It’s not a matter of whether you have a Miele or a Bosch with regards to rinse-aid. It more depends on your water hardness or softness. But tegardless, rinse-aid will keep your glasses spot-free, and will help with thorough drying. It’s also very inexpensive. You don’t need the special German rinse-aid. Jet Dry for a couple dollars works great. I don’t know about Bosch, but Miele allows you to adjust the amount of rinse-aid dispensed. Rinse-aid is an easy and inexpensive thing. Why are you reluctant to use it?

You don't need that rinse stuff. Just open the door while the dishes are still warm from the wash and wait a few minutes. Plastic things might need some hand drying.

In Consumer Reports testing, various Bosch models all performed similarly despite the great differences in prices. (Miele models performed worse are were far more expensive.) Two reasonably-priced models:

• Bosch 100 Series SHXM4AY55N
• Bosch 100 Series SHEM3AY55N

Great detergent, no spots: Cascade Complete ActionPacs

I don't want to eat rinse aid.

Never used rinse aid in my Bosch. If I've washed multiple plastic containers, leave door ajar for awhile.

Bigkittytalks - wondering what DW detergent you use. Most have all kinds of terrible things in them. And even most of the ones sold at places like Whole Foods contain bleach. Then let’s talk about the water used itself. Have you asked your city for its water analysis? Or if you are on well water, have you tested it for arsenic, lead, and all kinds of things found in ground water today? Or thought about your pipes and what they are delivering into your water? You can go on and on with the fear mongering if you want to spend your energy on that. Just don’t use rinse-aid then; it won’t matter which DW you have.

I use Young Living Thieves Cleaner as my rinse aid & it works great. Chemical free & kills germs naturally. Its pretty awesome stuff!!

Forget rinse aid. Worry more about cleaning your dishes with an industrial solvent. Ban dihydrigen monoxide. It’s one of the deadliest substances on the planet. Big government wants to keep that under wraps though, and has tried to squash info about how dangerous it is. I hope the website is still up. They've tried taking it down before. http://www.dhmo.org/

If its a higher end Miele model that opens its door at the end of cycle, it will dry somewhat better than the bosch both with or without rinse aid. Having both brands (technically I have Thermador and Miele, but I think the same observations would apply to Bosch as they are from the same parent brand and extremely similar) in the same kitchen, I don't think its a night and day difference, but its noticeable.

I love that auto pop-open feature but I'm not sure it's worth an extra $700. I hand wash ATM but I also cook a lot and it is getting to be too much. In the past I have used Ecover dishwasher soap tabs and they have worked fine in all types of machines. Natural soaps can't compete with industrial detergents though. Detergents work much better for sure whether it's laundry or dishwashing or anything else. But they are not safety tested and when you learn about them, you can't go back to ignorant bliss. Even if it's just a drop in the bucket of toxins in my life I'm still going to choose not to use them. Even if it's just for the sake of all the fish and frogs and birds that are being harmed. It is not filtered out at water treatment plants. I'm sure my choices as an individual have little effect overall, but it's just how I roll.