Cyberinferno, a friend of mine runs a very high-end appliance store and has been in the business since college (well over thirty years of real-world experience in the appliance industry). Naturally, we purchase all my appliances through him. Since these new Miele large capacity front loaders hit the market my wife and I routinely stopped by to see him and compare notes. He purchased the Whirlpool Duet because of the additional deal he gets on them, and he loves them. The Miele offers no dealÃnot even to him, and we saved nothing on our purchase of the Miele's. Customers always love the Miele's, but change their mind on the price; he (there about two-dozen other employees) sells about one set of the Miele a week on average. The customers that do buy them, love them, and typically they are have or are purchasing other Miele, ASKO, or Gaggenau appliances. The W4840 washer on the showroom floor has the sagging door you mention, and my theory is that through shipping such long distances, the door has positioned itself lower on its hinge. The door itself is amazing as it commercial grade, and I do wish that Miele have used a longer side-hinge, but I will use some low resistance thread lock and realign the door if mine sags upon delivery (I suspect that it will). Albeit our kitchen appliances are all stainless steel we prefer white laundry appliances so a stainless steel option, for us, was of no interest. The build quality of the Miele's is top-shelf. I compared all the washers and dryers available, and a big hint regarding quality is if you look at the back of the unitsÃwhich I did, in great detail. Miele has a keen understanding of construction means and methods, with incredible details on the back of their machines as well as the front. This speaks volumes about Miele. In the automotive industry third-party consultants are clandestinely retained to purchase the competition's vehicles so said vehicles can be completely dismantled to learn about their design and construction. I read a report on a Lexus that was dismantled, and it stated that the parts of the vehicle that were unseen by the human were just as well thought out and executed as all that could be seen by the human eye! Miele is the same caliber, and that is what we wanted. P.S. My neighbor just completed a kitchen/laundry remodel and used all Miele appliances except the Miele refrigerator that is not sold in the States, but stopped short of purchasing the Miele washer and dryer. Why? Cost! Go figure, but he bought a Bosch Nexxt setup that they love, other than the mildew buildup in the door. However, when I told him that we were getting the Miele they want to come over and see how matters work out as they wanted Miele in the first place.

I agree with plumby. Bosch seems more reliable than Samsung. I cannot speak about which machine is more attractive because, personally, I hide mine in a closet because I don't want to see any appliance if I don't have to. So the fact the Samsung looks slightly better seems as plumby said- to be secondary to its function. About the crawlspace/ vibration, etc. My laundry closet is probably less than 10 feet from my bed. It is on the other side of a lath and plaster wall and there is another closet on either side of it, but there are no vibrations. And we have an actual basement, which is open under the whole house- so raised foundation also. No vibration there either. I don't think Samsung has cornered the market on no vibrations with certain foundations, i just think Bosch doesn't bother to state it, even if it is true. If you level your machines properly, they are quite silent. I also had my Bosch machines in a open loft in a closet on a concrete floor. Not particularly loud either. Can't speak for Samsung but I am impressed with the noise level of Bosch. I bet they are even better on the new ones too.

I measured its width today. It is a big fraction of an inch less wide that 24" everywhere except at one place. Right behind the door is a black plastic trim. This is where it is 24" wide. The "Dishwasher Installation Instructions" sheet says you can remove these strips if you want to. I agree a 24" opening is good and a panel +/-23 7/8". I think it can be an advantage to keep its space at 24" to standardize and to allow a possible replacement in the future. I am not experienced with gaps between multiple cabinets so I am always glad to learn more... There is no steam escaping from a Bosch at the top of the door. Except if you open it during operation. It has no top steam opening like some other makes have. So I don't think it needs space above the door for air movement. Furthermore the "Fully Integrated Panel Installation 90 00 13 06 58 Rev.A 12/05" sheet which gives a template for the screws doesn't call for any space above or below except to mention that you may have to notch your custom toe kick. So, it leaves the height up to you to align it, to match drawers or doors you have next to it. The pictograms show this too, aligning your custom panel to match its neighboring functional furniture. It evens discusses making false drawer fronts to match drawers beside it. All of their words and images (Line drawings) presume that you are making an effort to align whatever conceals it with the doors/drawers next to it. That seems to me to be the premise why they spent so much effort into making a large number of images and printing it up on a big sheet of paper precisely 23 3/16th" inch wide with template holes on the sides.0 The naked door, which needs a panel, is just under 23 1/4" wide at the top where the controls are, a plastic part on top of the 23 3/16th" metal door. So a 24" panel would then overlap by 5 to 7 sixteenths-inch on each side. The height of the panel is up to you, although B-S-H instructions don't say so bluntly and directly. It is what I surmise after reviewing. Height at the top, height at the bottom. HTH -david

Thanks @whirlpooltrainee & @nerdyshopper. I made an appointment with a tech from a Bosch-affiliated shop coming by at the end of this week. In the meantime, I had my regular repair guy (who'd cleared the problem last time) and he said it should have been high-looped (which is what the installation manual says as well). So he made that fix and reset the machine so that it works. But he also indicated that there was water collecting at the bottom of the tub and that he thought the control panel was wonky. I'm keeping the Bosch warranty appointment for this week to make sure that I get it fully checked by an expert.