lascatx, if you can afford the Miele, I'd say go for it! The Bosch is a very fine machine but Miele has a well earned reputation for performance, reliability and longevity. The extra $$ you pay buys you the ability to never doubt your decision. It is rare to hear about a Miele owner regretting his/her decision. I cannot say the same about many other brands that have been owned more than ~4 years. I for one wish I had bought a Miele 10 years and 3 washers ago. Let us know.

If you want a full-size washer, the larger Mieles have received very poor reviews for build quality and have lost much of the functionality that is so attraction the smaller Mieles. I have no personal experience with then, however. I I do love my Bosch 500. The heater maintaining water temp in every cycle is just wonderful.

My hot-buttons are reliability and service availability.

In my area, the service thing knocked out quite a few including Bosch/Siemens which I really liked. Settled on Whirlpool Duet pair which I've now had for three trouble-free years. They perform as represented and have worked perfectly from day one.

PS: Careless and/or incompetent install of any/all of these machines is a very frequently reported complaint and the number one source of customer dissatisfaction with their machine's operation. Almost always corrected by owner effort or repeat service call but quite annoying. I encourage you to learn personally what is required and make known to your vendor that you regard careful/competent install -- your satisfaction on-site -- as part of the deal.

Actually, I can order any of these 3 from the builder supply that did our kitchen and may be doing cabinets for the laundry room. They should be pretty good witht eh install and they have an excellent relationship with the BSH regional showroom here. I know I could get service -- pretty sure that will not take out any of the three, although that is taking LG out of the picture now.

I'm hearing such mixed things about the newer Miele washers -- they look greast, but I think I'm favoring Bosch. The only two washers I've owned have been a Kenmore made by Whirlpool and a Whirlpool Calypso that just had the pump and motor replaced about 2 weeks ago. I don't have anything against them.

My wife and I received our Miele W4840 and T9820 three weeks ago, and we love them! I cannot see where there is a quality control issue as I reviewed many a washer and dryer, and the quality of the Miele is second to none and far above many. There are also some features that cannot be found on others, at this time, such as the ability to tailor the washer and dryer to your specifics needs via firmware.

There have been some new product teething issues with the Miele W48xx machines, but I'm not aware of any build quality epidemic. For the most part they have taken care of the couple mechanical issues. Without question the machine does impart more vibration in a 2nd floor laundry room install than some competing models. If that is tolerable or not depends on your expectations and requirements as well as the particular structural nature of your house.

On the washer front there have been some owners who have had issues with whether the internal heater is used in "normal" cycle, the cycle choices, option and cycle interdependencies as well as the scant amount of water present in washes and rinses. The machine has IT'S way of going about things and if your one who likes to choose cycles and options with great flexibility the Miele may frustrate you. The small water use is completely similar to other machines like the Whirlpool Duet or Kenmore HE5t and although at first it doesn't seem sufficient it does get the job done. The configurable firmware is an interesting "hidden" feature. It's not documented for end users and is really meant for service/factory personel access. I get the feeling Miele needs to sense your pain before they will configure the machine a wee bit different. The machine does have a high quality feel.

I'm less familar with their dryer, but question some of their design decisions. You've probably read about some users complaining about noise. I believe they tried to address that one to some degree. The vent exits the machine to the rear at the lower left corner rather than being approximately centered like every other machine you can find. It also has high air flow, but still uses standard 4" ducts. This is another source of noise. Miele recommends going to larger diameter ducts, but that can be unrealistic in some situations and besides finding oversized vent terminations is also difficult.

We will be installing on the ground floor over a concrete slab and tile. The exterior wall is brick, so being able to use the existing vent spot would be a plus, but I do have some reclaimed bricks that we could probably clean up and patch that spot if we have to move it. I've already looked - it's only 2 bricks and I could possibly do that job myself.

Like I said before -- I've owned 2 washers (and used my parents' -- all toploading Kenmores that work about the same). I've always adjusted my washing to the machine's cycles and learned how to use them. Never thought I had much choice on that. I just want dependably clean clothes without eadaches from breakdowns or too much analysis and effort. I think it safe to promise that I will never post charts of energy use, RPM speeds, counting the bubbles inside my machine or measuring the water wrung from my wet laundry (ok some of that I haven't seen yet). LOL

This is my opinion and my opinion only.

I have had front loading washing machines for >12 years.

I recently purchased a Bosch Next 500.

I found that: 1. the machine walked despite being on a level concrete floor. 2. The machine did NOT rinse out well. 3. The machine lacked certain features, such as a 'spin only' cycle. 4. The cleaning capability was not great.

My wife and I returned it to Lowes. We bought Whirlpool Duets -- the 9400 model, as I didn't care about the steam wash. They clean much more like our (former) euro style front loader, and spin the clothes out nearly dry.

FWIW we got rid of the euro style front loader as we could no longer take HUGE things like comforters to the laundramat -- the perfumes in detergents have gotten so strong that using the public laundry makes her sick from the scent.

Nate

I have the bosch 500... unlike Conate I find itto clean VEY well, rinse well (Due to skin problems I do always use the extra rinse option), my machine DOES have a spin only setting, and my machine is on the second floor of my home (2x4 construction) with a full basement below...

I would easily purchase bosch again... fwiw my other choice was whirlpool, I did not consider the meile since I didn't want to deal with rewiring for the 220 which I would have had to do back when I purchased.

plumbly22 -- glad to hear you're having a good experience. I must have gotten a lemon.

We had 220v stuff for years -- our Asko worked this way: The dryer plugged into the wall and the washer plugged into the dryer. But if you are set up for gas that wouldn't work.

Question about this 220 stuff. I have 220 for my dryer and 110 for my washer. If I got a washer that requires 220 for the water heating and it plugs into the dryer, does that mean I can only run one or the other at any one time? Seems that the washer heating water and the dryer heating at the same time might be too much. Is it?

Lascatx -

It would work just fine. The (disappearing - atleast with Miele) 220V washers only draw about 220V 15A while your dryer electrical line is most likely 220V 30A. The matching dryers to these washers are designed to work off of the remaining 220V 15A available so both appliances can operate at the same time. It all works because of the smaller capacity of the euro dryers and they are engineered to have cycle time a bit longer so they match up with the washer. When Miele/Bosch/Asko went to the uber sized machines this same balance no longer worked. This is probably one of the main reason you don't see big machines using 220V.

Thanks. I hadn't paid attention to the power supply issue yet, and maybe it's not an issue for us. We will definitely be getting larger machines. With 2 dogs and 2 boys who are active in band and scouting and swimming, sleeping bags as well as comforters and quilts and nearly non-existant laundromats within a half-hour drive, there's no way we will downsize.