I am looking at the Bosch panel ready dishwasher. I have looked online and in person. I prefer their 3rd rack. They also have a light that shines on the floor to indicate if it is cleaning or done.

All the (better) Miele dishwashers open the door when they are done washing. Not only is that an easy indicator that they are clean, it helps tremendously with drying the dishes. Very much recommended.

And yes, Miele doesn't have any heated-dry cycle. That's something you can really get used to. No risk of melting plastic items, because you accidentally positioned them too closely to the heating coils. This is particularly useful in a household with young kids.

they automatically open? can you turn that feature off? that worries me, in a house with young kids!

It just cracks open the door by a few inches. This has never been a problem with our kids. I don't think you can turn it off, but I might be wrong.

Theoretically, it can cause damage to the mechanism, if the door is cracked open and somebody tried to force it closed again. In practice, it was easy to tell our kids to not mess with it.

How old are your kids? As soon as they are about 2 years old, they should be able to understand this -- at least that was our experience.

What is the concern with kids? The air that is vented out is not hot. It is lukewarm. If you don't want that feature then buy a model that does not auto open, but it helps quite a bit with drying. I had a bosch that did not auto open and my dishes were almost as dry - only a little moisture on plastics as one might expect.

My youngest is almost 1.5 and my concern was it opening all the way and him accessing sharp utensils or pulling other dishes out...he is a mess.

Does anyone have experience with Kitchenaid's, how does it compare? Cabinet designer said the can make the box deeper so it will be flush.

Kitchenaids are much cheaper. That's a great thing. They work OK. But they have all sorts of aggravating little details that are not quite ideal. I guess you get what you pay for.

We happen to have both a Kitchenaid and a Miele. I like it as a second dish washer in the inlaw unit. I am glad it's not our primary one though.

Also, Kitchenaid did have problems with damaging cabinets for some of their models. Not sure which models are affected though

You can program the Miele so that it doesn't open automatically. If you choose not to disengage it, the door only opens about an inch or two and is held in that open position by a latch.