three years ago, my parents remodeled their kitchen, took out their ten-year-old bosch dishwasher, drove it across the country, and we installed it in my roommate's condo. totally worth it.

Great for resale value, too.

For looks, I like the upscale dishwashers. But my old, ugly GE still cleans as good as the fancy ones do. I think it cost $300 new.

My parents own a high-end Bosch. It's nearly silent and does an amazing job of washing the dishes. Someday I too will own a Bosch dishwasher. In my experience with them, they are worth the price.

My mom has a 17 yr old Kitchen aid dishwasher and I swear that thing was pure magic! I didn't know people had to prewash their dishes! I could never understand why there were food bits on other peoples dishes when they were "clean". When I had my first apartment I just couldn't understand why throwing the dishes in the cheap washer wouldn't come clean. Then when we bought our first house we gutted the kitchen and got all new appliances. We got an expencive LG and it's good, energy efficient, and I don't need to rinse the dishes for the most part but man, my mom's dishwasher still whoops everyone elses dish butts!

We bought an Electrolux ICON dishwasher when we bought our home a year ago. We didn't pay $1000 because we bought a discounted floor model, but yes it makes a HUGE difference from the two lesser dishwashers I've experienced. Tackles baked on food no problem- and it can hold my gigantic cookie sheets and trays due to it's grooovy adjustable rack. It delights me every day still!

Perhaps in another life (sigh..).....

I have to say after purchasing our condo with a new whirlpool dishwasher, I sorely miss the Miele we had in the rental before this. The current dishwasher doesn't scrub nearly as well and is three times as loud. It's also gotten clogged before.

I miss my Miele, cost be damned.

I have a GE Monogram (with the cabinet panel, so it's somewhat hidden). I think it retailed for over $1000, but got it for around $800, thanks to a great discount. This DW is so quiet, my husband doesn't even know it's running. It gets the dishes clean without pre-rinsing & I can even cram it full & they all get sparkling clean. It was worth every penny. We save lots of water & over just a few years, the money spent will equal the water cost savings.

We're very happy with our mid-range Bosch. Super quiet, 161 degree water, and no issues after 8 years.

I have had cheap GEs since college (in rentals and then in my apartment) and I have never had a problem with them in terms of cleaning or repair. The only issue is noise. Fro $1000 more, are these others completely silent? Else, who cares if you want a standard sized under the counter SS?

I have a $300 Maytag that cleans the dishes well every time, including baked-on grime, using the normal wash setting.

If I renovated my kitchen, I would spend more for a dishwasher with a sleeker appearance, but probably not more than $500-600.

I've never owned a high end dishwasher, but while staying at a beach house in SC, the dishwasher there astounded me. We were standing right in front of it, and couldn't tell it was on. I have no idea what brand it was, but since then, i'm convinced the extra money is worth it. Not to mention every other dishwasher i've had in apartments have been poor to lousy at cleaning. I'm constantly leaving dishes in the sink to soak, and even then they don't always come clean. I've had to re-wash salt rimmed glasses because there was salt crusted on there. I can't wait to have a great dishwasher. Worth it to me, and i don't even own it yet.

IMO there are only a few options in dishwashers and you can let your wallet decide for you.
1. Spend the money on a Miele, Bosch, or Akso. (I LOVE the new Asko stuff).
2. Kitchen Aid - they are by far the best mid price/value option. (some of the Bosch are OK too)
3. The cheapest GE or Maytag model that has an upper spray arm (not the useless spray tower). Don't waste money on useless features or cycles you'll never use.

Oh, and avoid the drawers at all costs. Great idea but they perform horribly and are a nightmare when it comes to repairs.

As always before you buy one of the European brands make sure there is someone in your area who will service it if you have a problem.

this brings up a question. my new, stainless steel appliances are almost one year old. i just received a letter suggesting i renew the warranty, to the price of about $60/fridge, stove. i have always heard that paying for extended warranties is unnecessary. what do you guys think? thanks

When we remodeled we put in the top Kitchenaid. It is really quiet (it's almost 10 years old now). Although we can hear it run, it's like the sound of the furnace coming on or the oven - very minimal, at most. This was really important because our kitchen/family room space is really one room. Our old dishwasher was so loud we couldn't talk on the phone when it was running!

I didn't want to buy a high end dishwasher, but apparently my house (built in 1978 with a built-in Kenmore) had a "smaller than normal" opening, so I had to fork out the money for a Miele. Now, I have called for service 3 times in the past 2 years, but generally speaking it really cleans superbly and is ultra-quiet. I don't know that I would buy another high end model if I didn't have to, but I will say customer service with Miele has been wonderful!

