I was in the same situation. I ended up getting the Miele with the exposed controls. My main concern was somebody getting burned by opening a machine during operation. They are so quiet you often cannot tell they are running at all.

MRB

I also got a Miele with front controls to replace my current DW with top controls. Like you I wanted to see cycle time. For the top control DW's the trick is to not open them fully after unlatching. Just give the handle a little tug, wait till you hear the splashing die down and then open. Good choice on the Miele you certainly can't go wrong with any of their offerings. However if you want the integrated look and time remaining indicator, there is a cool Bosch model out now (I think it's the 800+) that projects the time remaining onto the floor. Pretty neat.

I would have gotten the front controls if I'd found them on a DW that worked for me (Miele doesn't agree with my dishes). I compromised on storage a little to make my drawers all line up, and I have the matching trash pullout on the other side of the sink from the DW, but while I like the looks of my cabinets better than the metal fronts, I don't mind if things look like what they are and would have liked the controls on the front better. Mine has a kind of display on the top, so you can just see the clean light, and if you know exactly what's where, you can see what cycle it's on by bending, peering and squinting through the gap between the panel and the counter edge. On the front is far superior.

If your point was to fully integrate so that no one can tell the appliances from the pantry, you wouldn't have asked, so I say go for it!