We installed two of them in our kitchen & have been using them since March. The Excella is the best dishwasher we have ever used, period. It gets everything cleaner than they've ever been. Because there isn't an exposed heating coil, we can load anything anywhere without worrying that something will melt in the bottom. The Excella is so quiet that we've opened it by mistake more than once before we learned to check for the glow light that shows it is running. I wondered if we'd use the various programs but have found that they do come in handy. The Sensor Wash cycle is great. I love the racking -- it holds so much and is so flexible. Last but certainly not least: the cutlery drawer! Most Mieles have this, but the Excella has a split rack that you can remove part of if you want taller items just below it. We have the integrated model with a custom cabinet front, so the dishwasher disappears. I wondered if we'd like the hidden controls, but they are very easy to use.

Well I know you don't want to hear from me since I have the Laperla but there is not that much of a difference between it and the Excella so based on that I think the Excella will be just fine.

Difference is sound insulation, the hidden controls Vs the touch screen, and the fact that in the Laperla the water softener salt is placed in the door like detergent instead of in the reservoir in the bottom of the machine....that seems to be the only differences.

I will say that the touch screen is employed by Miele on many of it's appliances. Steam Ovens regular ovens, Washers, DW and the current Laperla model available to the USA has been out since 2004 in Germany so I think they know what they are doing with these screens.

jerrod6 - your comments are always appreciated!

There is one thing I would, if I may, ask for one of you to test. The child door lock...does this need to be manually engaged every time on your dw? Or is it like the Bosch units where one enables it once and it's automatically locks every time (like a dork, I forgot to test this while I was at the showroom).

Thanks!

I have never used any of the locks but the manual(laperla and the Excella) says that as long as the lock is activated the dishwasher is locked every time it is turned on. The lock function is turned off by default so you have to manually activate it using one of the settings menus.

You can also lock a program after it has started. This prevents anything from being changed while the program cycle is running.

One other thing I noticed while browsing the Excella manual is that like the Laperla it also gives you the ability to reorganize the menu which means that you get to select some program cycles you want to move to the top of the menu.

jerrod - thx.

On the Excella and LaPerla, there are TWO locks...control panel and door lock.

What you are reading in the manual relates to the control panel lock. I wanted to know about physical door lock and whether the door lock needs to be re-enaged every time. The door lock is referenced on page 11, right-hand side.

About the control panel, I know the control panel lock, once enabled, is engaged upon every power up. However, is the panel locked as well while the dw is running?

Thanks!!

Well, after much delay, we have finally placed our order for a Miele Excella model. This will be our "first real modern" dishwasher for the wife and I. We're looking forward to using this bad boy. Installation looks easy, so I'm taking care of it.

Quick questions for the Miele folks out there...

- For folks with kids - how do you handle plastic sippy cups and lids? Doesn't the pressure of the spray arm push these items around the dishwasher easily?
- We purchased an Excella DW (G2630SCiSS - Stainless Steel Control Panel) and wanted to use a white door panel from the GDU kit (GDU60/651W). However, our salesperson indicated, from the Miele help desk, that the white GDU panel will not work with the SS control panel. Can anyone with Miele installation experience confirm this?
- The installation recommends that the water connection solenoid box be installed "vertically." Does this mean that the connection bib should be vertically connected? The instructions are a little vague on this.

Thanks for all the help!

mando -- try the tops of the sippys on the cutlery tray first -- cups probably go in the cup rack. You'll find your way with this.

We're past the sippy cup stage, but regularly wash travel coffee cups with snap-on tops--the adult sippy cup, ha. We rack the tops in the cup rack where it has tines for small plates or bowls, & the cup part on the sides. They don't move.

If you have really small items, Miele has a grid box that can be placed in the dishwasher. This comes standard with the LaPerla & is available as an accessory with the others. Or you probably can find a similar item in houseware stores.

I don't have the child plastic lids, BUT do have the small light plastic lids that fit over the tiny(hold less than 1/4 cup) storage cups. I place these in the cutlery tray, but usually place these on the fold down racks that are found in the middle rack. I place these on the rack and then put another item of heavier construction over the edge of them. I place larger plastic lids in between glasses (or between a glass and the side of the rack) that are stacked on the right or left side anyway this seems to hold them. LIke rococogurl suggests--you will find what works best for you.

I didn't do the installation of the DW since I preferred to have the Miele Installer do this so that if there is a mess up--he was the one that messed up--not me.

The manual mentions having the water control box installed vertically so that all of the water will drain from it. So I think this means that the water line should be coming from above and then you connect the control box below it. So yeah the connection bib is vertically.

Installation instructions:

Sorry but I cannot understand any of the stuff that came on the installation instructions. I guess I am just daft or pictorially impaired. My instruction sheet consists of 30+ pictures... and arrows..no words...just pictures. If you don't need to do some of the stuff on a picture there is an arrow that points to another series of pictures.

