Drying issues with Euro DW: All three do not dry plastics nearly as well as American DWs. It does not matter how much drying agent you put in the DWs. If you think about it, the water that collects in the divets of dishes actually pools there and has no chance of draining out. For that you need a well designed rack so that it is tilted as much as possible to help drain the water. This is where well designed racks make a huge difference with drying issue! In this, Bosch is the worst. In my household, Bosch also fits the least amount of our dishes. The glad plastic el-cheapo containers have a large divet where it collects water when you turn it upside down. I have used all three Euro DWs. For me, Miele is the hands down best, then my old Asko, then Bosch for rack design. Ineteresting enough, Miele has not changed their rack layout in many years. Whereas, Bosch and Asko tend to change them every few years. To me, the newer middle cutlery tray Asko looks rather odd and looks as if you can't really fit large dishes in there. I have NOT used it, however. My old Asko actually had a heating element at the bottom and it dried plastics fine with the element BUT I had to make sure plastic was NOT at the bottom rack. We decided not to use the heating element to dry, which was an option on the Asko. So when you compare the drying of all three without using the heating element on the Asko, they are all about the same, IMHO... I am not sure if the newer Askos have heating elements at the bottom like my old one did. Any how, if you want all your plastics to dry in the DW, I would skip the Euro ones. On the other hand, your plastics will last much longer in the Euro DWs. When I left the Asko heating element on, I often found that a plastic had fallen down and melted... This was one of the reasons I decided not to use the heating element.

I own the Miele 4842 and have had it for 8 years now. I really love it. It gets the clothes clean, even if you rarely see water in the drum. Magical. I just recently had a problem with it, for the first time. It threw a fault code F63, which is the water intake unit. It threw the code a year before, but kept working, so I thought this time I should investigate more, before it actually stops working. With help through this forum and youtube, I learned how to take the lid off the machine, open up the water path unit whilst still attached inside my machine. I was told to look for alignment of timing gears. The white gear was not flush with the red gear. So my husband found a tiny washer, placed it under the white gear. We put it back together and tahhhhhh dahhhhhhhhh, it works again. The only cost was time and a washer we already had. Admittedly, without everyone's help here on the forum, who told us what size screwdriver to use and what to look out for, the fix would have taken a longer time for us to figure out. I really like this machine.

UPDATE Ack - well, I'm still scared about the LG - but let me tell you where things stand. Thank you all for your advice - I was reading everything before I went out yesterday afternoon. Checked out the Whirlpool Duet, Sports, Bosch and LG yesterday. Thought I was decided on the Duet from a local appliance place until I checked out the LG at Best Buy. In part b/c the LG is about 2" less deep than the Duet (and therefore a better fit for our space - the Duet would just fit - if it fits at all) - we decided to go with the LG. Decided to bite the bullet and go with the 2487 - for $300, let's get STEAM! Well, we need a machine right away and the 2487 was on backorder and couldn't be delivered till March 18 - unacceptable! So - long story short(er) Best Buy brought the price of the 2688 washer and dryer down to the price of the 2487 (plus $40)! How could we pass that up? Plus 2 years 0% interest and $250 off to match a sale at Home Depot! The price of the 2688 came out to $1149 which I think (correct me if I'm wrong) is a great price for the 2688. Pedestals were $179.99 each! (we decided not to stack) and I need to see if I can find them for less anywhere. Of course, now I am still freaking out over the amount of $$ this will be and wondering if I should (a) - just go back to a much less expensive - but good top loader or (b) look for a less expensive frontloader (maybe the LG 1812 or WM 0462 recommended by consumer reports) - I never imagined I would even contemplate spending so much on a washer/dryer. I figure I have until tomorrow to cancel the order (washer being delivered Wednesday) and I am still SO CONFUSED! Any additional advice welcome - I really don't *need* all these bells and whistles - going to think long and hard today about whether there is a less $$ FL out there that would still suit our purposes. (as cool as steam is - we just don't *need* it). Thanks for all of the advice so far and I'd appreciate any other thoughts and comments! oh yeah - dross - I agree with you that I'm not counting on 15-20 years which is why I am so freaked out by this purchase. For this price - this thing should be folding my clothing and putting it away for me! Thanks all!

I joined gardenweb to post on hvac but the second thing I have been dying to do is post on the Duet washer. Mine replaced an older front loading Maytag Neptune that was great for our clothes but broke down too often. Whirlpool bought Maytag and the Epic is the same as the Duet...we bought the Duet. I hate it. What I mean is...I hate it! I have only had it a few months and should have listened to the reviews I read before I bought it. I read about tangled clothes and snagged towels. I have no problems with clothes being clean. I use HE Tide and a bit of Biz (HE amount) and always Spray & Wash stains because my kids are 6, 9, 10 and quite frankly, are little dirty animals. Main issues: 1. The clothes, especially adult size, but long pants and sleeves on kids too, get tangled around each other--alot. Mine look just like the picture posted already. The saleman told me to jam in every towel or 20 jeans, etc. and push the door closed. I have never done that and can't imagine it. Sometimes it is so tangled, I have to pull about half the ball of clothes out and let them fall all over the floor as I untangle each item. 2. There is so little water that things end up nearly dry. Good, you think--but they are so dry, wrinkles are setting in before you even put them in the dryer and then the dryer really sets in those creases--especially the jeans. I also find some things, especially towels and t-shirts are noticeably less soft. 3. Towels, especially the really good, plush (expensive) ones that you love, come out snagged--alot, big long snags. I am guessing there are burrs or something inside the drum holes or something in there catching the loops. We are building a new house and this machine will not be coming with us because it aggravates me so. Here are some of solutions I came up with to help make laundry less aggravating with this machine. 1. I never pack it too full. I would rather do an extra load than take the extra time to separate the clothes to put in the dryer. I feel they probably get cleaner when there is less to get twisted around each other anyway. 2. To combat wrinkles I never spin on high. I will do normal wash, med spin or I will even go to heavy duty wash so I can access the low spin button. This keeps them wetter. My old Maytag Neptune dryer has a sensor so it runs only until it senses they are dry and works great. I keep a spray bottle of water nearby and spray the jeans and pants legs' creases and smooth out the wrinkles then do a loose fold before I throw them in the dryer. I also shake out the shirts to their normal shape. It takes time but it does help. 3. The towels...well they snag. My only solution so far is to never do a load of strictly towels. Towels alone in a load guarantees snags on some. I try to mix a few towels in my other loads so they have a fighting chance to stay away from the enemy--wherever it is. As for avoiding problems like moldy odor and the such, I try not to leave things in overnight, or throw them in a basket or leave door open if I don't dry things right away and then leave the door open when not in use. My old Neptune had a class action law suit about mold issues, although I never had the problem, so I am precautionary about that. I also wash my cleaning rags once a week or so in just bleach and that may help. Sorry for the long drawn out deal but I have been perturbed about this thing and have never joined a forum to vent. Although reviews I read elsewhere before I bought mention the snagged towels, I don't see it as much in this forum so I think it is not a complete design flaw and something in only some of them. We are under waranty and I also have the extended warranty. Maybe something can be done about that...a new drum or find a screw or something. I will make that call today and see what they say. Good luck to those who choose this washer or if you already have it and have these issues. If anyone would like to recommend a fantastic front loader with no problems, I am all ears. I may look at the LG or Bosch when we move.