Well, I bumped up the rinse aid level from 3 (default) to 5. It's made a difference. Dishes are drier but the plastics are still wet. It cleans well but, to be honest, my Kenmore Elite cleaned this well for 10 years until it died. The things I like the most are the rack configuration (including cutlery tray) and flexibility (ability to raise and lower racks and put plastics anywhere without fear of melting). I find that my dishes are more securely stowed (especially plates in lower rack) and that I can fit so much more in each load. My absolute favorite thing is that my plastic cups don't flip over and get filled with dirty water. That is something my old dw did and I hated it! One more thing to add in the dw's favor: Salesman told me that racks/tines are stainless steel under the plastic coating and that Miele is the only company that does this. Not sure if that last part is true but my friend with a perfectly working, albeit rusty, dishwasher was very interested in this fact.

Tomalyse I don't have the Bosch so cannot accurately describe its features but I did read the news release regarding the new 2007 models. Everything that is on the Bosch 2007 models is all ready on my 2006 Miele G2830 Laperla model which was released in the U.S.A in 2006 but released in Germany in 2004. If you read the Bosch press release they explicitly compare their new models to those manufactured in the U.S.A. not to models made elsewhere so for the most part I think the features found on the new release are all ready on the Miele....However..some of the features may not be found on all Miele models so you have to examine them to see. I would order the brochure from the Miele web site. it also contains general installation sizing requirements..I think it is free. The softest Miele is 42db which is what Bosch is saying is on their top end new model...but I think this is relative to what is going on in your area. Racks found on the OPTIMA and above can handle the placement of glasses in the bottom without breakage. Once you get up to the Excella there is an added advantage of being able to remove the center rack and then wash only in the bottom. I actually like this better than top rack only since you can place tall large items in the bottom easier than in the top and since glasses can also go in you have more flexibility. Excella and Laperla also have alternating spray arms and automatic spray pressure so don't need to draw a lot of water to keep everything moving. The spray pattern differs by what cycle is running. If you check the printed information in the U.S.A you will NOT find out about the alternating spray arms. It is not mentioned, but can be found out about on Euro web sites. But the feature is there just not talked about in the U.S.A. I think both Bosch and Miele DW clean. I think all Mieles clean. The Excella and Laperla have some addtional cycles which are nice. With them you can add a soak or extra pre rinse or extended drying to some cycles. There are some cycles that cut the time duration down, and still clean just fine. There are cycles for cheese and pasta which provide an extended hot prewash and a very hot main wash. Both machines make use of sensors to vary the wash temperature and the make up of the cycle( wash and rinse durations, number of water changes - to match the soil load. Both of these use Automatic Load recognition to adjust the amount of water taken for each fill to the size of the load. Sometimes there is so little water inside it's scary. The top tray holds cutlery and parts of it can be removed and adjusted so that if you have tall items in the middle rack they can protrude up further. The tray also frees up some space in the lower racks. Middle racks can be raised, lowered, titled. There is a thread around here called Miele Load. I posted some pictures of one of my loads run last year. If you check that thread you will see how the dishes can be placed in. The Bosch made for the U.S.A requests you to supply a water temp of at least 120F so you are the one heating some of the water to that temp to get best performance. Miele has no such restriction and will heat tap cold water to almost 170F degrees used to wash pots and pans so I suspect this is one reason there may be the difference in electric costs. Also which one of the Bosch cycles is using that low amount of Kwh and under what conditions can you use that cycle? There may be one other thing that contributes to this and that is that Miele uses a fan to assist in drying. I am not sure Bosch does this. Both use a form of convection drying. Rather than just letting everything sit Miele uses a fan that draws in cool air from the outside and then blows the air in a space between the outer and inner tubs. The difference in air temp helps the water condense off of the dishes. Outside air never touches the dishes. Some folks talk about having a high loop. My dishwasher is not next to the sink and the drain line goes straight down through the floor and into the basement. No high loop and the machine holds the water in and prevents any from backing up into it. All Mieles have the anti leak protection from the bottom of the DW as well as the fill and drain line(electronics is running through the fill and drain hoses and they cannot be cut). My previous Miele from 1996 also had this feature. There are posts on the board where people are saying that their dishwasher is virtually silent. I don't like that term because at the upper end the Miele, and now the 2007 Bosch is 42db and the naked ear can still hear that, so if I sit around and listen for the DW I WILL hear it. If other things are going(conversations, radio,cooking, HVAC on high stage) then I don't hear the DW. As others have said there is not that much difference between 48db and 42db plus surroundings and construction materials will also have an impact on how much you hear. As I stated in the beginning I don't have a Bosch so cannot accurately describe their features, but these are some things found on the Miele. I purchased this current one last June. I used it to replace the previous model purchased in May 1996 because I redid the kitchen, and liked the smooth touch black panel which matches everything else. No problems with the the first Miele DW at all, and it operated as new on the last day I used it. So I purchased this next one expecting reliability and good results. So far so good.