I sat there and looked at them. Each picture has arrows and motion indicators showing the direction and motion you are supposed to use to do whatever. I kept looking at them. I kept thinking "I guess you are supposed to...well maybe you are supposed to....well I guess you take that thing and move it....well I guess you hook that thing to that other thing...but the next picture isn't showing that so....?"
Somebody please-- just give me the words!

Plus you know you get an additional warranty year if you get the Miele installer to installer it.

Anyway good luck with the pictures.

This is completely OT to jerrod.

Jerrod your description of dealing with the exploded view of the DW installation has me laughing tears down my face. The reason is that I've spent this entire morning with a picture and a spreadsheet of the space shuttle's thruster jet location diagram showing those 44 thruster firing directions (arrows and couples) and some reference frames. Am working to interpret those 44 firings into an equivalent 6-dimensional force/torque map. My brain is tired of de-discombobulating all those directions. I came here to unscramble my mind for 10 minutes before I get back to it to finish it so that I can get back to what I really need that force/torque map for in the first place. And look what I find: Jerrod announcing that he's got his eyes crossed with the same thing. I'm punchy beyond belief right now - probably the reason for the intense amusement.

interestingly, i can understand the installation instructions. step 4 and 22 are "if" conditions. decision before step 4 - if installing with a particle board/wood top, go to step 4. if you're going to install the dishwasher with a granite top, go to straight to step 6. same for pre-22, this time for toe-in kick panel or not.

i also know about the extra year warranty if installed by a miele tech. however, i would rather use that money towards a miele extended warranty.

also, got clarification from miele about the GDU panel...

------

The salesmans information is wrong you can get the white GDU panel and you can get a white control panel also if you would like to. Please call Miele's Parts Dept or Product info Dept if have anymore questions @ 800-999-1360 to clarify your needs.

Thank You

Miele Parts Dept.

-------

thx to all for the tips so far!

had one for about a year (white)
not much else to say other than it is a great dishwasher
One point about European models, they actually don't use quite as vigorous of a spray action as most US models, so I find smaller things don't 'fly' around as much. They make up for that with the longer cycles. A key feature of this machine is how widely dispersed the water spray is. That is what allows heavy random loading that still gets the dishes clean

Following Miele's installation instructions is not unlike reading Ikea assembly instructions... and if I had done my own Miele install, I would have likely installed it upside down like most of my Ikea furniture.

well...after MONTHS of researching, we finally got our miele excella on saturday and i proceeded to install it where our previous never used, 10+ year dishwasher (whirpool) was (never trusted it since we moved in).

given that i had all the instructions and diagrams before i began, the installation process went well and quickly (about an hour or so). the power cord to the excella was a little short, so i needed to purchase an "air conditioner" extension cord. also, i need to call up miele and ask some questions on my particular install (no remodeling of the kitten and older home).

wife has been hesitate of dishwashers since i started researching them. so, a couple of days prior to getting the dw, we started leaving dishes in the sink so that we can test them in the excella.

so, we loaded up the excella. after the load up, we still had plenty of room to load up other things as well. the cutlery rack reals does leave more room on the other racks for other things.

loaded up the salt, rinse aid and a half tablet (all miele branded). turned on the sensor wash and let the excella do it's thing. wife commented on how quiet it was (could barely hear it). the excella, 5 min into the wash, indicated that the middle arm was being blocked. opened up the dw and, sure enough, it was. so, adjusted things around and continued on.

after it was done, wife was stunned on what came out. everything, except one spatula, came out clean and spotless! the spatula still had some egg residual on it, but that is because i didn't place it in the right location.

while the dw was doing it's work, wife and I went out to the backyard and had a night cap. then, looked at the wife and told her..."you realize that our dishes are getting washed while we have our nice drink out here, right?" she responded "yes...it is nice and thank you!" my work is done...for now :)

thx to everyone for their advance and comments.

Mando

Glad to hear you had such success with your FIRST load. Also glad you could read those installation pictures!

So you piled up dishes for a few days and then used 1/2 Miele tablet?...Seems like the tablet did pretty good too since you only used 1/2 of the amount.

