I have had the Miele Optima since 2006. "Semi integrated". It is paneled, but the control panel shows---which we like. That way we know what it is doing, and we found the controls are easier to use than our prior kitchen aid which had the controls hidden at the top inside of the door. After all, if your gonna spend "ALL THAT MONEY" on a Miele, then why hide the freakin" thing (Inquiring minds want to know)!!! Anyway the door does not auto open like some of the fancier models, and no steam comes out---so you don't need that "Stainless Steel protection plate" with it. Both the panels on the Miele DW as well as the surrounding cabinetry look just as good as they did when first installed. 6 years ago. Now to be fair to Kitchenaid---we had 3 of them and all were trouble free for at least 9 years each. One poster posted a complaint about the venting of the kitcheaid and it's kinda been like the "Chicken pox" here in Garden webb. There was definitely something wrong with that "Particular" (IE Hers) that is not wrong with many of the same models. That vent is not supposed to open for 6 hours yet hers does but we have seen post from other folks with exactly the same model and NO venting Problems, NONE!! So it's getting a bad rap as folks here seem to recall only that post and not the others with the same exact model and NO Problems with theirs. The Kitcheaids are slightly deeper than the Euro Models so it will require a slightly deeper cabinet than would a Miele. There are many posts about this here in Garden web and how to resolve this problem IE more cabinet depth. Good luck with your decision, You really don't need to spend the money on the fancy door opener and in fact, (To Me), your panels and adjacent cabinetry are safer without it! HTH's Gary

My mother had a panel on the first DW in the mid-sixties. She had it installed on the replacement in the '80's. She would have put it on the latest DW, but didn't want to alter the newish floor so went with a shorter DW that couldn't take it. There was nothing wrong with the panel :) This is a flat panel (like her cabinets), not a fancy compound door front. That might make a difference. That is, the location might not be as easy on adhesives and joinery, and it might be harder to make a detailed panel fit a new machine. But nowadays, almost all of the panel DW's are integrated rather than button front, which should make moving the panel easier, as long as they keep making 'em.

Here's the report from the higher end: I have to have a heater because I don't have enough of the right kind of mass in my typical load for the convection dry of Euro models to work. I've heard good things about Kenmore Elite, but know nothing about it. I don't like the racks in the Whirlpool family. This left me very few choices. I started with Viking. It's supposed to have a dryer. But what I thought was a coil in the bottom is a gasket, and the dryer is a blower. Everything about this dishwasher is fantastic. I love the racks, etc. But my dishes couldn't get dry. I'm not talking about a little bit of damp. I'm talking great big water drops all over everything. Viking were very cool about it, tried replacing the dryer parts, then took it back, no questions. It should work for anyone who can do a convection style like Miele, because, basically, it has an enhanced convection. This is one of the new units that Viking are making in house, that are very well designed indeed. They're trying to get their good name back. I ended up with Monogram. The racks are okay, though most of the tines are too close together. There are some decent adjustments, and the upper rack works with my upper rack items (not true of Whirlpool family). With this one, the normal cycle is what gets it its conservation ratings, and is useless. Plastics cycle with added heat and heated dry get me something that works like a plain old dishwasher, though the dishes aren't as sparkly clean as my old mid-range, 15 year old Whirlpool (from before the annoying racks). It doesn't like set on gunk. The normal cycle with added heat and added dry will get the dishes sparkly, but really not the plastics, and even my flatware are plastic (acrylic handled fancy Italian stuff). I think one of the other cycles might "clean" better, but few of my dishes require a lot of cleaning. I require drying. This DW is fine but not brilliant. A nice feature of the Monogram is that the door has a little gap before the counter. You can cover this with your panel if you don't like the look, but if you leave it, there's a display on the top edge that says how long the cycle will take, how long is left, which step it's on, and has a done light you can use to say all clean. It also comes with a little handle in the front which makes it easy to use between plumbing installation and panel installation.

Yes, it's the control board in ours. We replaced it once already after only two years of use, and it's stopped again exactly two years later. They are expensive, and at this rate, I expect it to fail again in two years if replaced, so we just want a better dishwasher. This was a low-end model GE that was bought as part of a package when we first moved in and there were no appliances in the house at all. The reason we have trouble with dripping is because the steam is so hot, and the quartz countertop is so cold. A laminate countertop with a moisture barrier would probably be fine.