We recently purchased a 800 series Bosh DW to replace the low end whirlpool the builder installed. I am sure there are many different brands/models of DW that will work for you, I only have experience with the low end model whirlpool that the builder installed and our new Bosh. (This is not to put down the whirlpool, I am sure their higher end stuff is very different from the low end model we had) At first my wife mentioned that she didn't think it would hold as much as the old one, like you, we got the impression it was a little smaller inside, then we realized that we could completely remove the silverware box that sits in the bottom taking up room because the DW has a 'third rack' for silverware in the very top of the unit -- this now gives us (I think) more room, and we have been able to fit as much or more into the unit as we could with the older unit. I think the Mieles and Boshs both have this rack - I'm not sure about other brands, it seems to be becoming a popular feature -- if you don't like the big silverware box in the bottom then I would definitely look for this. It works very well in our Bosh. As you mentioned adjustable tines, the Bosh has tines that will completely lay flat for larger items and the middle rack is adjustable up or down by several inches -- good for having lots of pots in the bottom or taller glasses on top. We have kids and have lots of little plastic cups - they do not seem to dry very well - there is supposedly a version of jet dry that works better with plastic but it isn't a big enough problem that I have tried that yet - not an issue for you however as you mentioned you don't have any plastic. Now, the reason I am writing this -- one of the first tasks we used the DW for was to wash about 5 loads of old china and some stainless steel pots and pans that had been left in an abandoned home - with food still on the china plates and burned into the pans -- these dishes had sat almost one year with the food now totally dried onto the plates. The pans (SS) had food burned into the bottoms and had been used on an old electric coil stove so the bottoms of the pans were black - with food that had burned in over the years of use. If I were going to have to clean these manually we would have just tossed the whole lot - but since we had a new DW we thought we would run them through, fully expecting to have to hand wash them after the DW. We threw all kinds of assorted china, and lots of pottery pieces as well into the DW with no regard to whether or not the piece was DW safe or not. When I opened the DW after the first load -- WOW -- the china sparkled like it had been hand cleaned by the most careful of butlers - every piece shined. I wish now that I had taken before and after pictures. It repeated this performance for about 4 loads of china. Then the SS pots/pans. I remind you these had cooked on leftover food that had been sitting for nearly a year, and they came out *almost* spotless, even the bottoms of the pans that had been totally black in color were shiny silver now. I took some advice from others on this forum and purchased some Barkeepers Friend and the few tough spots that were left on the pans cleaned up perfectly using a small scrubber and the BKF. The pans are literally like new! I am sure that other high end DW's could and would do the same, but needless to say we are happy with our purchase. Our Bosh DW is model# SHX8ER55UC/52 We used finish Powerball All-in-One and finish DW Salt finish Jet Dry rinse aid Good luck on your decision! This post was edited by jw1844 on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 14:26

I had a ball doing this! You can still eat outside here in So. California if you can hide from the breeze, so I did an outdoor arrangement. The skeleton arm came from a mantle decoration I made two years ago after having seen it on TV. Red metal dishes are from the Pottery Barn line that's been showing up in their stores every spring. It all goes on sale when the fall stuff starts to arrive, so prices are not too bad. The white melanie plates are the old Heller dishes that came in a zillion colors in the 70s. Candle holders are milk glass goblets. NOTICE: They are at different heights. You guys taught me to do that! The close-up of the place setting looks like the plate is going to fall off the table. I must have been rearranging something and forgot to push it back. Napkins and placemats are from my New Years Eve stash. Little skeletons came from a skeleton garland I got last Halloween. Lots of them had lost a limb or two, so I just cut them up and used the good ones for napkin rings. Isn't this fun??!!!!

Ah, Sammy, you beat me to it! Jeffrey Herman is "The Man"! I know he does not recommend Goddard's Silver Foam but I do use it on lots of my silver. I did follow his recommendation and crossed the river to buy some Blitz Silver Polish. It was good, but not worth the drive. I see he is now making his own polish - might order some for special things. That boiling water/baking soda/aluminum pan method has ruined a lot of good silver. It's the oxidation that makes an elaborate design beautiful and it will remover that. And if it's silver PLATE, not STERLING, you are removing a LOT of the silver. The BEST way is to use your silver flatware daily and hand wash it. It really takes next to no time (I'm assuming you don't have a family of 12 and home-school so there are TONS of everything to be washed!). It doesn't tarnish if used. I just had my yard man at my house last week polishing all my display silver (it does tarnish sitting out, especially with a gas furnace and stove). It all is gleaming! My flatware that I use for Christmas is vermeil and gold does not tarnish, so nothing needed there! I use my other two patterns all the time, plus I do keep those 3M silver anti-tarnish strips in the silver chest where they are stored..They work!

My paternal grandmothers china was foisted on me. Its sitting in a closet in a spare bedroom,where it will remain, I hate to say it, until my father passes and I can toss it without guilt. I dont hate it,its boring. But I will never use it. I have relinquished any claim to the china,crystal or silver that my parents have and never use anymore. Our family has grown too large to have a sit down dinner with everyone anyway. My sisters want the china and silver and all that, for sentimental purposes. I only want the tacky ceramic bowl with giant blue daisies on it. But to each their own. I will say that in the past 5 years or so I have had maybe a dozen acquaintances who have gotten married. I think only one registry had china. Only one had silver. The rest just had everyday flatware and plates and drinkware and stuff. And in those cases,I dont think it was a money thing,because also on those registries were other very expensive items. More expensive than the China or silver on the other ones. I never wanted china or silver of my own. It never even occurred to me. I only want Christmas dishes and flatware. I have the dishes, (not china) and I am searching for the flatware. Maybe less people are buying such things because they are being handed them down from parents or grandparents. I have some tablecloths and cloth napkins from my maternal grandmother. I will also never use those. My mom brought them to me because they are pink. She knows I will not use them,but thought i would appreciate them, if only for the color. And I do! And not only because my grandma HATED pink and it makes me giggle to think that she bought them because pink was the "feminine" thing to have. She had good taste though, something I will never claim to have. :)