We have a low-end Bosch and it does a great job. It's not as quiet as the more expensive ones but we almost always run it after dinner when no one's in the kitchen anyway. My husband was sold on the lower water consumption and the off switch (one less power vampire in the kitchen.)

One upgrade I would recommend is the adjustable racks. The racks in ours are not adjustable and our mixing bowls do not play well with standard configuration.

My most expensive dishwasher was a top-of-the-line Kenmore---around $700 when I bought it in 1998. Worth every dollar. But I've lived with apartment grade Whirlpools or Maytags and not been especially disappointed either. So much depends on the quality of the water, how hot the water is, and the detergent (which I ranted about previously).

Quite frankly, my goal in life is to have TWO dishwashers in my kitchen (and two ovens, one huge and one small).

We have a mid-range Bosch, 2.5 years old, purchased by the previous owners. It's super quiet, if it wasn't for the little red light you wouldn't know that it's on. BUT - it has to be filled just so to make sure bowls get cleaned and unless I unload it the minute it finishes, plastics have condensation and plates have a strange moist sheen.

Jury is still out.

i bought a low-end bosch for my last kitchen (i.e. less than $1k). agree w/ katlian that while it's not as quiet as the more expensive ones, it's certainly quiet enough - much much much quieter than the dishwasher we bought it to replace. i liked the quietness and low water consumption. my husband liked that the controls weren't visible when the dishwasher was closed. not sure that an over $1k dishwasher would do that much better of a job to make it worth the extra money for me.

My last house had a mid-range Bosch when I moved in. I wouldn't have spent money like that for a dishwasher, but I sure loved it. It was super quiet and cleaned well.

Replaced my incredibly loud old DW with a new Bosch last year. I LOVE it. I can have a conversation in the kitchen now with the DW running - used to be I'd have to go in the next room and close the door. It wasn't over $1K - I think it was $900 or so, but well worth it.

I got a Bosch mid-level model a couple of years ago and it does a consistently great job of washing dishes. However, I don't especially care for the way the tines are arrayed on the racks - it's difficult to fit in my combinations of mugs and glasses on the top rack, Also, since I run the machine only 2-3 times a week, I miss the quick 5 minute rinse featured on the old pice-of-junk low, low end Kenmore that it replaced. In the summer, the unwashed dishes can get pretty whiffy.Maybe other Bosch models have this very short rinse cycle though.

We have a Miele and love it. The service is actually rather weak in our area (a small service pool for a large area and we're out of the way) so there was a snag in our installation, but once that was sorted out it's been trouble-free. One of the advantages of the Miele is that you can practically service it yourself because all of the parts are accessible and easy to clean.

Features we love: it's very quiet and it has a silverware platter/drawer instead of those crammed-together bins. This is a very good idea for silverware. It actually washes dirty dishes; we both have only ever had dishwashers where you had to pre-wash dishes to get them to come out clean; our last dishwasher was useful only as a drying rack. It's configurable enough that you can put large and funny shaped items into it if you want to, but not so specialized that you're wasting space every time you run a load.

Treated properly it's also supposed to have a very long lifespan. That will be nice, but it's too soon to tell (we've only had it for a year or two.)

My mother-in-law hates her Bosch... I don't have a dishwasher at all so I'd take anything!

Love Love Love my Fisher and Paykel dishdrawers. Quiet and do a great job!

ARe they seriously that expensive now? Yikes. Five years ago, I think the highest end Bosch was only like $1200.

I have a sub 1K (in 2006 dollars) Bosch and it's great. Four years, zero problems. Super quiet, cleans very, very well and uses just a tiny bit of soap. I can't see how spending another 700-800 bucks on a dishwasher could have made it better.

OTOH, I have a friend with a high end model Akso that has been broken more than it's worked.

My Bosch was about $800/900 at Sears. I can't say enough good things. I guess the only bad thing I can say is that it's so quiet that I sometimes don't know if it's on or not.

I have the Fisher Paykel dish drawers, bought used on CL. Great investment. I put them in an Ikea cabinet, moved them twice, and they're fabulous. Also, the customer service is outstanding.

http://www.fisherpaykel.com/

And here I was, feeling all pleased with myself for even having a dishwasher at all (none of my friends here in the city do except for me). It's a Kenmore and it's not even full sized, but it works really well - it's loud, though.

