Almost identical situation to yours except mine was Whirlpool. Replaced previous 9-year-old disposer model with new filter model. IMHO, filter v. disposal is a non-issue. Filter doesn't require frequent attention and it's quick/easy regardless. The quietest machines are all filters. Quiet is more important, now, because the newer machines all take longer to get through a cycle. I'd pay for quiet.

Can't help you with the dimension problem but don't worry about disposer v. filter issue at all.

Thanks, asolo. Quiet is important to me too.

We recently replaced a 20 year old Kenmore with a basic Monogram dishwasher FYI- 34" height.

It is a disposer model, but I can not identify any sound from it that I would consider disposer noise. Mostly I hear it when water is filling or emptying, so I'm not sure how much the disposer feature contributes to the noise. Monogram specifies noise level as 48 dBA. That's a reasonably quiet rating, but all I know is that compared to our old dishwasher, it's relatively silent.

We are in a water war with two other states. We can't spare much water rising before putting in the DW so a disposal is extremely important to me (having a Golden Retriever that likes to lick dishes really helps, lol, I do have the sani rinse feature). : ) A stainless tub and a disposal are the must haves for us. I also have large dishes and need a configuration that will accommodate tall dishes. Good Luck!

Filtration-only a non-issue. I've used several Bosch dishwashers and the filter needs cleaning only a few times a year if that - it will collect things like small pieces of plastic wrap that you didn't notice and large seeds. You don't need to wash off your plates any more than with a disposer-equipped DW.

Even if the filter is full of gunk, it'll still run okay. So you won't need to be the only one allowed to turn on the machine. Don't worry about it. :)

You can also get an Asko or Whirlpool in the height you need. the whirlpool will have a disposal, the Asko will use the filtration. That being said, the enzymes in the detergent you use slowly break down any food left in a filter. Scrape the food off but that's all you have to do with these filtered dishwashers.

If you go to any appliance repair forum, you will find that after 4-5 years many of the dishwasher designs start to experience issues with dishes not getting clean and outright failures. A lot of these are related to compromises made to add what is called a "chopper" to the system that breaks up larger food residue. The issues are especially prevalent with Whirlpool machines which includes Kitchenaid.

If you have a choice, get the machine without a chopper and choose the filter instead. Most european models use a filter and some of the NA models offer a choice on the higher end.