The load I washed last night with the new Miele tabs came out great. I had pots, a lasagna pan, dishes, plastic Oxo mixing bowls, glasses, serving utensils, measuring cups, spoon rests and lots of utensils. Everything looks clean, shiny and it feels silky. To be 100% honest though, the load washed with the Miele tabs did not look, feel or smell any better than the load washed with the Cascade All in 1 packs! I like the Miele tabs, and since I have 72!!! of them, I will of course use every one of them. But, when it comes time to buy more dishwasher detergent...I will have to decide between Miele and Cascade! Again, THANKS to Mieleguy2832...I think the most noticeable change in the cleanliness of my dishes and machines is the addition of the 2nd Rinse and Water Plus. I think both these setting were part of my La Perla I, that I used from 2001-2011 (I had 2 La Perla I units in two houses). The La Perla II (2832) is now operating like the La Perla I...flawless and clean dishes!!! Btw, Miele is coming out on Friday 3/5/11 to check the door. The noise gets better, goes away...and then without warning, comes back with a vengeance! I just want to make sure nothing is internally getting damaged...and I hate the noise it makes..it makes the machine sound so ghetto and cheap :)!

Apparently it wasn't obvious I was being sarcastic and attempting some humor. I am not a 1 percenter, I just thought that was the common perception of Miele owners. Actually, my first post here years ago was interesting. I asked about Miele and someone responded (paraphrased), "I love Miele and have them in all my homes." He or she was serious and I knew things would get interesting. We bought the Miele for one reason. We are short on space and a 24" Euro machine was the only option. Even the smallest (quality) US models are 27" and that would not work. Since Bosch and Asko are constantly being repaired (seems to be the case) we went with Miele and have had two issues (one washer, one dryer) in six years. The washer had a mother board fried in an electrical storm and blackout (warranty paid for it) and the dryer is this problem. I agree this is a very dumb design. I'm expecting that, like most things German, it is over engineered and there is some obscure minutia based advantage to this particular materials conductivity. I for one am glad of German obsession with over engineering since it helped them lose WWII! Any way, I have the part now and it is the entire assembly, not just the carbon/metal pieces. It actually came with instructions, but in German! How ridiculous. I get a little intimidated by electrical connections, but this shouldn't be too bad (famous last words?). I am just sick of the appliance repair game. Nobody stocks any parts and so you have to go through the initial visit with the, "Gee sir, you were right, you need this part, I'll be back in 3 weeks, so go wash your clothes in the river until then."

Isn't it funny how the manufacturers would like us to believe that their machines are such baskets of high technology, but when it comes down to the core functionality it's all about physical connections? When the Miele service technician opened up my dryer, I must say that I was disappointed to see a highly touted product like Miele use such a rudimentary method for moisture detection. Of course I have no idea how other manufacturers deal with this issue, but to see a connector "riding on a rail" along the outside of the drum just seems very low-tech to me and something that could be improved upon.

On dryers, it seems the bigger the better. As it has been noted, it is possible with the larger washers like Miele W48xx, Duets, HE5t, etc, to actually overload the dryer. I had the Miele T9800 for about 5 months. Some observations. Overall a good dryer. List price is actually reasonable (I paid $1200). A little smaller at 6.4CF than other competitive dryers (7-7.3CF). And limited temp controls and very limited manual timer/temp options. Almost too limited, YMMV. Loud, but bearable (mostly air flow sounds). Nice SS drum, filter, all glass door, and reverse tumble. Normal setting sometimes slightly under dried clothes, but not a big problem. I now have the HE5t matching Kenmore (Whirlpool) dryer. As posted, I returned my Miele W48xx machines. I did considered for a while just keeping (or getting another Miele T9800 dryer) to go with the HE5t. Eventually matching considerations and the ridiculously low price I ended up getting both the HE5t and dryer. The Kenmore high-end dryer as compared to the Miele is bigger (7 vs 6.4 CF), shocking quite (like real quite), seems to dry about the same- time/dry level. Very flexible temp control and timer/temp options. Almost overkill. but nice to have. Digital readouts (including time remaining) instead of Miele status LED indicators. No SS drum nor option to get one. Overall pleased but lack of SS drum is concern. If the Miele dryer was a little larger, a little quieter and had more manual temp/controls, it would be strong contender. The Miele looks like a high quality dryer, the Kenmore looks so-so. Looked at LG, and Samsung dryers. Both had SS drum options, but overall quality level seem to be more in the Kenmore/Whirlpool range and price about the same as Kenmore. Where LG and Samsung lead if a very big 7.3 CF capacity. So far I have not missed reverse tumble. I had it both on the Miele and older Bosch dryers. I don't think you need it on these larger dryer (or need is very reduced). On the Miele T9800, the reverse tumble was actually used very little of the time. It was also interesting on the reverse tumble phase because the dryer suddenly would get very quite- apparently just reduced air flow noise. This indicated the noise was not the mechanics of drum but just motor noise and air flow issues. My gut feel is the Miele could (or should) cut the air flow back for home use. For a commercial dryer, it is probably ok, but most home users would make the trade-off easily. Also, it is sucking your conditioned air out your home at a high rate. So no free lunch on reduced drying time (if any) over other more standard dryers. In a basement- yes. Upstairs- no.