I'm on city water, but will say that the newer Miele tabs are also phosphate free, where the older ones that I got last year did contain phosphates. Both of theme cleaned equally well for me, but my issues was that the newer Miele tabs were creating a lot of suds in my Diamante unit, even though I was only using half a tab. It even cause the unit to trip the over-flow circuit, and I had to wait a few days before it started working again (Miele came out and checked the unit to make sure it was OK, I did show them the pics I had taken from the suds in the bottom of the unit from the Miele tabs). Since then I've been using the Method Smarty tabs from Target, which are phosphate free. I have tried a full tab and a half-tab, and don't get any suds from those, and still clean as good as the Miele tabs. See if you can get Miele to send you a couple tabs and a bottle of their dishwasher cleaner. I've used it twice before (ever 6 months) and it's supposed to clean out the entire washing system, hoses, pumps, spray arms, gasket seals, and the stainless interior. I just peal the cover off the bottle top, turn it upside down and place it in the middle rack so it won't fall over. Then place the unit on a Pots/Pans wash, and the hot water melts the wax seal on the bottle to dispense the cleaning agent into the unit while its running. After cleaning it, try the Miele tabs, but like I said, those are phosphate free, so there's no way to guess how those will work for you since you're on well water. You might also want to give the Method Smarty tabs a try too. Even though you're well water is treated at the house, are you also using the internal water softener in the Miele dishwasher? If not, you should, as some people have said it does help, even though they have a whole-home water softener/filter.

I suspect we have to win the award for irrational exuberance when it comes to number of dishwashers...we have FOUR. And there's only DW and me in the house! We have two Mieles in the kitchen, one F&P D/W drawer upstairs in the game room bar and one 18" Miele in the outdoor lanai. We use the two in the kitchen regularly but the other two get used only when we entertain or have house guests. Here are several points for you to consider: 1. The 18" Miele has 18" rotors...but a 24" depth. Consequently, it has trouble cleaning deep items (like tall glasses) if they're loaded in the front or back. If you're like most folks who thoroughly wash their dishes before putting them in the D/W (nutty, but true!), that may not create a problem. But it does cut down your loading flexibility. 2. We have a 15" trash compactor between our sink and one D/W and an 18" cabinet between the sink and the other D/W. We've never found it to be inconvenient but maybe that's because we don't rinse our dishes (only scrape) before loading (i.e., don't have to drag drippy dishes across those distances). 3. We have two different Incognito Miele models in the kitchen. The only difference I can see in the two is that the bottom racks are different but neither seems to have an advantage over the other. We rotate between the two so they both have the same "mileage". 4. DW washes all our non-stick pots by hand, per the manufacturer's recommendation. But casserole dishes, etc. will typically get clean in the D/W...IF you load it correctly. Because the kitchen is so central to our entertaining style, it's great to be able to get all of the dishes off the counter quickly, something that's near impossible with a single dishwasher. Bob

The code has changed since your remodel and it would have been a simple addition to the elec. permit, if your service had the additional capacity. The plumbing connections are strait-forward, however, a built-in appliance will require the loss of 24" or 18" base cabinet and a dedicated circuit. However, a freestanding portable appliance , requires only a faucet attachment.

We haven’t painted the walls or the back door yet. We just left the old color up to live in it for awhile, and get a feel for things. I appreciate your color comments. I am thinking painting the back door a mid to dark grey or a blue maybe and the walls a bit lighter then they currently are. Maybe a light beige with hints of grey?? I don’t want the color to be too cool, that white kitchen needs some warmth, and I am going to paint my entire main floor the same color, so it needs to work in each room.