I replaced my 15 yr old kitchenaid DW with Bosch silence plus 44. It has a third rack for utensils which frees up a lot of space in the racks below. Super quiet. Can't even tell if it is running. Cleans and dries well. Has many different wash options (express= 30 mins, half load= uses less water, etc). Bought it at Lowes for about $850 with free install and delivery. Very happy with the purchase.

Morz8 the handle does protrude all of my kitchen aid appliances have that handle, I actually love it and the little shot gun shell badges on the ends but I sure understand your point. But kitchen aid does have a line that has a sloped handle that only protrudes at the center and one that has no handle at all. I looked at all of them when I bought mine. I specifically wanted the ones with the bar handles. I imagine I may bump a hip a few times on it and the same one on my KA stove. I don't have the KA fridge but I have been looking at it. My GE profile survived the flood, after a $500 replacement part, and is working fine, but I am considering moving it to the sunroom and getting the KA fridge I have been lusting over lol.

I will second the recommendation from oneandonlybobjones to look at the Bosch 300 series. Bosch refreshed its line-up earlier this year and the new 800 and 300 series were just reaching stores in our area when I was DW shopping last month. The model I bought (from Lowe's) was the SHE863WF but the differences within the 300 are pretty much only differences in door and control configurations and whether you want to panel your DW. I discussed that purchase in this thread from last month, if you have not already seen it. To sum up -- excellent cleaning, more capacity than previous Bosch models I've owned, and more configuration flexibility. The new model tends to take about two hours for a full load whichis not uncommon for any make these days (and some of them take a lot longer.) The Bosch 300 series does a good job on the 30-minute clean cycle, too, if you are in a hurry, but does not dry well on the short cycle. (For me, that problm is usually solved by propping the door open for about ten minutes after the cycle finishes and then most things are dry enough to put away.) FWIW, I bought my first Bosch DWs in 1998. I've never missed having a grinder nor have I missed having an exposed drying element in the bottom of my DW. I have never run into the problems that some folks have such as not drying well (which sometimes seems related to non-use of rinse-aids) nor bad smells and/or gunk on the filters (which mostly seemed related to the particular water supply and the chosen detergent -- switching detergent seems to fix many but not all) such problems.) Tine positioning and spacing has never been a problem for me but it can be for some folks' dishes and kitchenware. Always a good idea to take some of your pots and dishes to a showroom and see how various DW's layouts work or do not work for you.

Thank you, everyone. I purchased the Bosch SHXM4AY5N last night at Lowes. My decision was based on it's appearance and noise level. It's 48dba is a little higher than I wanted, but the salesman said the difference between the 48 and 42 (the other machine I considered) was so inconsequential. I also preferred its handle even though I'll now have mismatched handles in the kitchen. Another thing I liked was that it's fingerprint resistant (but not sure the stainless steel is a shade different [worried there] and that it has InfoLight shine on the floor so you know it's actually running. Lastly, the price was very reasonable - $540 for the dishwasher, with the add-ons (hose, kit, power cord, installation) a total of $919.58. You were all so very helpful in making this an easy decision. Thank you again.