, and I have never ever heard of anyone who did not love the cutlery rack. Period.

I'm not one to lay each piece in the rack either. I am not sure I want to give up space in the top rack or what would become the middle rack. I knew this wasn't for me so I don't have one to hate. I don't have any trouble with my silverware not getting clean in the basket. I have a Bosch 800 series, 9 years old. I lay spatulas and other utensils in between stuff on the top rack and it all comes out clean, as always no one best way for everybody.

Sorry, but I love mine. We are clearly opposites, as I especially love being able to lay out my silverware precisely and then easily unload each type together and place precisely in my silverware drawer. (Yes, I admit it's a little OCD.) However, I know some have stated that they just fling their silverware on the top rack and it all comes out clean. I wouldn't know about that . : }

I wondered the same as I'm getting a DW with third rack. Glad to see ppl like them.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I will go with the 3rd rack, especially since the DW I am looking at also has regular silverware trays.

Had one in my condo for the past 6 years. Mostly I didn't like my KA but I sure loved the third rack. Now that I don't have the condo, and am in a rental till the house is built, I'm missing that third rack a lot.

Silverware goes into the rack easily without a need for specific placement to get clean. A few times and you'll forget about using valuable rack space for silverware bins.

I cannot go back to a cutlery basket. And, I am like Sail_away, and like seeing my cutlery lined up in the tray like neat soldiers. So I have the DW wash overnight, and I come down to the kitchen in the morning and unload it, and they are greeting me all in formation, and I like that. But as has been said, you also can just throw the silverware on there willy-nilly if that's what you are into. :)

When shopping for a DW, I did notice a difference in how the trays were constructed. I think the Mieles have beautifully engineered trays - the way it slides easily, how slim it is, the quality of the rollers and the tray material itself, and the layout. Some of the other DW brands I saw, like the KA, I thought had bulkier trays that weren't as well done. Just MHO. Compare the trays of the DW brands you are considering. A third rack is not the same third rack with all of them. I know the Miele DWs are expensive, but I bought the second-from-the-bottom-of-the-line and the price wasn't so high considering the quality.

Love love love the third rack on my Bosch 800 series. I took the basket completely out and never use it.

Here's the deal about sorting in the rack ---- do you sort your silverware in the drawer? If you do, then how do you sort it when removed from the DW basket? The 3rd rack lets you pre-sort, and when you empty the DW, you just grab up each item. Sort before washing or sort after? Takes about the same time.

What sushipup said! (As for the basket that came with my Bosch 800 series, I forgot I even had it --- it's probably stored on the top shelf in the pantry, I know I haven't seen it in 2-1/2 years)

Also agree with sushipup! My basket was tossed in the trash the first day. Never going back ;)

I've always liked it - it's not as bad as you think to drop the silverware in the slots. I originally had a MIele and when I moved I bought a Bosch. DH's only requirement on the new DW was that it had the top silverware rack.

I do use the Bosch basket sometimes - smaller wine glasses fit nicely in a couple of the slots. Sometimes I'll put extra utensils in there if the top rack is full. If I have a lot of other stuff I just pull it out.

Add me to the third rack lovers! The most time consuming aspect of ours? Designating in which section of the rack (or zone) each type of flatware would go, was probably the "hardest" part. Once that decision was made, loading the rack has been quick and easy. I place stuff in their slots/sections 1-2-3 without even thinking about it. If/when I have large tongs, spatulas, etc. to load on that rack, I'll move my different flatware pieces (sections) closer or further apart as necessary, much like I do when trying to fit larger measuring cups, bowls, pans, etc. in the middle and bottom racks.

Plllog - mine fits, and it never occurred to me it wouldn't. My flatware is fairly hefty. Perhaps it depends on which brand DW? Which brand DW didn't fit your flatware?

Took my silverware basket and made it a pen and pencil holder on my desk.

Nope. My everyday and casual flatware are Italian with acrylic handles. Very pretty, but they don't fit in the clips, and trying to fit them between is way too fiddly for my family. They don't fit in the slots in the silverware baskets either, so I removed those. Since I'm not about to get rid of 28 place settings to suit a dishwasher, instead, I got a dishwasher to suit my dishes. That includes a heating element, because I don't have enough mass for condensation drying.

It's just a consideration to remember when choosing a dishwasher. Make sure the dishes you usually want to wash fit well. Not just the flatware in the third rack, which works for most people, but dinner plates (are they too big? It happens!), cereal bowls (two wide--some DWs can only do two at a time and in ways that take up way too much of the rack), pots, cookie sheets, etc. When I was doing up my kitchen, the standard advice was to take your (clean) dishes to the showroom and see how they fit.

Love the 3rd rack. It took some getting used to, but I appreciate not touching dirty tines/spoons (just the handles). They're never nested too tightly to get clean, and when the load is done the silverware is already sorted - I just grab handfuls of each thing and put them away.

I worship the cutlery. I don't have one at the moment and feel like I'm living in the 3rd world :) I really really really want FP d/w drawers but I'm not getting them so we can have the cutlery rack. I don't sort them and just put everything in haphazard and it still works beautifully for me. If it was finicky or took a lot of effort, I wouldn't like it. Less bending too!