Thank you for bringing this up! Not only have I not seen this in all my looking but in Googling the model number I found that AJMadsen has pictures of the insides, which no one else does! They show a silverware basket and the top tray for whisks and spatulas, though surely you could use it like the Miele.

Plllog: That's exactly what I'm thinking - that the cutlery tray could be used for all cutlery, not just the big cooking and serving pieces. By using that instead of the traditional silverware basket on the lowest rack, I free up more space on the bottom rack for large plates and such.

But I'd really feel more comfortable with this idea if I heard that other people have tried this and it's been successful.

try_hard

I actually chose the model without the cutlery tray. I took my wine glasses and they could not fit in the top rack with the cutlery tray above it. Originally, I was sure that I would get the model with the cutlery tray. So I was glad that I had tried it out with my dishes to find out it wouldn't work for my use.

Based on that, you might also want to take some dishes and try them in the model you are interested in.

That KA culinary tools tray looks like a great idea in combination with using the basket below for silverware!

Spacing in the tools tray looks much more convenient than having to line up spoons and forks individually in slots on a top tray like the Miele has. I cannot even i m a g i n e taking time to individually "slot" (line up) silverware prior to diswashing.

I've got this exact model. The cutlery tray does an excellent job of cleaning the silverware. Tall wine glasses will not fit below the cutlery tray, but you can remove the tray and use the silverware basket instead. The trays are designed to be used two ways. Inserted front to back, the slots hold regular silverware. Flipped over and inserted left to right, the space is bigger and deeper for ladels, spatulas etc. But yes, you do need to line the items in the slots, and it really doesn't take that much time.

I give this dishwasher an A+. Most days, I remove the basket and use the wide space for 9x13 baking pans and corning ware caseroles. There is plenty of room in the cutlery tray for all our silverware. There is a small corner basket I can leave in for wisks etc. It is nice to not have spoons nesting. The silverware is also dry, even when I don't use the heat drying.

The cleaning is great and it is very very quiet.

We did also consider the meile model with the cutlery tray. I took my dishes to the store and played around with both machines. I just like the KA better. If I am remembering correctly, the KA had more flexibility regarding how to wash the silverware (you could use basket, or tray or both) It might have been that the meile's basket was not removeable, or the tray wasn't. Sorry, I am not 100% sure, I looked at many dishwashers last summer.

I, too, avoided the cutlery tray. No way can I see myself standing there, precisely fitting each spoon, fork, and knife between tongs. Who needs it?? Not THIS woman! Dump 'em in the basket and I'm done. I do believe the cutlery tray in the KA is removable - but then, why bother? My daughter has that model and I don't think she ever uses it, either.

I had that model for about a year now. We try to eat less around here and one way is that we use sushi bowels a lot ( to put nuts, chips or whatever in to snack on instead of out of the box or bag ) they are extremely small little bit bigger than Saki cups which we use also for condiments on your dinner plate and dips and such. They fit in the shelf great spatulas tongs chopsticks and even the sponges the heat cycle kills germs. I store a lot of stuff in the refrigerator using a vacuum sealer with mason jars using the canning lids (one of the greatest storage system for left overÂs I ever found) It perfect for cleaning the lids. That shelf is probably the nicest thing about that dishwasher. I do love the control panel on the door edge a wonderful feature. It does steal height from the middle shelf which is adjustable but the dishwasher is same size so it is a tradeoff. I wish dishwashers were about ½ foot wider we are a couple I donÂt see how a family of 4 can get by with one load a day. The top shelf is a composed of 2 racks which could be removed in a second for a run of wineglasses. Mine fit pretty well with the rack in but we donÂt run totally full so they lay a lit bit of a lower angle.

For anyone wanting to see photos of the interior of this dishwasher, click on the link and scroll down.

try_hard

Here is a link that might be useful: KitchenAid kudt03ftss with cutlery rack

Actually, this is a better link. It takes you directly to the photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: KitchenAid kudt03ftss with cutlery rack

teedup1

on my Miele, setting up the forks and spoons in the cutlery tray is not too bad at all. In fact, if you group like type utensils, it makes unloading the dw MUCH faster since one could quickly "scoop up" a set of utensils and place them in the drawer...quite nice.

the model that I have has a "split" tray so I could load one side with utensils, the remove the other side so that wine glasses can be loaded in the upper rack. it's quite flexible! (see below and the left side of the cutlery rack)

{{gwi:1380500}}

Miele's cutlery tray seems to take up less vertical space than KA's. I like the way Miele's tray frame kicks up in the front to allow wine and other tall glasses to pass beneath it.

Does the KA have a top-mounted sprayer like the Miele? The KA's rear-mounted pot sprayers look impressive. What other brands offer them?

