Sorry to hear about the KA issues. I was concerned as well when I got a KUDE70FVSS model in February 2010. The vent is located on the left side of the top edge of the door, next to the controls. It is not on the side of the door. KA's are deep and most will not fit flush under normal depth cabinets I hear. We have about a 1 1/4 inch granite countertop overhang which happens to be about the thickness of the door. So in our case we pushed the DW back until the door was lined up with the cabinet fronts but the door is completely underneath the granite countertop. It actually looks pretty good. (Our old WP was flush mounted with cabinet matching panels installed) We put the moisture strip supplied by KA on the bottom of the granite, for no good reason but figured why not. There is a small strip of cabinet under the granite that forms the top of the cabinet opening for the DW that is, of course, wood. If I put the moisture strip on it, it showed since the strip is a shiny material, so I left it off. I kept an eye on it for months to see what happened and I have never seen any moisture or noticed any steam coming from the vents at all, regardless of the time of day we run the DW. The wood under the granite and all around the DW looks fine and has never shown any sign of getting wet. Not sure what system they are using in this model but apparently it does not suffer from the same problems as the side vent models.

Most or all miele dealers carry no inventory ! So, being saddled with a non seller isn't really plausible. Mom , it's very surprising that your DISHES weren't dry if you used rinse aid. Things like tupperware lids, sippycup tops, and other plastic items with channels that collect water and have no mass - yes. But those things are often wet out of heated dry makes too. My MIL had a GE with a huge element in the bottom and all the grandkid's stuff was wet after a cycle in that too. Yes, Bosch has cheaper models, but feature for feature (which is hard to align) they are pretty much the same price. Now, factor in that Miele makes all of their units in Germany with astronomical wage scales, ships them here, and pays duty on them, makes me wonder if the Bosch stuff made in rural NC is a tad over priced in comparison ? Still fine machines - and yes, I have a couple of them as well as Mieles.

Like Heather, I, too, was surprised to find smaller price differentials between the two brands. I happened to be shopping for a replacement DW a couple of months ago. This was just as Bosch and Miele were releasing their updated model lines. I mention this because (at least, in my area), there have been deals offered on warehouse stock and floor models which may be worth considering, particularly if you are interested in a Miele. For your question about potential differences in the quality of the interiors of the two brands' models, I would say that Bosch models I saw all had nylon racks and parts much as the Miele models did. Miele's racks are designed to provide loading flexibility with few movable tines, etc. The new Bosch models' racks seemed to be a bit lighter in construction and seemed to have even more moving parts than they used to have. Because of that, I second homepro's recommendation to take some of your dishes and etc. down to a showroom (or showrooms). See how your things fit and whether you like or dislike the loading patterns for the models you are considering. Like 3katz4m3, I found I slightly preferred the Bosch models' layout. But that is very much personal preference so YMMV. You mentioned that your 8 y.o Bosch had developed leaks and asked if the latest Bosch models are more durable than your old one. That seems hard to judge. My original bottom-of-the-line Bosch DW lasted from the 1990s to 2011 with the only work being replacement of a worn latching release spring for the detergent dispenser. I bought a new DW when the control panel burned out and replacements were no longer available. The new DW was a Bosch 500 series model. It developed cracks in the plastic pump and sump housings this March just after the five year warranty ran out. The parts assemblies seemed very expensive and the replacement process seemed (to me) onerous enough to make me look at a new DW. I can say that, to my eye when shopping back in March, the new Bosch models did look better to work on than the ones from five to eight years ago. Whether that makes them more durable is hard to say. Miele DWs have a longstanding reputation for being built like tanks and there is the company's vaunted mantra of "designed for a 20 year useful life" or "7500 cycles." That is an admirable yet aspirational expectation; Miele's extended warranty is only five years. (Canadians can sometimes get 10 year extended warranties from Miele.) Some posters here have had Miele dishwashers last for a long time, but some have not. An additional consideration from previous threads on Miele DWs is that you probably will not need service, but if you do need service, you want to be sure that Miele factory service is readily available where you live as opposed to dealer coverage which may not be as good. One small thing of possible note: if you want a smudge resistant stainless steel finish on the exterior, Miele DWs had it and the Bosch ones did not, at least when I was shopping in March. On cleaning performance, I cannot speak directly to the abilities of the current Benchmark and 800 series because I bought one of the new 300 series models. What I can say is that the new 3-rack 300 series model takes about 15% longer to run a full cycle than its 500-series predecessor did, but does an excellent job. One difference between the machines is what Bosch calls a "Clean 30" cycle. So far, for me, the new DW's "Clean 30" cycle (which I now use frequently) has worked as well as the standard long cycles on its predecessor. ETA: Although the cycle is called "Clean 30," the timer display always shows it taking 38 to 40 minutes on my unit. I suspect you would see the same with the new Benchmark and 800 series models. As best I could tell when shopping, the higher level Bosch models offered those and additional cycle choices, additional rack flexibility, and, as Heather noted, there were a couple of the more expensive models that also offer built-in water softeners. Before starting out on my shopping trip, I had read some older posts here saying that Miele offered an automatic water softening system. Don't know if they still do that but the Miele model I saw when shopping (a "Crystal") required testing water hardness and programming the water softener much as the Bosch ones do. If memory serves, the price of that Miele was less than the Bosch Benchmark with the water softener (at least on that day). It also offered the end-of-cycle auto-door-opening feature which enhances final drying. I passed on it mainly because the cost was over my planned budget and our town's water is not all that hard. And a final FWIW : even the new Bosch 300 series models are rated at 44 dBA for quietness. Some of the Benchmark models are even less. The low-to mid range Miele models that I looked at were rated at 46 dBA as was my previous Bosch 500 model. The 2 dBA difference seems negligible to me.

Old thread I know, but I did want to sadly, amend my above statement about my Whirlpool dw in case anyone is digging through old threads to decide which brand dw to buy. I did love my Whirlpool dw more than a person should love a dw, but now it is ready for the heap. It was the best dw I ever had and everything always did come out sparkling clean each cycle. But in the last year, I've had 4 or 5 (I've lost count) significant repairs, including a new motor a few months ago. It's current death knell is the new motor is dead. I am done having to wait weeks on end for the repair tech to come out, decide the problem, order the part, then wait weeks longer to make it onto his schedule to replace parts. The machine has been out of service as much as it was in service for a year now. Yesterday was my 5 year anniversary of taking delivery of the Whirlpool dw and here I am awaiting delivery of a Bosch dw, that I hope will have a better track record over time. I guess what I am saying is, I hope to get at least 5 trouble-free years out of the new dw. I'm disappointed as I loved this dw and I sorely miss it--been without it's service for nearly a month again. But, now I don't trust that repairs will last any length of time and if a new motor only has a few month life span, I'm not getting back on board with Whirlpool :-( I have no way of knowing if Whirlpool replacement parts are crud or if the repair tech being sent out by the warranty company is the dud. I'll never know at this point. I found this thread because delivery of new Bosch dw has been delayed another week and I wanted to use this grumpy time to do more research to make sure I didn't get myself into another unpleasant situation--this thread showed up on the search results. I'm sorry to report this news, but this thread has been a concern of mine for a year now since all the major problems started happening with my Whirlpool dw and didn't know where it could possibly be in the website here. I'm glad it showed up for my recent search so I could amend my statement. I'm sorry if my above comments led anyone to a troublesome path. Very much so.