we just purchased the la perla yesterday. i went through the machine with a fine toothcomb. there was one small scratch in the bottom right hand corner of the door which you can't see when you stand more than 1 foot away. the cost of the la perla ended up being $100 less than an optima fresh out of the box and we were given a 2 year warranty. (1 year miele DW + 1 year for having an authorized installer) my husband really liked the pop open drying function and the fact that it had 2 vents instead of one. we asked the sales person which she would get since we were concerned about the out of the box issue. she said since she knew the history of the laperla we were looking at, she would take the la perla. as the prices were about the same we decided to go with the la perla. here's hoping it doesn't break down like my ASKO. ;)

The fridge is now at the recycling center. It was never necessary for me to know details. That this old fridge used a lot of energy is all I needed to know. Within a few months i will be able to compare my monthly power bill. This gives an order of magnitude. Assuming other habits remain the same, after 12 or 24 months I can see an average drop. A power meter at the plug is just-for-fun; it's too much detail if you already know the answer and you aren't trying to find out. We ordered our new fridge before today but it is not here yet. The old fridge is (was) on a pedestal 18" above the floor. To move it to get to its plug would have required a major operation of muscle power. Don't feel like calling my friend(s) in for that. Hope this explains why i never got around to its measuring power consumption. We knew it was a power hog anyway, and moving it was a bear. Hope you don't mind my guessing that a fridge is less efficient when 26 years old than when new. Hope you don't mind my not measuring my own consumption although I did respond to someone else's query "how can we know" by saying they can measure power at the plug with a meter. I have a power meter. Someone in my household misplaced it. One day it will pop up. I intend to use it for the new fridge and for other things. Just to satisfy curiosity. -david

Wow what a decision. I have the 1986. When I was doing research back in 2002 I decided on the 1926. When buy time came the 1986 was there and I bought it in Jan 2003. There are differences. The 1926 will allow for 4 or 5 rinses. The 1986 will allow for 2 or 3 rinses, but ends up using the same amount of water. This is because the 1986 uses more water for each fill in the rinse plus I have mine programmed for higher fill rinses. The water can be up over the bottom of the door and into the glass while the clothes are lifted and then plunged into and through the water. A good looking rinse. The 1926 does the rinse and I think then does a slower spin between each rinse. The 1986 will rinse and then do a faster(not max) spin between the rinse. The 1926 lets you select the spin speed in rpm. The 1986 uses terms like low med high max, but these translate into the same spin speeds as found on the 1926. At first I was upset with the lack of rinses but found that 2 or 3 high fill rinses with spins between work just fine. If you use 3 rinses, the middle one will do short tumbles and longer pauses so that the clothes soak in the water. Also if I want additional rinses I can use the fine rinse cycle. This cycle provides two very high fill rinses, with the water for the last rinse being taken in through the fabric softener dispenser and you can use any spin speed you want. Jeans, Dress shirts. Perm Press works just as well in my opinion except that it will not give the same type of spin that Jeans, and dress shirts do. The speed will be there but the duration is not. Perm Press gives what I call half a..s spins but well...things don't require ironing. Silk...I use this cycle for silk shirts..it works great. I also use the wool cycle for wool sweaters....great. The 1926 defaults to extended, the 1986 defaults to quicker. I don't think the default quick cycle is the same as the rapid cycle on the 1926. I think the 1986 default cycle may be a bit better. Extended. when I first bought the washer I used Extended for white cotton all the time, and I would use a temp of 140F. Now I find that white cotton gets very clean using the default cycle and I use 120F or 140F if very dirty. If you use Extended each phase of the cycle is longer. However the length depends on the cycle you select, so less time will be added if you select extended for dedicates, than if you would have selected it for cottons. Here is one thing I don't think the 1926 has and that is fuzzy logic to determine load size. This is a major plus for me. The 1986 will determine the size of the load and then adjust the estimated wash time...So If I start a small load with an estimated time of 49 minutes, after a few minutes the machine will detect that it has a small load and drop minutes from each portion of the cycle....and still get everything clean. The shortest wash phase i've seen has been 10 minutes. Time reduction occurs when using the Extended option also. Also the machine will automatically add a rinse if needed, but this has only happened 1 or 2 times for me. The 203F cycle is something I really don't need. I only use 190F on items that do not contain spandex or polyester. If you subject these to temps much over 140F they will start to fall apart quickly. I will say though that when you use 190F and you stand near the machine you can hear the water near the boiling point during the tumbling pauses. You know that sound you hear in a pan when the water is really really hot. Prewash. You can use this option on almost any cycle. It starts with cold water, heats it a bit, and then drains it and the washer moves on to what ever cycle you have selected. This is very good for stains. So over all I am pleased with my 1986. Of course I didn't have the option of getting the 1926 but I am pleased with the machine I have and don't plan on getting another anytime soon. If I move..this washer goes with me too. I hope someone with the 1926 will reply and describe the operation so that you can get a good idea of each machine.

I have that model Miele speed oven. We bought it new/used off Craigslist. It came out of a high end model home and had never been used. We held onto if for about a year before it was installed. We got both that and the Miele 30" convection oven for $2600(maybe $2700) I think....it was a crazy good deal but we took a risk since we bought them off craigslist. They both work perfectly. And we use the speed oven for absolutely everything. If you check the inside door area of the oven there should be a little sticker thing that will tell you the date it was manufactured. New the 4080 was around $2700 (retail) so the price they are quoting is no great shakes. I just checked my sticker and mine was manufactured March 2007. I would offer them $1000...maybe go up to $1200 if they throw in a service warranty.