If you pull the service manuals for the Octoplus machines they are different. The outside basic shell is the same, but what went inside was different. The professional machines have full stainless inner and outer drums. Stainless vs Aluminum spider. The shocks are much beefier. The drum is horizonal and not inclined. There is no captive rubber boot for the door. The last one is why Miele won't sell the octoplus to residential customers. It is possible to get little fingers caught between the door and frame. The upside is that without a boot there are lot fewer problems with water being retained in a boot and you get a better seal. They are setup for external chemical dispensing. Designed to last 30k instead of 10k hours. Etc. Etc. Miele made too many compromises with the 27" residential units. It backfired on them. Now they only offer their worldwide residential 24" and professional 24" and up sizes. There was never a gas version of the octoplus dryer that I was aware of. It was electric only. The electric versions of the T98xx dryer had fewer problems. Most of which were related to the machine being overloaded. The octoplus is rated to hold a full drum worth of clothes. The residential models were not. It was very easy to put 1.5 to two times the amount of clothes in the residential drum vs what they were rated to hold. For marketing and customer education that is really up to the reseller. Some dealers are really good and others just sell you the appliance and you are on your own. Miele's manuals are fantastic. Much better than almost every other manufacturer. Many people do not read the manual cover to cover so they are unaware of all of the available options and any required ongoing maintenance. We are a family of 13 people now and we have ONE set of W1/T1 laundry. We do ALL of our laundry in them. From towels to dress shirts, wool pants and sweaters, sanitize when needed. Never had one problem with them. I did replace the foam filter on the dryer which is in front of the condenser after 3000 hours as it was starting to wear out. (This was mentioned in the manual) I think looking at the size of the new washer/dryer gives a lot of people pause. It is NOT an issue if you are accustomed to doing laundry every day. With the size of our family it is 4-6 loads per day. We can put 12-14 Costco size bath towels in one load for perspective. You can fill the drum all the way up as long as you don't pack it tight and lean on the door to get it closed everything will come out clean. It's too bad you didn't have better luck with your current appliances. I can see how that would taint your view of Miele.

suburbanmd: Normal cycle in Warm wash without heater is warm enough to clean my color cotton real good..... as long as I use those Persil color and don't open the door after the program started... :) And Yes, Normal do a full (high) spin between rinses Exactly like "extra white" does... I've find that in Custom cycle, I can't add as much detergent as I can do in Normal cycle... For some same old stains on cotton, Normal Cycle actually out clean Custom Cycle at the same temperature. ps: I haven't test that with a meter yet.... But I suspect Hot at Normal will get that heater on, as the wash time longer than all other temperatures setting... ostieca: "No because the dealer never stressed this point when asked why I should pay more for the 4840, " Bad dealer! should loss their jobs in this economy.... "and how can somebody say that it's normal that a 2K$ washing machine won't let you rinse only?" Because Miele IS a much better build machine inside out. For the same money, Miele still out done those colorful machine with fancy computer.... W4800 and W4840 use exactly the same main control board, and all other hardware in the machine. The only different between them is the user interface board.... "Even the Miele tech was speachless when asked to explain this. " He SHOULD come back to you place link his laptop to your W4800, and turn on "Maximum Water level" for you. Also ask him to turn off the Bleach dispenser, so you'll get a jet rinse on the first rinse..... Because no one here know to get inside W4800 programmer mode and do that ourselves... "Oh, the car is not designed to handle Quebec's roads." I was in Montreal last summer and see your roads.... ah! west coast is so much easier on cars.... :p Yes, this thing really need and design with concrete floor. Never waste too much time try to balance the load or ask you for help..... They just go ahead to do high speed spin!

I'm very happy with my Miele W4840. It uses the heater to guarantee wash temperature, and it has a good selection of temperatures (30degC through 70degC in 10degC increments). Can't say that about the Kenmore or Samsung. The W4840 probably still needs a sturdy floor (mine is on a very sturdy wooden floor over a basement). As for installation problems in another house, do you foresee a move in the not-too-distant future, or are you just considering all possibilities? If the latter, I wouldn't give up a great washer now because of something that might happen in the future. Anyway, if you want to be able to relocate the washer in the future without any worries about vibration, then Samsung is the only choice, from what I've read.

fahrenheit, It was just replaced this morning. Do you have a webcam inside my house :-) Told you I was afraid that Miele Vision module was going to create privacy issues! The short answer - the gasket replacement was done skillfully and without rush by the local guy. Looks nice and even as expected now. The original gasket must have been poorly molded or something. He originally tried just adjusting the one in place and it wouldn't correct the problem. Kind of wonder what kind of QC Miele has to let somethig like that through. The longer story... The local guy doing it has been doing appliance repair for quite some time, but this was the first W48xx he has worked on. Didn't initally give me a great feeling, but I saw he worked in a very methodical way, never forcing anything and calling for help when he got stuck. He was good about keeping track of all the parts, and after the machine was back together there weren't any extra parts (always a good sign). He did the entire job without moving the machine from it's leveled spot knowing what a PITA it can be getting things just right. The machine didn't come apart quite as easily as you'd think. The top was removed, the bezel of the control panel had to be carefully seperated from the keypad electronic panel and then a tray that hold both in place removed. Door latch removed and interlock between the latch and despensing drawer removed. Then the front comes off. He commented on how nicely built and higher quality everything appeared vs. other products on the market. He wasn't very happy with the telephone support he got from technican Miele support in Princeton. He got the information he needed, but the person was short with him, arrogant and left a distasteful impression in the mind of the local tech. I took pictures of the insides while the machine was partially disassembled. Overall, I was very happy with the service provided by the local repair guy. He does get to go to the various Miele training seminars, but hasn't been to one on this washer yet.