The killer is I sold the Asko to get the Duet, and I feel like I have totally wasted my money on it. Good thing I had the extended warranty because it has needed bearings and a new motor in the 4.5 years I've had it. Now I wonder if its mother board is going. Incredible. I don't expect that on these things, they are not cheap. And I bought a machine with an internal heater so as to be sure to get the water to the right temperature. Clothes, to me, are supposed to smell like cloth and not detergent. They are not supposed to have 'soapy streaks' on them after you only use 1-2 tablespoons of powder in the wash. I have moderately hard water so the powder SHOULD dissolve - it does in my (Bosch) dishwasher, though that is a different formula of course. And forget about using (Canadian bought because you can't buy them in the US anymore) soap flakes -- they do not wash out AT ALL in the Duets. Couple this with having to replace my Whirlpool dishwasher because its motherboard fried itself in 4.5 years I don't think I want to buy another Whirlpool. I hope my (Whirlpool made) Kitchenaid stove lasts! (LOL). It was my second Whirlpool dishwasher; the one in my last house worked really, really well. I'm not going to every buy another Whirlpool if I can manage it. I'm just done with them.

As someone who currently has an OTR and *IS* 5+ years down the road from when we put it in with small kids that didn't use it at the time, I can say that it WILL become an issue when they're older. My son is now 10 and he does use it and it's a huge pain in the rear. Not only is he perfectly capable of using it but he has to lift anything WAY up and over the stove to put it in and then reach UP to push the buttons. I'm always nervous he'll spill whatever he's heating and then I'll have a huge mess on the stove. And if I'm cooking on the stove, he's not allowed to use it at all, which makes him feel "little". My six year old has no issues yet. But if the microwave was lower, I guarantee, she'd be perfectly able to heat some things by herself now, which would be very convenient for me! LOL! The door gets in the way if one of us is cooking and the other needs to access it. The venting is nonexistent. I hate hate hate that we can still smell a hearty meal in the house the next day. I'd NEVER put one in another kitchen unless I absolutely had to. IMO, your kitchen has plenty of room to have the microwave elsewhere, so that's my vote. In our build, we're putting a microwave drawer in our island. It's more convenient for everyone and out of the main view as well.

Armjim, I have three Mieles that accept laundry loads from 5kg to 6.5kg, similar to the current W3038. The W1 and T1 are larger than my current machine. I wash on a weekly basis three king sized sheets with pillow cases in my unit. My king sized flat sheets are 110"x120" on average (I don't use fitted sheets). These are mainly cotton sheets. I wash my linen sheets separately but I put two in the machine at one time and there is tons of room to spare. Spinning at 1200rpms has never been a problem. My older machines go up to 1400rpms. For towels, I wash my large towels in my machines. I usually have two body sheets which are 900gsm turkish cotton and they are 36"x72" wide and about 25 face towels in one load. I wash my kitchen towels separately from body towels. I have never had an issue with the machine not balancing or not cleaning my clothes. There is still space left in the towel load but each family member does their own load of towels in their time. I use two towels a week and wash them in this frequency. Some others in the household wash weekly and stuff the machines to the gills. I have washed 9 pairs of denim jeans in one load with no problem. I wash weekly and sort by function and color. Because of this, my normal weekly loads are smaller. I don't use bath rugs but do you a towel based bath mat and these are washed with the towels or separately depending on me remembering to grab them from the bathroom when I sweep for dirty items. I don't use comforters but use Duvets and Duvet covers instead. The Duvet covers are in sent to the cleaners twice a year because they are down and it is not easy to clean them correctly at home. I wash my duvet covers every week like a load of sheets. They act like two sheets in the washer. I also used cotton blankets and wash king sized cotton blankets in the washer on a monthly basis. Good luck!

@DAN1888 I totally agree with you. It is shocking really to spend that much money for something they only guarantee for one year. Also the warranties are not that good for the first year. Whirlpool will not fix my six month old rusting fridge. I would have had to have caught the small rust spots withing the first 30 days to get them to replace it or take it back. But I wouldn't want another one since I would be dealing with the same problem soon there after. I had no idea Whirlpool owned those as brands as well. So basically Whirlpool bought out a huge chunk of their competitors and have set an all time low standard for this sector. I know the top guy at Whirlpool just stepped down in October. My last fridge was a Kenmore and now that brand is no longer what it used to be. Before the Lowes and Home Depot Sears appliances were very popular and they tended to last a long time. Didn't Amazon buy up Kenmore or you can buy them on Amazon? Not sure if that new method of selling will improve the brand. Thank you for posting : )