I've never had a Miele, so I can't comment on that. I have had a Bosch now for about 3 years and have never had that problem. I usually run mine daily, BUT... I just returned from a 6 day business trip and there was no smell in the dishwasher at all when I opened it to unload the batch I ran the day before I left. Likewise, I have never noticed any odor when returning from vacations.

During our kitchen reno we donwsized to an 18" dishwasher to help make room for a small wine cooler. Since there's only 2 of us and we eat out often it was a non issue to downsize. We went with the Bosch strictly on price. There was a bit of a smell that developed early on but it seems to have gone away now with no special effort on our part. the machine is quiet and it cleans well. Don't think you can ask for more. Only complaint is that the racks are not designed in a way that reflects real usage. People just don't use complete place settings each day. ALL DISHWASHERS ARE GUILTY OF BAD LAYOUT. We should be able to select racks that suit our needs.

Hi!

I thought I would bring this back to the top in hopes some other people would have opinions on the 18" dish washer in general.

lnhardin and tapioca: Thank you for your reply. Good to hear that you don't (or no longer) have the smell with the Bosch.

zoey_neohio: Thanks for bringing this back to the top to get opinions on the 18" d/w in general.

Donna

I've been using the 18" Miele for a year or two now and love it--no problems at all. I don't think the 18" Bosch was available when I was buying, so I don't really know how it is configured, but I will say that I LOVE the cutlery drawer on the Miele. Not having a cutlery basket in the middle of the dishwasher really helps open up the space available in the other drawers. I don't miss my old 24" dishwasher a bit.

Oh--you've probably already considered and dismissed this option, but there are always single dishwasher drawers if that would fit your layout better.

katwalt and klb - Thanks for your feedback on the 18" Miele. I didn't realize that the Bosch 18" is fairly "new" (or in appliance years is 1 1/2 years a long time?).

donnay - considering the average cycle time for a kitchen remodel where one is buying a $1000 + DW is 9 months; an appliance that's only been on the market twice that long is still just an infant.

The "smell" you often find in euro DW's is mold/mildew that is formed from the residual water left in the units from testing befroe they leave the factory. This almost always goes away with a wash or two.

Happy to chime in on 18 inchers, in general. I have the inexpensive GE model, and I use it FAR more than the 24". With two or fewer people in a household, it is hard to fill up the big one in a week--and who wants dirty dishes hanging around that long? I agree with the post about the racks--A lot more mugs and glasses go in that unit than place settings. The GE is the only appliance, with the exception of a cheap Hotpoint in my utility room as back-up for parties, that hasn't had a service call, by the way. My U-line undercounter fridges, the Monogram bar refrigerator, my Whirlpool washer all required service in the first year. The GE 18" is a little noisy, but it isn't a problem for me. Cheap and useful. (By the way, I had the front panel removed, brought it to an autobody shop to have it painted to match my other appliances.)

I put one of the Bosch 18's in for my Mom and Dad almost 2 years ago and they love the machine.
I had a chance to take a close look at the D/W when I installed it and found it is the same mechanically as the full size Bosch.
So it is not a "New" unit but just a smaller tub size of the same unit they have been building for the last 10 years.
I also noted that the 18 was built in Germany and not in the US. According to my Bosch Service rep this has been a popular size in Europe and Bosch has been building them for many years for that market.

jakvis- the 18" sold here DOES represent a new generation of DW from Bosch. They haven't "imported" a DW since their factory in New Bern, NC came online 10 yrs. ago.

None of this really helps donnay as the smell is not isolated to Bosch and neither addresses first hand about his/her noise concerns.

My granny (here in Germany) bought a Siemens 18 inch dishwasher some 10 years ago - it's been a stellar performer since. She now replaced it with a new Miele and it cleans and dries dishes just as well.

Both the Siemens and the Miele racks have their advantages & disadvantages. I liked the Siemens cutlery basket for its easy of use: I would just drop everything in and stuff still came out clean. The cutlery drawer it not as easy to load but frees up space in the bottom rack, which I like a lot.

Both are good machines.

Alex

Maybe it's different up here in Canada but both my Bosch dishwasher and washing machine were made in Germany. (The dryer however was made in Slovenia!?!). I wouldn't be concerned had it been made in the US. It's the stuff from China and Korea that scares me. But as was mentioned it doesn't answer the original question.
It's possible I understated things in my original post. The dishwasher is QUIET. Really quiet. I only hear it when it drains. We had to wait until the middle of the night to run our old GE dishwasher. We'd be far away in bed and though we could still hear it it was somewhat tolerable. Now I can do dishes whenever I want.

I have never ownerd a Bosch, but I can comment on the Miele vs. GE 18" models. The Miele is so quiet, even in my tight NYC apartment, I cannot hear it running and fits far more than my old GE. Superior. Superior. Superior.

General Electric also makes locomotives and jet engines. Their 18" dishwasher sounds like it.