@ida11, I got the extended warranty on my Bosch and was glad I did because it's had almost most of it's working parts replaced: digital control panel, water pump, some other internal parts, soap dispenser (which is broken again) and the latest repair was to replace all of the adjustable parts on the racks. It's very quiet but reliability is another story.

I didn't buy the extended warranty on my new fridge because I was livid at the thought of having to pay $140 extra to guarantee four years of service from a new fridge that was replacing a 30 year old fridge. Now the ice maker is acting up and the replacement part is $160. My repair guy told me if the digital control unit ever needs replacing it's a ~$360 part.

that's interesting merry123 - i was going to say that warranties are bad news - but maybe that's just for cars! as long as you don't need to pay a yearly fee and it's just a one-time deal then it would be a good deal knowing the prices on the replacement parts!

March 10, 2010
Tomorrow my new LG STEAM will be installed...my 2 year old BOSCH will be removed. After buying a top of the line dishwasher...I am very disappointed!
My Bosch was very difficult to install...ran very well....for a while. Called a repairman to fix the baked on food problem (only had a 2 yr warranty...which had just expired)...dishwasher was running forever, not draining or cleaning.
The chip that controls this was burned out. Crisscross messages. Went to Sears. Looked long and hard. Checked Consumer Reports and Epinions. LG STEAM seems like a good bet. Lets hope.
Cost to repair BOSCH was crazy.
Repairman fixed it...stored it in my garage. Hated a drain that had to be manually picked up and rinsed.
Wish me luck!

All of my whiteware in my house are Bosch. I love all of them and none of them created a problem for years now. It's worth the price.

blech, bosch mid price model. sure it was quiet but it just didn't clean the dishes. the door broke within 2 years--it's got a string and plastic in there not a spring! and the electronics panel went in it this year--it just hangs in the middle of the cycle. if you really want the scoop on pricey dishwashers check out ths.gardenweb.com in the appliances forum. i would not buy a bosch again.

For what it's worth, most of the repairman who made those 12 service calls on my Bosch recommend the high end quiet Kenmore Elite. The holdout was a diehard Whirlpool fan, not for features, but for durability. I do have to say my old Whirlpool was a workhouse that needed few repairs until the end. Sure was loud, though.

I admit that one of the main reasons I bought my Bosch dishwasher was for resale value. Too bad it was a piece of junk. While it was noticeably quieter than the GE builders model that came with my condo, I found the Bosch difficult to load. I had continual problems with the drying agent dispenser which resulted in white spots all over the glassware.

After 3 years, I replaced it with a KitchenAid and have been very happy since.

My favorite thing about my Bosch is how quiet it is. My parents have a Maytag and it makes a racket. It's also very sleek: smooth shiny black, with hidden controls. We have small children so it's nice that they can't accidentally turn it on. We've had it for five years and have never had a problem with it. I am very pleased with it.

We finally replaced our 19 year old ASKO with a brand new Miele. Oh yes, high end dishwashers are totally worth the price -- quieter, more energy efficient, use less water, clean better, look better and designed to last.

We got a high-end Bosch; my husband feels very strongly about getting a very good dishwasher to avoid having to rinse/rewash. It is nearly silent and does an amazing job. Worth every penny. (My parents got a cheaper Bosch and it doesn't do nearly as good of a job.)

My father has purchased three Bosch for different residences in the last five years, and each of them has broken down at some point. One is not working right now, the repair center is ordering a new motherboard. This same dishwasher was serviced a few weeks ago for a non-working door lock. I also have a new Bosch, and it is a pain to load, though it has had no mechanical problems since it was installed six months ago.

I have an Asko (not the specific model you linked) and it is far superior to the Fisher & Paykel I had in my previous home. The F&P crazed all my drinking glasses and caused my coloured Tupperware to fade. All of my dishes that have only been washed in the Asko still look brand new. I'd never buy anything else.

Have an integrated Miele which is totally worth it. Quiet as a whisper (as some other poster said, you wouldn't know it was running standing in front of it). Cleans everything the first time. Silverware tray on top leaves more room than you can imagine down below. I thought that was a gimmic when we first bought it, but its excellent. You don't need pots & pans, china, glassware, etc modes that the top end Miele's have. We got the lowest end integrated with the silverware tray. Doesn't use heat to dry either, so its somewhat greener. Only downside: its so quiet and has no external lights that you can open it by mistake while its running. That's ok - close it and it goes back to work.