For those of you who have the Kitchen Aid, how do you like all the lumps and bumps in the upper (non-cutlery) rack?

try hard, I have this exact model and really find all the silver and utensil baskets & options helpful. For day to day use, pretty much all family members just use the standard silverware basket in the lower rack. The utensil caddy and large cells in the silverware basket handle all sorts of things. We use the upper slide out trays for knives, extra long handled utensils, small bowls, plastic lids, cake decorating tips, cookie cutters, measuring spoons, percolator and coffeemaker parts. As mentioned earlier, depending on how you position the trays allows for larger items. Very clever.

When I'm cooking and have lots of pots and large bowls and the like, then I'll remove the lower rack basket to free up extra room. If I have a lot of stemware or other tall items for the upper rack, I've removed the upper slide out cutlery racks and used the lower rack flatware basket. The machine is so flexible it allows you to decide which arrangement is best for your requirements. The middle rack can be raised and lowered to allow for more headroom if needed.

I thought if we didn't care for the upper silverware/cutlery trays we would just remove the thing and not use it at all & only rely on the standard lower rack basket. But it has turned out to be very useful.

Someone inquired if there was a separate sprayer for the upper rack. Yes there is rotary sprayhead above the rack as well as an sprayarm agitator for the middle rack. So the flatware trays are sprayed from above and below.

The other neat feature with this machine is the lower rack Proscrub jets. It really works on baking dishes, lasagne pans, cake pans with dried on schmutz.

You'll love this machine.

Whirlpool and Kenmore also have models with the scrubbing jets. Kenmore had the feature first, IIRC.

So how do Miele and others "scrub" pots and pans and such without something equivalent to the KA's extra jets?

Charlyinfl: Thank you for the detailed response! Sounds like a great dishwasher.

try_hard

"So how do Miele and others "scrub" pots and pans and such without something equivalent to the KA's extra jets?"

Our Bosch cleans simply by high-powered jets from the spray arms. The bottom sprayer shoots water all the way to the tub's ceiling.

I have a KA model with the cutlery tray and use it all the time for large, flatter utensils. I CAN fit my wine glasses in the upper bin too which is nice. I guess my wine glass stems aren't as long as some of the responders here. I adjust my top bin to the applicable height as well.

I'm not crazy about all the "lumps & bumps" in the cutlery tray and still not sure why they are there. Because of those is why I only put the flatter utensils up there.

The DW does a nice job. After several months of ownership, I'm still learning how to load mine properly though.

The extra jets of water feature called proscrub, is a horizontal spray of water for casseroles and large baking pans or dishes propped upright in the rear of the lower rack. Loading things this way, still allows lots of room for dinner plates, salad-soup bowls, saucepans and other items in the lower rack.

With other dishwashers I've had that did not have this feature, I would fill the racks quickly because of large items placed face down for good cleaning. The proscrub increases the capacity of the dishwasher with mixed loads and gets crusty pans clean. Very useful in this house.

Overall the machine is very quiet, easy to load and cleans great.

Charly

I think I'm going to need a change in mindset, as I've always hand washed pots, pans, baking items, etc. For some reason I've always avoided putting cookware in the dishwasher. Maybe in the back of my head is the echo of someone's voice saying not to do it. Rationally, how can the dishwasher be bad for stainless Calphalon when it's OK for stainless flatware? Perhaps when we get our Miele we will start putting the cooking stuff on the bottom rack and the eating stuff on the upper two racks. Worth a try, right?

I have had a KA dishwasher for 12 years and never had a problem. removating kitchen and condering the KA similar to Miele and the Miele or Bosch(cutlery tray on top w/optional basket) I heard that it sticks out if you put a panel on???!!! Is this true!!! Which one is more quite, Miele, Bosch or KA??

Chipshot,

I've had problems putting enameled cast iron in the DW because flaws in the enamel will pop off. Never in the useful part of the pot, but who wants the pretty spoiled? Non-stick cookware supposedly doesn't like the dishwasher either for the same reason, but the only reason not to put stainless in, as far as I know, is if the pots take up room you'd rather use for plates. I put stainless and pyrex/corning glass in all the time.

Some machines at some times with some detergents have been so powerful that they can etch glass. I suppose that could be a concern with cookware as well.

We have this dishwasher. It does a great job cleaning. I need to put more insulation around it as the space is a little big and more sound leaks out than I would like.

The cutlery tray is nice and does a good job. We use it all the time for our sharp, dishwasher safe, knives. We still use the basket for regular silverware.

On our model, we are able to adjust the top tray up and down. This makes it possible to fit our wine stems in with no problem.

Hope this helps!