Stainless interiors are largely a marketing/upsell thing.

DishDrawers are nice if they fit the user's dishwashing needs and habits. They may not be suitable for people who do a lot of cooking/baking and machine-wash their pots and pans.

They do not have a food grinder/disposer. There's a drain/pump coarse-filter that may need to be cleaned periodically depending on the user's scraping habits. There's a large, circular stainless steel fine-filter that covers nearly the entire bottom of the drawer which doesn't normally need cleaning ... but it's reasonable to pull it on occasion to clean any debris that may be beneath it. I check mine every 9 to 12 months, sometimes longer.

There's a learning-curve on loading but it's surprising how much may fit once the tricks are learned. Racking on the newest units are much more adjustable than early models, now with fold-down and moveable tines and height-adjustable side shelves.

KitchenAid first-generation drawer units were sourced from F&P. KA second-generation units were a different design that was also sold under the Kenmore Elite and Maytag brands for a few years.

F&P has had their drawer units on the market since 1997. They're in the 7th or 8th model/engineering revision.

I have had F&P dish drawers for the past 7 years and loved them, but I wouldn't push them on anyone else. I should note that we are a 2 person household, so we usually accumulate only one drawerful per day. No drop down shin-banging door model could ever be as convenient. My DDs were quiet and excellent at cleaning the dishes and I never had a service call for any problem. I did clean the little drain about once a month and the filter every 6 months and alternated the drawers so they got equal use. I wanted to put a new set with the deep drawer in my kitchen reno, but F&P was recently sold to Haier and I just didn't want to help line their pockets. I reluctantly bought a new Bosch knowing I'm going to miss my drawers.

There's only two of us in our household too (my son and I). Sometimes I run a sparsely populated d/w because we're out of forks and spoons (yes, I'm too lazy to hand wash them, especially after they're crusty). I thought if we had drawers, I'd run the d/w more often and not feel guilty about it.

We are going to get a new induction cooktop though and I was looking forward to being able to put my new pans in the dishwasher. I think I'd cook more if I don't have to hand wash everything when I'm done.

Oh, maybe I could add a single drawer to the other side of the sink. That's the ticket! Now what do I do with all the junk in those drawers it replaces...

Stainless steel dishwasher tubs are *supposed* to be for retaining heat for convection drying (i.e., no heating element) of the dishes. I can't attest to their efficacy, but I'd think that would work better than the alternative.

Barb, Why would you be able to put pans in a drawer dishwasher and not a regular one? You should be able to find the same settings, etc., in both models. You can fill up your DW with pans, and then have clean forks. :) Because of drought, I've been working at using more pans and large bowls that can go in the DW, to cut water used in hand washing. Modern DWs use less water if full. Some also have settings that only clean one rack. The current detergents are designed to work with less water and more residue on the dishes, but aren't particularly happy, IME, with days dried on gunk, so you're right on target trying to increase the frequency you run the machine.

Re capacity, what drawers can't do is the trick where you take out the top rack and put in a big stockpot. or full sized baking sheets and cutting boards. Not all regular DWs can do this, and it sounds like you might not need this, but it's the biggest difference, due to structure. Some people have trouble fitting smaller baking sheets in drawers, but others manage it.

I'm not knocking the drawers. They might be a good fit for you. It's worth investigating what's out there, however, to see if your issues can be answered by other models as well.

Stainless steel (or metal) *does not* retain heat ... it lets heat pass through much more readily than plastic. Simple test: Hold an aluminum (or stainless if you have it) baking pan on your hand and pour boiling or very hot water into it, see how quick you drop the pan because it's HOT. That's heat passing *through* to your hand. Do the same with a sturdy plastic container that can take boiling water and see how much longer you can hold it because the heat does not pass through as readily.

The relation of a stainless steel tank to drying dishes is condensation drying, not convection. The stainless steel tank cools *faster* than the dishware which entices moisture to *condense* off the dishes onto the tank where it is supposed to run down to the bottom.

Baking pans, pots, and skillets can certainly be placed in a DishDrawer if they fit. Tall items, large cookie sheets and such may not fit.

pllog, I talked about machine washing my cookware because dadoes said that pots/pans probably aren't so good for dish drawers. If I want to start dishwashing more of my cookware, then a d/w drawer may not be so good for me.

I do machine wash a SS buffet pan that barely fits in my full-size d/w. It would probably never fit in a dish drawer.

I originally got a stainless steel interior d/w because my previous d/w was stained pink. After 15y now, my SS one is not.

The rack inserts (tines) for plates and glassware can either be removed or folded flat to make a wide-open space across the entire area of the rack, although that doesn't do much for increasing height. The DishDrawer Tall models do have a bit more vertical space for tall items.

Thanks, Dadoes, for correcting my booboo, as well as my mistake about the reason for stainless tubs. It's for drying, at any rate. :)

Barb, oh, I get it now. :) The best thing is to take the items you use on a daily basis (clean) to a showroom and try stacking them in a dishdrawer and see how it works. I know people who like a drawer because it holds exactly one dinner's worth of dishes and pots. Other people can't fit their most used pots or bowls with anything else.

I find the drawers to do a good job in cleaning, unless the wash arm gets blocked by an errant item. My 26 year old GE would beep an error when that happened, but the 2 year old FP does not. I listen to the swishing sound -- if it is uniform, the arm probably isn't going around and I correct it.

How well it packs depends on what mix of items you have in a load. Can be very good, or rather bad.

Not silent like the Miele was in my wife's house, but not too loud for me -- much better than that old GE (even when it was new).