You need to focus on which model(s) have the wash features and racking options that fit your needs or lifestyle. DOn't get hung up on trying to find one without the built in water softener, they can always be turned off. N.B. some people find that their whole house softener produces too soft water for good washing. That can cause etched glassware too. Some will end up with a water bypass to the DW and using the built in softener on the Miele.

abbey lowe's and home depot sell water testing kits that are under 20 dollars. they are good to give you a general indication of the water quality - and would give you a quick indication of how hard your water is. the test takes only a few minutes. when our house was near completion, the builder brought in someone to do a detailed professional test. he told us we had hard water (9 grains per gallon) and a lot of iron (2 parts per million). he then tried to sell us an $8000 water treatment system - and my wife threw him out of the house. i wound up using this forum to learn about softeners and iron filters and then bought one of those test kits from lowe's. i found that my water was indeed hard (it registered between 9 and 13 gpg on the stick) BUT it had ZERO iron. i tested it another time (bought another kit) just to make sure - still zero. i think the salesguy was lying to us on the iron issue. in the end we purchased a water softerner on line from Abundant Water Flow. I paid $700 for the system (delivered) and paid a plumber $300 to put it in. I have since tested my water twice and the hardness is zero - it really works! the water softeners use either Sodium or Potassium Chloride pellets to periodically clean the softener filter - a process caalled regeneration. We use the postassium pellets and my DW did not like the aftertaste in the water. so I wound up adding a whole house water filter (called a Big Blue) just after the softener output and that fixed the aftertaste issue. Abundant sells those too. in the end I spent about 1300 dollars but now have execllent quality well water. i now realize that we should have had water treatment for hardness in our other house that we lived in for 13 years. the hardness does cause itchy skin, but even worse, the calcium in the water causes spots on stem ware and pots, gunks up humidifiers and ice makers - and who knows what all those deposits due to your body. I am very glad I discovered this topic on the GW and thankfull to aliceinwonderland and justalurker for their very insightful posts. best of luck

I have the F&P dish drawers with the water softener feature. I had it in our last house too. We can make adjustment to the amount of salt that is used based on the hardness of the water. So, check out your manual, you may be able to do something similar after you know your water hardness. We are still without a whole house water softener (grr), and I just ran out of my first order of salt. 7 boxes are what I ordered June 2012, and I just had to re-order. I held off, in case the whole house water softener was going to be installed first, (but it wasn't). In our last house (hard water) when we went from a Bosch (w/o softener) to the F&P with the water softener built in, we really did notice that the dishes were cleaner and clearer glasses. I buy the salt on Amazon, and usually just do cost analysis on what is the best combination to get me the best price.

Wow... $700?! If that was the plumber who installed it, I'd be pissed. It's true that the reason for ALL air gaps required by code is in the event of a city water failure. What they never want to happen is for the water supply to fail and have contaminated water (sewer) be drawn up into the water supply. The source of the City Water failure can be a broken main or a major storm that shuts off power. Most codes include a provision about "following manufacture's installation instructions". If it calls for an air gap in the instructions, your plumber is on thin ice saying it's not needed.