I am so glad you posted b/c I was going to post the exact same question tonight! I am not necessarily looking at those exact models but between a Bosch (or European model) vs the KA.

I am paralyzed by the whole debate over: a) heated dry and b) disposal.

I am hoping folks can weigh in...?

Like you, we have children but ours are older. They are required to bring a trash-free lunch so we have multiple plastic containers a day as well as reuseable water bottles. And, we love drinking from Tervis Tumblers, also plastic. SO, I've been told that heated dry is the ONLY way to go in our situation?

But folks with a Bosch or non-heated dry simply say you can't open it right when it says it's complete, b/c it's still drying. And b/c there is no heated dry, you can put the plastics in the bottom as well as the top.

Then there is the whole disposal issue. Now, I was raised by a father who made us do the dishes each night and they were basically already clean going in - my husband mocks me in it. So, I can't imagine putting in a baked on-dirty dish. That said, I'd love to load a little quicker and have my daughters do it more often and their attention to detail is not like mine. So, Bosch - no disposal, KA - yes disposal.

Everyone in the world raves about Bosch but there are compelling reasons to get a KA. Is the KA really that noisy? Am I wrong in my assessment of the differences?

Hoping for the same input on the topic and experiences shared as GinChevyChase!

P.S. I have to make a decision in the next day or so, this is perfecting timing for (I hope) replies! :-)

I recently got an online offer from Lowes for an 800 series Bosch for $800. I think you ought to check that out before you buy.

I need to correct a typo. That was $899 not 800

I have a Bosch (SHV66A03 - 47dB) and previously had an American brand dishwasher with disposal and heating element. I think the original poster sums it up right about the tradeoffs. I have had the Bosch for 7 years with my small kids and lots of plastic. The plastic never dries for me unless I do the following. Run after dinner, shake off the excess water on the plastics when it's done, air out over night, put dishes away in the morning. The thing is, this is what I would probably do anyway so I don't consider it an inconvenience. If you need the dishes clean and dry in a short period of time, you might want the KA. The Bosch cleans well and although we semi-annually check the food trap in the unit, we hardly ever find anything in there so I don't miss the disposal at all. It's very quiet and has worked reliably since we got it. My parents had a KA until they switched to Miele and they were happy with both. One little story that happened with my old American dw is that one of those small plastic kid items slipped through the rack and landed on the heating element and melted to it. I like that in my Bosch, I can put the plastic on top or bottom and not worry about that. I think I found it slightly easier to load large or awkward items in to the American dw than the Bosch. I don't think you can go wrong with either of these. If I were to buy again, I would pick the Bosch, but if I hit a great deal on the KA, I probably would get that. Amy

I have a KA dishwasher. It was around $900 when we purchased it like 8 years ago. I like it. But my DH complains about the interior set up. He doesnt think its easy to put dishes in it. We only use the "economy dry" option on it...DH hates to waste energy! sometimes everything is 100% dry and other times there is lots of water. I'm sure its because of how long we wait till we unload it. We thought it was very quiet when we first purchased it. It seems to have gotten louder over the years.

The disposal is unnecessary. The heated dry is personal preference but I wouldn't get a DW without it. I'm not an expert but I think the difference between 3 decibels in that range is not that big a deal. To me cleaning and drying is far more important than noise but YMMV. I've had a KA for over 10 years and I'm extremely happy with it.

I got the KA over the Bosch due to its capacity and interior layout flexibility (removable sections, movable tines, adjustable upper rack). Drying was a secondary consideration as well as noise.

I use the heated dry only about half the time. Since I usually run it over night, I use non-heated dry. And I catch it in the last 20 minutes which is when the drying cycle takes place. I open the door to let out the steam, close it and go to bed. Or just leave it half open with the top drawer out.

3db would just be noticeably louder. It is the minimum amount that the human ear can deduce as being louder.

Grinder/NoGrinder = Don't care, doesn't matter. My parents had an old Hobart KA with filter. Filter cleaning is a 5-minute-twice-yearly event.

Besides what everybody else has already said, here are a couple of other thoughts.

Consumer Reports testing lists the Bosch SHX555 as having "excellent" ratings for washing and energy use, and "very good" ratings for noise and what CR thinks is "ease of use." There are ratings for KichenAid KUDS30 models, but no KUDS35 models. It may well be that the only difference between the "30" and "35" models is which retailers sell them. Anyway, the KUDS30 models were rated as excellent for washing, very good for energy use, average for noice, and very good for ease of use. CR lists the Bosch as having a 110 minute cycle time and the KA KUDS30 models as having a 115 minute cycle time. My Bosch SHE55 was similarly rated by CR but, in practice, usually runs about 100 minutes. (Both the KA and Bosch seem to have sensors that adjust cycle time for water turbidity, so YMMV).

