[Shop-talk] Best dishwasher?

[John P. New]

I wasn't going to chime in about the Miele until it was brought up, so...

We bought a Miele (Inspira Series) a few years ago and there have been no problems with it since. For almost all of the cycle, it is very quiet; there is some pump noise at the beginning of the cycle, but I wouldn't call it loud. It's all stainless-steel construction. It cleans very well with very little water and detergent usage. There is no food-grinder, just a couple of strainers to empty (every time I go to empty them, there is hardly anything to remove), so you have to make sure the big chunks are removed before the plates go in. It dries china/glass very well, with just a few drops on the edges of glasses; it doesn't dry plastic items well at all. The cutlery rack took some getting used to (we previously had a basket-type), but it certainly cleans better than when the cutlery was stuffed into a basket.

I installed it myself and it was very straight-forward (caution: DO NOT cut the drain pipe to size; it contains wires that are needed for the dishwasher to function; just coil up the excess beside the unit).

I have a love-hate relationship with the racks, especially for the glasses; they could have been better designed, and I have even made a couple of modifications myself to make better use of the space. But I think opinions on rack design are very subjective.

Only a few annoyances. The unit does not really turn off after the cycle is completed; the power light stays on until you switch it off. There is no way to tell where it is in the cycle, so you can't judge when it will be finished. Sometimes it is too quiet, and because there is no progress indicator, I have actually opened the unit in the middle of the cycle, not realizing it was still washing!

Be prepared for sticker shock, these are expensive units. Was it worth it? Judging by the repair stories of others, possibly.

John New
London, Ontario, Canada


On Wednesday, January 26, 2011 12:49:31 pm Karl Vacek wrote:
> I've read that too, and reviewers note it as a drawback.  I don't want an
> "eco" dishwasher.  I always leave ours on the sanitizer cycle and high-temp
> scrub.
> 
> We'll go looking at dishwashers this weekend.  But unless the Miele is some
> sort of dishwasher from God, maybe I have to keep fixing this POS for now.
> I guess an hour's repair and $200 of parts to buy another 5 years might be
> OK after all.  But it sure isn't like the old ones were.
> 
> That statement in "The Graduate" was prophetic: "One word -- PLASTICS".
> If he'd have thrown in "cheapen everything and make it overseas" he'd have
> described US manufacturing in the last quarter of the 20th century and
> beyond.
> 
> 
> 
> > A couple of nits about it- there's no heated dry option. It's 
> > supposedly an energy saver, but it means I usually need to dry off at 
> > least a few of the dishes. It's also got no food grinder, which is part of
> why it's so quiet.
> 
> The latter point is why we stuck with Kitchenaid for our latest go-round in
> 2003.
> 
> John.