Product review (3 stars): Thought I would love it but I don't
Miele dishwashers have a cult like following on the web. I did weeks of research on all types of mid- to high-priced units, reading Consumer Reports, garden web, appliance sites, Amazon, blogs, etc. Again and again, owners of Miele dishwashers raved about how wonderful the machines were, one reviewer even got indignant when someone else gave a dishwasher what he thought was an unfair rating based on customer care from a non-Miele service person. But Miele dishwashers are incredibly expensive, and more then I wanted to spend.

But given the strong reviews, German engineering (all parts are made by Miele, nothing Made in China in there) and a general belief that it makes more sense to pay more for a machine that will last twice as long (claim a 20-year life expectancy) we bit the bullet and paid almost $2,000 to purchase one ($1,700 for the unit, another few hundred for delivery, installation and removal of old unit). I was okay with spending this amount of money if this was going to be the phenomenal dishwashing experience that everyone raved about.

So far, it is not.

We have had the unit for 5 weeks, and thus far, it has been more of a headache then anything else. First, the folks who installed the unit (an official distributor of their products by the way) didn't connect the hoses up right. We ran it a few times and the dishes came out with food still on them and the unit kept shifting around. Not what I expected to see. Then we noticed that the dishwasher was leaking through the kitchen floor into the basement. We immediately called, and they sent someone out to fix the unit.  First strike against them (an official distributor and installer is part of the company in my book since there are no Miele stores to go pick one up in).

Dishwasher was working pretty well, although if we filled it up with dishes there are some that just don't get clean even though we followed the instructions for loading it correctly. Husband was not happy about this but having to rewash a dish or two didn't seem like a big deal to me. Until I remembered I just paid almost $2,000 for a new unit.

Then three days ago, we opened the dishwasher and the middle spray arm (there are three spray arms) had fallen off and was lying in the dishwasher. Dishes were not clean. We unloaded it, attempted to put the arm back on (seemed simple enough) but it kept sagging down. Did a quick internet search and found that others had this problem. There is a bolt that joins it to the middle rack that needs to be reattached as well. Except there is no bolt. I checked all through the dishwasher, took apart where the food particles go, looked everywhere but the bolt is gone. Person online said that same thing, he couldn't find a lost bolt either.

We got in touch with the company yesterday who said they would have their repair person call us this morning between 9:30-10am which they didn't. My husband, who has been washing dishes now for a few days, called them back and finally reached someone who sent a repair person to our house later in the day. He told us we needed the bolt to reattach it, but he doesn't have it in stock. He said they can get a replacement one next week (???!!!). He suggested we buy a stainless steel wire tie and tie the arm to the basket above so at least we can use it although it wouldn't work as well as it should. We did that, but haven't tried to run it yet.

The repair person said he has seen this problem several times in Miele dishwashers so it is not just that we got a lemon. Makes me wonder why he doesn't have several in stock then. Miele has agreed to replace the whole middle arm sprayer unit, hope to get that done by next week (didn't tell us if next week means Monday or Friday).

Problems aside, I do like the dishwasher when it is working. The cutlery basket on top is nice although we are still having some utensils not getting clean. Can put a lot of plates into the unit, but can't fit as many bowls. Several different parts of the dishwasher can be lowered or raised which makes it a very flexible unit. It is very quiet when running. The cycle takes about 2 1/2 hours to run, but I think that is because it is energy efficient and uses less water. There is turbo setting if you need to have it done quicker.

So bottom line is that once we see how it runs with the replacement middle arm sprayer, we will decide whether or not to keep it. My husband wants to return it immediately, but I want to believe the reviewers who love this machine with such fervor. Unless they are all on the payroll of Miele. Does make you wonder.