My SHE55 model, which I've had for 8 months, has racks that are designed differently that the ones on the Bosch I had for the previous fifteen years. The racks in the SHE55 (and, I believe in the SHX55) models have a different layout from the old Bosch, although they also have adjustable height and rows of tines that can fold down. Not everybody likes this layout. It took me some time adjust I saved the racks from my old Bosch and, once in a while, I sometimes swap in the old bottom rack for a particular load. IIRC, the current KA models use a more standard rack design, albeit with some flexibility.

So, one thing I would suggest for the OP is, if you are still stuck in the making your decision, go back to the store with some of your plates and glasses to see how yours will fit.

One final thing. There is a strident debate about the safety of some Whirlpool dishwasher products, which includes it's KitchenAid models. There are reports of a small number of them suffering circuit board burn-outs with some those even catching fire. Apparently, there have been several housefires attributed to the DWs. Whirlpool has denied any product defects, while numbers of enraged owners are lobbying the CPSC and blogging, and newspapers have been publishing some stories. Do a web search using "kitchenaid + dishwasher + fire" for more info on this debate. Also try substituting "whirlpool" for "kitchenaid." There were a couple threads here at GW on the subject last summer and fall, as well. I remember one of them was about whether to let your dishwasher run when you are sleeping or going out for the day.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Wed, Jan 16, 13 at 14:57

euaropean dishwashers have in-line water heating element. they will heat your water to the temperature the cycle is set. american dishwashers in the past relied on providing 120F water and they will heat it based on a timer. this all may have changed recently with introduction of energy efficiency standards - but do look at this feature as we needed to take into consideration that we have a tankless water heater and it takes additional time to purget the pipes of cold water and bring in the hot water into dishwasher. we got bosch.

Unless KA has made some recent improvements, go with Bosch.

MUCH less noise.

Maybe it's just that I have really dirty dishes, but my cycle time on the KA (same model) goes about 3 hours with a sani rinse and heated dry. My other complaint is that I apparently have weird shaped wine glasses that don't exactly fit when the rack is in the top position, so I move it down. Then the dinner plates don't fit on the bottom rack because the rotor on the top rack hits them. But other than that small hiccup, it cleans quite well.

We replaced a higher end Kitchenaid (KUDS24SEWH4) with a mid range Bosch (SHE55R52UC/64) last year. There is absolutely no comparison for noise. Most of the time you have to check the light to see if the Bosch is running. The Kitchenaid was awful for noise. Most of it seemed to come from the pump.

Cleaning on both was pretty good, but I would have to give the edge to the Bosch. Cycle time is much longer on the Bosch though.

We don't find drying of plastics to be a big issue with the Bosch.

The Kitchenaid seemed to have a healthy appetite for parts -- mainly plastic stuff inside the tub breaking. That said, the reason I'm back at this forum is that we are having a problem with the Bosch. Not totally sure it is a problem with the washer or not, so can't comment further.

For reasons that are not entirely obvious we seem to find the Bosch harder to load. I think part of the reason is that they have spaced fingers on the racks a little too close together. It is hard to put deeper dishes in it because of the tight spacing.

If I had it to do over again, I would still pick the Bosch. It is amazingly quiet. The front design we have is totally smooth and there are no buttons or lights. The only light projects on the floor to indicate it is running. We often forget to look on the floor and open the door when it is running -- to get a bit of a wet surprise!

If I were buying a new one today I would be most concerned about the rack layout -- take a few of your plates and bowls with you and see how they load in each machine.

khallock -- our KA DW is 12 years old and was expensive at the time -- I think it has gotten louder through the years too! I don't care that much though because I usually set it to run when we are upstairs sleeping.

I posted earlier and have been following and just don't quite know what to do still. I have looked at Consumer Reports too (for that poster,) and while it raves Bosch, it does NOT factor in drying - or drying time - and the type of items you're washing, e.g. plastics.

They are also dated in that the KA 70 models aren't even considered.

I've been drawn to Miele after seeing it's amazing capacity to load, but there is NOwhere to see it here in Baltimore, which also means NOone to service it. Closest is Northern VA, about an hour and a half away on a good day, more with traffic. That seems like a risky proposition to me.

I want something that is quiet, runs in a reasonable amount of time, cleans well, and dries everything. How is it that this is difficult to achieve?

Look forward to hearing more thoughts - argh!