Wow! Thanks for this. My Optima is in and I'll get to start using it in a few weeks when our remodel is done.

I pulled the filter and checked mine last night. There is water like yours and there was some small bits of food particles. Did not smell. Although It finished running a load about 18hrs before. I can't test the two day thing since it pretty much always has dirty dishes in it. When there is dirty dishes in it obviously will have an odor that will build over time. I scrape but do not rinse my stuff. Wasn't as hard to break the habit that we had with rinsing the dishes since we were without a DW and sink for like 8 months for my remodel so it was like starting over :). I just started using the DW a few weeks ago. I have started using Miele Tabs and using 1/2. No rinse aid or salt. I have a whole house water softener and I just tested the water again and its at like 2 grains vs 28 without the softner. Kas, You use Tabs and rinse aid. I thought based on the directions that rinse aid should not be used with Tab detergents? I set the unit to not dispense any rinseaid. I do get white spots on silverware, plastic and glasses. Not sure I should add rinse aid.

hi eggcream... mmm.... my little Japanese rectangular plastics Never flip! =.=" I think the key is to put other items under those fold down shelves.... and don't worry about those plastic won't get clean because of the "blockage". I always overload my Excella and constantly amaze how far I can get away with it! :)

BTW this is the interior of the Maytag dishwasher I had; made in the early '90s (from a pic i found online of a similar model). Note that the lower rack is configured for glasses, with fold-down cup racks on both sides; and the top rack for large plates and cookware so that loading/unloading heavy items don't require reaching down, a boon to anyone with back pain: They revisited that layout in the mid-2000s with their 3-rack dishwashers sold under the Maytag and Jenn-Air brands. Some of them had height adjustments for both the upper and middle racks; if the top rack was lowered, it would have ample height for dinner plates on the right side, and the center rack (like the top rack) was shaped so it could hold either glasses or plates as needed. What's more, both the top and center racks were terraced (slanted left to right) but in in opposite directions, so it could hold large dinner plates in the top rack (at the right) and the center rack (at the left) at the same time. And there was still enough height left for a lower rack mainly for utensils, but with the center rack raised there was enough room on the right side of the lowest rack to hold saucepans and the like. A brilliant design I wish they still made, but these were discontinued shortly before the remains of Maytag was bought out by Whirlpool, after which both Maytag and Jenn-Air appliances were replaced by Whirlpool-based designs. This photo shows the racks loaded with the glasses on top and large plates underneath, but with the top rack lowered it could be arranged in the reverse as with the Miele DW i have now. This post was edited by lee676 on Sun, Nov 17, 13 at 20:02