Anyway glad for your success so far and you know we will all still be around if you need anything.

hey jerrod,

yep - used a half tab. like someone noted on the "dishwasher detergent" thread, the dishes came out quite clean but they didn't have a super "clean" smell, nor a super "dirty" smell either.

i noticed that some of the butter knives had some blue "spots" on them...don't know if it's detergent, not enough rinse aid or the knives are not dishwasher safe (they are not silver...just regular tableware from target). reading the owner's manual last night led me to believe it's not enough rinse aid. so, i upped the number to 4 from 3.

also, we have a whole house water softer. however, i don't use salt in the water softner...i use potassium chloride...i wonder how this affects the water hardness detection/softener in the excella (the excella show between 14-16d).

checking in.

after using the excella for close to two months, we are quite happy with it's performance. drying, especially plastics, is still an minor issue (tried extending drying and increasing the rinse aid amount to 4).

there are two things that the excella will not clean constantly...a large stock pot where steel cut oatmeal is made (even ran it through the "Starch" cycle with a full miele tab AND CC in soak/pre-rinse) and spatulas with dried egg (i believe sshrivastava had the same spatula/egg issue with her LaPerla).

questions -

- there is a "factory mode" that people mention on here...what is the key-combo to get into the "factory mode?" msg me if you know.
- any tips on the spatula/egg?
- what is the procedure to increase the temp of the rinse cycle to ensure proper drying?

FYI - i keep reading about ppl saying that the lower arm of miele dw is metal. well...this is true...partially. i took out the arm to inspect it (just for kicks) and noticed that the top half of the arm is indeed metal. but, the bottom part (and largest) is plastic. i chuckled a little when i found this and thought about the debate that mindstorm was engaged in about "plastic vs. metal spray arms" when someone compared the bosch quality to miele. :)
thanks!

Sorry but I don't have the Excella so I don't know how to get to the factory service mode for it.
Spatula/egg: I have never had this problem however I don't eat eggs frequently or use them with a spatula so maybe that's why!, but I generally place my spatula and long serving utensil's into the middle rack just like they were a small dish. The spoon or work side is faced down, the handle is faced up and runs across someother items. This is hard to explain but maybe you can see this in the pictures I posted a while back.

I also place them on the fold down racks in the lower rack.
I will also place them along the side of the cutlery tray..look at the pics and you will see one along with wooden spoons. This seems to get them clean without any problems.

Also the manual recommends placing long items along the front of the middle rack and I think there is some space for them. I've never done this however.

I have known about the lower arm since I bought my machine in june of 2006. This is a non issue for me. My previous machine had a solid SS lower arm, but I figure that it is easier and probably more cost effective to have SS on the top and plastic on the bottom, plus the lower arm on this machine is huge compared to the size of the one on my previous 1996 Miele.

Steel cut oats: I eat these as oatmeal in the mornings but use a corning sauce pan to cook them. Of course they are stuck on like crazy afterwards, but I just wash them with the sensor cycle with the pan faced downward and it gets clean. Where are you placing the pan and how wide is it?

thx for the reply.

I got an partial answer from Miele about the egg/spatula...

"Dried eggs are actually tougher than some glues, and don't always break down in the presence of water."

To me, that says wash them by hand (and place them in the DW if sanitizing is important).

I cooked my steel cut oats in a stock pot (large sized) and let it sit all day. I think the size of the stock pot had something to do with it. I do place it upside down in the lower rack at a slight angle. If I use a regular pot, the pot comes out fine.

thx!

Nothing to do with DW but making Steel Cut oal meal.

Place oatmeal and raisins + water and let soak over night in the bowl you plan to eat them in.

Cook in MW for 1.5 mins on high (starts to boil/roll) then let reduce to 40% or 50% power for 3 mins and slowly cook. (setup as a recipe or setup as a set of settings) If you want to add a 5 min delay up front. You can start and have a 10 min shower+ dress and it will be done when you get down to eat. Very easy cleanup in the bowl.

Dried egg....I sometimes have dried egg on my plates and when I do make scrambled eggs, once in a while, the remaining uncooked egg sits in the bowl and dries until the next run usually the next day so maybe something happens to egg when it gets cooked...or.... they are crazy. But perhaps it has something to do with cooked dried egg in the presence of silicone or plastic/rubber spatulas. My eggs are mixed with a SS whisk and cooked with wooden spatulas and these seem to get clean without problem.

Oats...I would bet that the depth of the stock pot placed on an angle prevents all of the water spray from reaching deep into the pot.

canuck99 - i usually cook a crock-pot full of steel cut oats. i let the oats soak overnight, then, in the morning, add dried apples and cinnamon sticks. i then set the crockpot on high. about 1.5 hours later, i have a nice big pot full of apple cinnamon oats for the week. i have a recipe for overnight steel cut oats, courtesy of Alton Brown of Good Eats.

jerrod6 - we stir the eggs with a metal spatula. i'll try a wood one next time. with regards to the oats and the large pot, my thoughts exactly.

thx!

Here is a link that might be useful: Overnight Steel Cut Oatmeal

Metal should work just as well or even better than wood, but give wood a try and also try placing it in a different location in the DW.

I am glad you explained what you are doing with a huge pot of oats. I had a vision of this pot of oats simmering on the stove all day and everyone eating bowls of oats every once in a while and that this was happening everyday...It wasn't a pretty thought.