I have an Asko 5152... which has since been discontinued. In my kitchen remodel I am going again with an Asko. Very happy with my Asko.

I was really hoping for some more help,,,, are there really not that many Asko owners? Or any viking owners on here?

Is Miele really that much better? They all seem to be in the same price range.

Asko market share is tiny in the US.

Asko dishwashers used to be made in Sweeden but now they are made in Slovenia although there are still many Sweedish units in the pipeline. A Slovenian company bought out Asko a few years ago.

If you have hard water like 90% of Americans then Miele is that much better. And the gap is wider when it comes to service. Higher-end Bosch a close second, particularly the made in Germany units.

Other than freestanding refrigerator units and warming drawers Viking is atrocious. They were recently purchased by Middelby and 150 Viking employees including the founder and president Fred Carl retired, got fired, or otherwise no longer with company. I would not buy a major appliance from Viking until the dust settled.

Hmm.. that is not really promising..
Ignoring all price concerns, what is the best panel ready dishwasher? My Wife does not like the utensil rack on the top... says it seems like a pain and a basket works just fine...

The DW seems to be the hardest one to figure out....

Its really not that hard. Look around gardenweb and the only dishwasher that seems to have virtually no complaints is Miele. I don't know why you'd even consider a Viking except for the fact that to those that are uneducated about appliances and are superficial about labels Viking is a fancy good sounding brand.

I can't tell you which Miele to get because I don't know what features you need. If you are just looking to spend as much money as possible and want top of the line then go for the Diamond models. In my opinion they are a bit of a waste of money as the extra features they offer are not worth spending over $2500 on a dishwasher.

I think the better advice to select a dishwasher is to start with the bottom of the line classic model and work your way up the line looking at which dishwashers have the features you want.

Regarding the cutlery rack, you should really give it a try. It does not take all that much effort to load (unless your wife lacks fine motor skills) and its a lot easier to unload. Despite that, I believe you can order a cutlery basket from miele to put in the dishwasher if you really want one.

I have an ASKO D3531XL and love it. It's 6 years old and has never had an issue. I really like the versatility of the racks. A relative has a high end Bosch and the racks just don't compare to the ASKO.

I've had 2 Asko dishwashers in two different homes and I loved them. I had to replace one of them after about 14 years. Getting parts and repairs was difficult in our rural area. I called my repairman (who does not sell appliances) and asked him which dishwasher was the best. Kitchenaid was his response. I bought the top of the line Kitchenaid. I have hated this dishwasher from the get go. Quiet, yes. Everything else, no. Going back to Asko.

We love Askos. I would never EVER get a Viking over an Asko--aren't Viking appliances known to be temperamental and in need of frequent repairs? We never had the slightest problem with the Asko 5233 we had in our old house, and when we get around to replacing the DW in our new house the absolute only brands on our shortlist are Asko, Miele and maybe a high-end Bosch, in that order.

This may be considered blasphemous on this forum, haha, but I would only buy a Miele over an Asko if it cost the same or almost the same (which is possible because I'm a big fan of scratch and dent/floor models) AND had specific features I want that were not available on an Asko at the same price point (e.g., a half load option or whatever). That being said, we live in a major metro area with no shortage of good repair people, and my DH is an engineer, so "how to fix it" is not a concern for us.

And PS, about my Miele vs. Asko comment, we have Miele laundry machines (10 yrs old and obtained on Craigslist for, get this, $300 for the pair!!!! What a score). They're fantastic and we're completely sold on Miele's overall awesomeness. But our Asko DW was great, served us well for 5 years without the slightest problem, so I wouldn't go for a Miele unless it were around the same price, and even then I probably wouldn't go for it unless it also had one or more features not available on the Asko at that price.

We are about to build a new house so this forum is of interest to me. We owned an Asko for about four years and it was great. The above posting about Asko being sold and made in Slovenia is a concern. A few salesmen have said that owners of multiple Askos say the newer ones are good but not as good as the older ones.
When we bought the Asko in 2001 we were told that Asko makes Viking DW's. Don't know if that is stilll true.
Our most recent DW was a Miele, lower end model. It worked great. The top utensil rack was the best feature.
One annoying thing was that you had to open the door at the end of the cycle to let the steam out in order for the dishes to dry. I understand this may have changed.

Have an upper end Thermador (Bosch). Like: Cleans well, quiet, reliable so far (one year), 3rd drawer for cutlery, ability to deal with hard water . Don't like: layout and positioning of tines. It just doesn't seem to fit stuff as easily as it should.

Hi, I installed the ASKO D1996FI - front panel ready in my kitchen remodel in 2004. Love it - best cleaning dishwasher I have used. All my large pots and bowls fit well. Now 9 years later it is time to replace and I am only looking at ASKO. My husband has a nice Bosch at work and hates it - lots of repairs. I had only one repair on the ASKO, the plastic liner over the touchpad wore out. The drying is complete if you press the heated dry option, especially if you use the heated water setting. Often I open the door also to let extra steam out briefly to quicken dry time. Mainly love that the rinsing is not required prior to wash, just scrape and load and they come out great! Just deciding which model to go with now. Some sales on the 5233 as it is discontinued. The front panel being wood has been so easy to keep clean and looking good.

Two comments about Asko DWs -

1) the 3-rack models have the best arrangement of currently-available 3-rack machines - the shallow rack is in the center, not the top, and is taller than any current competitor, tall enough to hold cups or short glasses, as well as a flat silverware basket. Some models have a small 4th rack too that's only about 1/3 width and holds knifes, spatulas, and such and nestles below the top of the tub.

2) the move to Slovenia is because they were bought out by Gorenje which is based there. Gorenje has a decent rep - Bosch outsourced their dryers to Gorenje a few years back and rebranded them with their own name. They also built the inexpensive Danby washer that HD sold several years ago that got good reviews.

I don't care for their lower-end 2-rack machines, which haven't changed much over the years and have less space than than the competition.