My KA dishwasher is excellent and I would buy another one when the time comes. The only thing is, I worry that the newer appliances are not as good as the old with all of the energy requirements involved. I will not pay the big bucks for a Miele and also the appliance opening is just a bit different on them. Cost of Euro repairs and parts. I know that people on this forum love their Miele to the exclusion of all other DW's but it's not something I would want to sink 3K into or anywhere close to that amount. But then again, it's just the two of us so everyone has different needs. Recently I was out looking at them since ours is nearly 17 years old and still seems brand new actually with the stainless interior and still stylish exterior with electronics and I ended up back at the KA display because of the layout of the interior. It had the silverware tray on top with deep pullouts for the dishes and it seemed more study when you pulled them out. All of them seem wiggly when you pull out the dish wire trays but the KA seemed better. IMO, KA still makes a decent DW for the money and it has water heater and element for drying.

I've had the Bosch 500 DLX (WFVC6450UC) since Oct 2009. I also have been selling appliances since 1995. Here are a couple of things I know.... All Bosch Vision dyrers have reverse tumble - this helps clothes not get stuck in the middle and come out slightly damp when the cycle is over. They are low in temp - max temp at 140, delicate temp is 120. With a higher air flow (280 cfm), drying results are more gentle than other brands. Less heat equals less fabric damage, less shrinking, and less color fading. This is like a bigger version of a European compact dryer (Asko, Bosch, Miele) If you can buy the WFVC6450UC or WFVC4400UC with the "drum sanitize" option try to do so. These are only available at the independents. This cycle will run for 90 mins at 175 degrees. Run it once a month (no clothes) and it will break down all the soap scrud and residue. I don't know of any other mfg that does this. The Exxtra Sanitary cycle is amazing at cleaning whites, towels, sheets, dish rags, etc. 150 degree temp maintained during entire wash portion of cycle, and a 171 degree boost for 4 minutes to kill bacteria. I think Bosch service is better also. More established network of service providers and better parts distribution. Hopefully Bosch will keep parts for 10-15 years for the Vision and Nexxt full-size laundry units. They will still be making the smaller Axxis models going forward. If it matters at all, they are made in the USA.

If you hate to iron, the steamwasher is valuable. I use the steamfresh mode to get the wrinkles out of shirts containing polyester or rayon fibers. The shirts do not come out as if freshly pressed, but are passable. The instructions say not to use the "steamfresh" mode for cotton or silk fabrics, but I put my cotton items in there to get them steamed. Since the fabric comes out damp they can be pressed right away - makes ironing much easier. As far as the cleaning enhancement with the steamfresh mode, I am less impressed. After reading several comments here about the LG and how well they clean, I was totally underwhelmed with mine. My clothes did not come out cleaner (my 22 year old TL Maytag cleaned better). I had a towel that was wrapped around a pulled pork from the BBQ. The BBQ sauce leaked all over the towel. After cleaning and drying, I could still smell the BBQ sauce and smoke on the towel. The towel is rust colored so I couldn't tell if the stain was removed or not. Tomato sauce type stains and grease did come out completely either from other garments. Some of the problem might be due to the ECOS HE detergent from Costco I was using. I tried cleaning some dirty towels and socks on the sanitary cylce with some bleach. Still the towels and socks did not come out looking really clean and bright. The machine uses such small amounts of water that I am not sure there is enough to dilute out the dirt and smells. The factor that killed the machine for me was the excessive vibration from rinse/spin and spin cycles. My laundry room is a 2nd floor location, mid span in my house on plywood and linoleum. The machine made my house shake from one end to the other. I bought anti-vibration pads to no avail. I spent countless attempts trying to fine tune the leveling (despite the fact it was already level). Thank goodness Best Buy has a 30 day return policy. I exchanged it for a GE Harmony. I have used the GE Harmony for a week now and love it. It spins to 1000 rpm vs. 1300 for the LG though I could never spin at the extra high speed or my house would fall off the foundation. I kept the LG dryer. The dryer loads are equal in time or 5 - 10 minutes more Harmony vs. LG at 1200 rpm. I switched to Tide HE and the tomato stains are out. As far as the pulled pork towel is concerned - I repeated the experiment with another lighter colored smoked filled towel. I used a pre-soak, vigorous, extra hot cycle on the Harmony and everything came out - smell, stains and all. Using that cycle with my kids socks and 1/4 cup bleach - they came out very clean and bright. Some people comment that the TL HE machines do not move the clothes around and tangle them up. I watched the rotation of clothing through the glass lid and they do get rotated. There is a bit of tangling or twisting of pant legs, but it's no big deal. Regarding the vibration - the machine will vibrate some on the fast spin cycle but it does not seem to transfer to the floor. I have my laundry detergent on the floor right next to the machine. The contents do not jiggle at all. Capacity wise, the LG Tromm I believe has a 3.75cf vs. 4.0 on the Harmony. Lastly the Harmony cost me $500 less that the LG Tromm with Steamfresh. (33% less) That buys lots of water. I have to admit - the LG is a cooler more stylish machine. Good luck with your decision.

The manual for my Boscch washer shows a few inches of minimum clearance at the top of the washer. I don't really think that it is necessary though. I have seen countertops over large capacity FLs and it works just fine. Yes, the front of the Bosch washers has to stick out a little because of the panel, but that won't keep me from putting a countertop over it. A standard countertop will cover the flat part of the washher's top plus extend out a little bit on the back and we plan on installing a sliding "wall" (piece of wood or something) in the back to conceal the hoses and water faucets. I have seen this setup with a Kenmore HE3t and I liked it a lot. The height of the countertop will indeed be above the standard height, but I am 5'10" and don't have any problems with that. Does the countertop specs address the installation above a w/d? Does it specifically say not to do that? I wonder why a countertop is okay above a dishwasher that actually steams when you open it, but not a washer... Not only does the countertop create a clean line, it will also keep things from falling behind or in between the w/d. I don't see any reason not to install it that way.