"I measured my DW's from 2 ft away near the top of the DW. My old KA was 65-76 dbs, and the Miele was 53-55 dbs. I would be interested to learn what your new KA measures." Do you understand how a sound pressure level meter works and how to use it? There should be two scales on it an "A" scale and a "C" scale. The "A" scale is 500Hz to 10,000Hz and corresponds to the human ear's most sensitive range. The "C" scale is from 32Hz to 20,000Hz. Appliance manufacturers generally use the "A" scale (noted as dBA on a spec sheet) as that is the most sensitive range for hearing. You cannot actually measure the SPL of the dishwasher itself as it is not in an anechoic chamber. What you are really measuring is the difference between the ambient sound level and the sound level with the dishwasher turned on - or the amount of additional "noise" generated by the dishwasher. I measured my KA last night and did a couple of different measurements. In the "A" mode and slow response, the ambient level was 51dB as the refridgerator was on and the washer and dryer were being used in the laundry room next to the kitchen. With the dishwasher turned on, and in the middle of its normal wash cycle, the room level changed from 51dB to 57dB - meaning the dishwasher added 6dB to the ambient sound level measured from 500Hz to 10,000Hz. I then changed the meter to the "C" mode and fast response (slow averages over time on my meter). In the "C" mode, the ambient level with the dishwasher off was 60 dB - I think mostly attributable to the clothes dryer in the next room and the low frequency from the drum turning. However, the interesting part was that with the dishwasher on, and the meter on "fast" to track short events, the sound level pulsed from 67 to 68dB. When watching the meter and listening to the dishwasher, the higher reading corresponded to the water hitting the door as the sprayer turned. You'll notice that the diswasher added 1-2dB more noise when measured in the "C" mode compared to the "A" mode. This is because it was picking up the low frequency sound caused by the water hitting the inside of the washer. That is not something you're aware of because the frequency is so low. My point in all of this, is that you have to be very careful as to which mode is used (A or C), the response setting of the meter (fast or slow) - as that can influence the final reading. Lastly, you always need to start with an ambient reading to establish the noise floor as that affects the overall reading - and it will change depending upon time of day, other appliances being used, people in the room, etc.

I have about a half an inch of space on the left and right side of the dishwasher and a full two inches of clearance above. Our Excella is pretty dead sounding. Ironically, one of the "sound isolation" comments I encountered was yours! :) Mando, I won't deny for a second that my machine went from a not-a-quiet machine to a quiet-machine (although by no means dead silent but perhaps at the ambient noise level of our house such as the fridge) the moment we turned the DW legs to reduce the clearance on the top. However, your own experience aside, nominal performance will beg the nominal installation specs and that there are decent odds that your experience won't transport. For instance, the only reason I thought to close the gap was because someone had posted here asking why their new Miele Optima (if I recall right - it was about a year and a half ago) was being noisy. In the course of trouble-shooting clearances were mentioned, pictures requested and supplied and in addition to some small gaps to the side, the 1" gap at the top was labeled the culprit by the friendly folks here diagnosing the trouble. Well, I thought I'd take a look at my DW clearance on top, noticed that ours was even bigger, closed that and voila my problem was solved. The person who had complained about their DW didn't post back at least while I was tracking their thread so I don't know if that resolved their problem. Regardless, the gap was flagged as a problem installation for the posters' (Miele) dishwasher - so clearly there is a correlation between installation and (acoustic) performance - or at least, there used to be said correlation 1.5 years ago. :-) There are other reasons not to assume too much performance invariance to the manufacturer's installation specs but in the interest of brevity I shan't get into it. So, if that is what you are suggesting in the last post, I'll redouble my objection :-) Finally, I hear you on full loads and I even believe it as I have had sub-whisper quiet runs in my DW when it was very full, but in my case, I guess I have to contend myself with knowing I probably can't get there. As it is, I do a load every 4-6 days. (I often have stuff growing on my dishes by the time I do the load!) The DW is not always full by that 4-6 day mark either but I simply can't bring myself to put off doing dishes beyond that window. Perhaps I'll have to reconcile myself to non-whisper quiet operation when it and I are working although at this point I really don't feel especially put upon because it is so soft.

LED UCL should have more than enough output such that you don't have to have a contiguous layout of bars to achieve the illusion of continuous lighting (at full output). If you don't mind the cost uniLume should be great.

rococogurl, It is obvious that he is here to try to convince people to purchase cheaper units that will break quickly. If he is in fact a repairman, it makes sense, since these units are the ones that will break the most frequently and provide more business for him. His statement gives him away: "So if your Lowes appliance salesman meant "these days" as in these last 4 decades... he is correct. However a 2016 dishwasher will use 1/3 the water, 1/4 the electricity, be about 4-5 times quieter, and will get your dishes cleaner than the 1970's dishwasher." Several posters replied with their very different experiences because they didn't believe him either. I called him out on it because I perceived his posts to be a subtle hijack of the thread to cause me and others to go out and buy cheapo models at Lowes by injecting misinformation, including a link from Consumer Reports--and Consumer Reports is little more than a propaganda site for major brands that are revenue generators for service people. It's a really great gig they have going. A gig that I wanted to avoid contributing to. What I am looking for now is a commercial dishwasher that is commonly used in residential settings as well, similar to the way Speed Queen (which I am very happy with) is a commercial washer that is commonly used in residential, and therefore avoids either some of or all of the energy star requirements.