We got a very low end Miele a year ago for abut $800. Probably has less capacity than some other machines, but for the two of us, I run it every other day usually. A neighbor commented on how sparkly my glassware is and how her 18-month old machine (don't know the brand) is crappy, as was the KA that we replaced.

Shop the indie stores on their big sales, and Presidents Day is coming soon.

I highly recommend you take a bag of your dishes to the store to see if they fit in the rack of the DW you consider. Back when I was DW shopping (several years ago), everyone was telling me to get a Bosch. However, when I took my dishes to the store, I discovered that none of my bowls fit into the Bosch dishracks. (Bosch rack tines are very narrowly spaced, and hold shallow bowls well -- but not deep ones)! I ended up with an LG DW and I love the happy song it chimes when the cycle is complete. Way better than the buzzer sound of the GE DW that our house came with. My mom swears by her Kitchen Aid, so much so that she immediately replaced a brand new GE Profile DW (that was leaking) with a KA, upon moving into her new home, rather than hassle with the GE warranty.

^^ Never thought of that; good idea.

Consumer Reports has ratings and predicted reliability data. You'll be surprised at the nearly-zero relationship between price and performance among dishwashers. Also check sites such as Home Depot and Best Buy for owners' reviews. http://www.consumerreports.org/join $10/month digital.

I recently got Maytag MDB8989SHZ and really like it. It replaced a top of the line Kitchenaid that only lasted a few years.

Whirlpool bought KitchenAid in 1986.

Whirlpool bought Maytag in 2006.

Whirlpool, Maytag, and KitchenAid are then all produced by Whirlpool.

We bought a Bosch 800 five years ago and it’s been a silent champion. I think they’ve subsequently reworked the interior, so my model’s tine configuration isn’t representative of what you’d experience, but I will attest that a c. 2014 Bosch 800 is great!

I recommend Miele

Miele - worth every penny, even the entry model. And use their tabs too, which you can cut in half and they are still just as effective. (Amazon has them.)

Bosch, Kitchen Aid, and this dam cheap Amana.

Client rejected a panel ready TOTL Bosch around 2005 that ended up in my house. Great DW for 10 years, need to keep filter clean. $400 repair got another 4 years out of it. The new sheriff in town stated "its broken if I have to rinse" so that became the standard. Upon retiring the 14 year old Bosch (new model $1400) we threw in a cheap Amana ($225 or so new with shipping dings) that has no frills, sounds like a truck, but it passes the sheriff's cleaning standards until we gut this kitchen.

Bosch captures most of my clients unless they're matching a kitchen brand, but that is rare. KA always recommended.

CR March 2020 has a dishwasher "Product Update"

Do I *have* to use the Miele tabs in a Miele machine?

No

Had a Bosch 800 series that I thought was superb....and then in our new house I tried a Kitchen Aid at my SIL's recommendation and will never go back.

This thing is *silent*. Literally our air conditioning vent makes more noise than the dishwasher. I've never heard anything like it.

Does a great job cleaning everything, has a top third rack and good ability to adjust other rack spaces and did I mention it is completely silent? LOL

On my second Bosch (current one is 800 series). Highly recommend Bosch. Cleans well, Very quiet, 3rd rack is very useful and enough adjustments to fit my needs. Note my previous Bosch was a 500 or 700 series and worked just as well as the 800 series with less bells. Only went to 800 series as part of appliance package with good rebate that more then paid for the dishwasher. The first one was in place about 12 years and only changed out as part of a complete kitchen renovation. Never had a repair in the 12 years. Recycled old one to friend.

@porkchop_z5b_MI Of course you don't have to - we just find they work so well. We had used other (Cascade/Finish/etc.) ones before, but I saw a recommendation on here to try the Miele tabs and to cut them in half (brings the cost down). Bought some and they are great. I believe others on GW had said it really depends on your water chemistry. I think those with softer water have better luck with other detergents. Our water here is harder than a rock, even with a softener, so ymmv.

Another vote for Bosch 800 series. We went with a relatively high-end one last year in our whole home renovation and I love it.

I definitely agree with the idea of bringing your dishes to the store to see how they fit. We did this and it was very useful to narrow the field.

For us, the Bosch was a great choice even though we have pretty deep every day cereal/soup bowls we found two things that work well... half of the "bowl" area on the lower rack has flip-down tines that make the remaining spaces twice as deep - this works when we need to do a bunch of those bowls at once... but we also found that we can fit about four of our cereal bowls on the third rack - we got the model with a little extra space on the third rack and use it all the time for bowls and/or storage containers.

Overall, the machine lives up to Bosch's reputation. Excellent cleaning and incredibly quiet. The noise was important to us because we went total open concept in our reno.

Obviously we can't speak to long-term longevity, but so far we have had no issues with the Bosch.

I really like my Bosch 500. I went in thinking I'd get a Miele or a Bosch 800, and liked the Bosch 500 as much as the 800 model. (The upgrade features with the 800 weren't that important to me, and I could still pick the door style I liked with the 500.) I've had it about 3 years and no issues.

I had a KitchenAid years ago that gave me issues from day 1 (bad control panel) and it tooks weeks of back and forth with KA replacement parts before they relented and sent a whole new DW. Of course I had about 25 people over for Thanksgiving while it was broken.

After the KA I had a Jenn Aire that I was never happy with. It worked, but I didn't feel like it cleaned very well no matter what detergent/rinse aids I used. I donated it to my local fire station and got my Bosch.

Our Kitchen Aid DW has been going strong for 20+ years of being run about 2-3 times a week.

FWIW, some later models DWs, not necessarily KA, have been reported to have LONG wash cycles.

Bosch. Don’t buy Miele unless you can easily get local service.

Thanks for all the recs! I did go to the Bosch website, and they had a CR review available for download -- it was dated 11/2019, recent enough in my book. I believe there are a couple locally-owned shops that carry Miele around here, but I'm not sure if they service them (I would think so, but...)

mxk3: if you like send me a PM with your email & I'll update that.My email is enabled

I PM'd you - thanks!

I am hoping to do the same babading. would love to see that.

Very helpful. I still am undecided, even more so about how much faith I have in CR. I USED to consider it the bible! I think for dishwashers, anecdotally the ratings jive with what I have heard. For other appliances though, it seems to be all over the place.

My Bosch is incredibly quiet and I love it. I agree about CR. I bought a pricey Samsung range based on CR recommendations and after using it 6 months is is already scheduled for repair.

I think the reviews by Yale are better. Key with any appliance is the availability of service in your area as appliances eventually need a service call. If not then consider yourself lucky. I have had Bosh dishwashers and never a service call in 12 years. As for the microwave I did have one service call after 8 years.

I have Fisher & Paykel dishdrawer DW, love the easy loading and ability to run a single drawer when we want. The new models have very adjustable racks, had ours over 12 years.

All the comments are super helpful. I had forgotten about Yale appliances. I really like that for each appliance (range, dishwasher, counter depth fridge etc) they have the % of service calls per brand. VERY interesting. It used to be that certain brands were so reliable and quality and it all seems to have changed so much. The ones I assumed would be a safe bet do not seem to be that way. So I do find the repair history a good measure. Obviously it's all anecdotal and ymmv but hey it's info to be used.

We have a Bosch, but we have had it for > 15 years. My husband has replaced the computer board a couple of times but it is easy to do. I love how quiet it is. And it cleans unbelievably well and I do not pre rinse.