My DW was installed by a Miele-certified installer, and has been seen by a Miele-certified technician. In a nutshell, my dishes are dirty. This includes stoneware, glassware, Pyrex, stainless bowls, baking pans, stainless flatware, you name it, from the top, middle and bottom racks. The residue is food, not detergent, that did not originally reside on the dishes where I find it at the end of the cycle. For example, this morning I had to SCRAPE tiny food blobs off the interior and exterior of a water glass when I removed it from the DW. Oddly, the things that are most apt to come out the cleanest are the things I would least expect, like casseroles with baked-on cheese and really yucky saucepots. Before I even called Miele CS, I tried a little, a medium amount, and a lot of Cascade powder (enzyme kind), as well as a half or full Miele tablet, all with and without RinseAid, at the normal, pots and pans, china, and express settings, with full loads and part loads, loaded in umpteen different ways, double and triple-checked to make sure the spray arms weren't obstructed. There is salt in the DW and it's set to the right number for my water hardness. All these permutations produce dirty dishes. I have gone from scraping to rinsing to nearly washing everything before I put it in the DW. Other than the fact that I don't want to leave dirty dishes in the sink, I don't know why I'm bothering with the DW at all. I've emptied the bottom filter many times, and there's rarely anything in there. I have had multiple phone conversations with Miele CS and Tech Support. Every time, I get different suggestions. For example, one person told me to use the P&P cycle, the next person told me not to because the hotter water could damage my dishes, and the next person told me to use P&P again. They finally decided that I needed a service visit. I went around and around with the service dept and no one would return my calls or schedule a visit. I finally called the salesperson where I bought the DW and he intervened to get me a service appt. The service person came without any knowledge of the multiple lengthy phone conversations, didn't listen to anything I told him, ran diagnostics which did not disclose the source of the problem, spoke to someone else on the phone, they decided to turn up the sensitivity on the soil sensor and turn up the water temps to "see if it would help." No parts were ordered. I think there might be something wrong with the drying function now too, because recently when the timer runs down to zero, the green light doesn't flash and the dishes aren't dry at all. Please note that I previously had a KA that washed dishes much better than this but was unbearably noisy in my open-concept home. I didn't have to go through all these mental contortions to try to get the DW to work properly. This Optima is quieter, but not as quiet as the Miele hype led me to believe before I bought it. During my last call with Tech Support, I was told that "maybe turning off the salt dispenser would help." And to go back to using the P&P cycle again. (This is after the tech visit where the temp on the normal cycle was supposedly increased.) I believe that the plan for the next tech visit is to disable the salt dispenser. I've run out of things to try on my own. And I don't think any of the people that I've spoken with have a clue as to what's wrong with this DW. I can't begin to tell you how upset I am at both the DW's performance and Miele's customer support.

From the pdf: Functional Upgrades Crafted as a unique blend of acclaimed features from the Inspira Series, the Diamante Plus is sure to please the most demanding user. One outstanding upgrade is a �turbocharged� set of wash programs, including China & Crystal and the radically new Turbo feature. When selected, Turbo produces quick, outstanding results while reducing cycle times by up to 30%. Luxury and Performance Built-in The Diamante Plus lineup builds on impressive innovation with practical, yet premium, features. A 24-hour delay start allows you to run a full load long after you�ve left your home, while the upgraded Q2 AcousticsTM rating is quiet enough to run while you are entertaining guests. For further convenience, a built-in water softener adjusts the water intake and optimizes it to properly care for your dishes, particularly fine china and crystal. p15. See also the charts starting on page 25. Here is a link that might be useful: Miele DW