I have a Bosch SHX55M05UC-SS that I truly enjoy. The plastic food storage containers are not dry when the cycle is finished but that is not a major problem. I have never had to clean a filter,I think it only has one and it is only about 1 1/2" in diameter and pulls out very easily. When the contractor installed it and we ran it through its cycle for the first time he said it was the quietest washer he had ever heard. Cycle takes about 1 1/4 hours depending on load size.

The dishes are so sparkling clean that I have to put on sunglasses when I unload it. That may not be totally true but the dishes are certainly clean and sparkling. We had another Bosch previously but the dishes did not look as good as the ones do from this machine.

I was going to suggest you look at a French Door refrigerator but I see you already have a SxS. After only having the FD for a few weeks I certainly would not consider going back to a SxS.

My last Bosch DW was an integra, 5+ yrs and in that time I cleaned out a couple of twisties and one pumpkin seed and one tea bag thus cleaning the filter is a non issue. It never bothered me not see the controls, I don't care as long as everything came out clean. I did not need to use jet dry. My new one is a 55 not integra, the controls are visible and I don't pay any attention to them. Yes plastic will be damp, I do use jet dry and discovered the internal heater doesn't heat as high as the old one but my dishes/pots etc are clean.

I have a Bosch. It is not stainless, and was around $700-800, so not top-of-the-line. I don't understand the non-heated drying issue??? My contractor when installing it told me I wouldn't like the Bosch because it doesn't have a heated dry, but when the cycle is finished and I go to unload the dishwasher, the dishes are HOT. I have to leave the door open and let them cool a bit.

I wash a LOT of plastic - I have small children that have lots of plastic cups/sports bottles and multiple plastic bins from their bento-style lunch boxes. No, the plastic does not completely dry. I end up putting most of it on a dishtowel on the counter for an hour or so to finish drying.

If my tankless hot water heater is set high (120 degrees)the cycle time is 104 minutes or so. In the summer when we keep the water below 105, cycle times can be up to 120 minutes.

If we go out of town, I do notice a slight musty smell in the dishwasher upon return. I think it may just be the smell of "wet stainless" if that makes sense.

When we first got the d/w I did comment that I thought it didn't hold as much as our old Kennmore. I think the sidewalls are a little thicker to allow better noise insulation. We used to run the d/w every day and now I find I run it 3 times in 2 days. But, now that I think about it, I did get new pots and pans (All-Clad) that I put in the dishwasher. I used to handwash my old Calphalon hard anodized. That's probably where the extra washes are coming from.

The one thing about DWs you should definitely check is whether your dishes will fit in the trays. My old Maytag couldn't hold a dish without it falling over, let alone a cereal bowl.

The filter thing is not a big deal. My parents used to have one like this. I cleaned it every couple of months or whenever I noticed anything in it.

I just have basic round plates and bowls, nothing fancy so I would hope they would pretty much fit anything.

I will probably do some shopping this weekend. I was hoping to get more feedback on Bosch units by now though.

Not sure what feedback you are really looking for but if you do a search you'd have your answers. Or at least people's opinions.

Here are mine on my mid-line Bosch unit: Shx46 or shx56 or something like that (3+ years old now). Washing - par excellence. Drying - like others have said, it does a great job of drying SPOTLESSLY although upturned mugs with concave bottoms might have some liquid left which will need to be mopped up, and sometimes the plastics may be damp. Generally though (90 to 95% of the time), my plastics are entirely dry except for the ridge lines which may trap water. I wash my china as well as the cooking pots and pans in my DW - not always on the same cycle but sometimes. The china/delicate cycle is defintely good for even normal soil but not enough for the pots and pans. I've never actually run a P&P cycle - don't have that many - so a normal cycle is more than suficient to clean our pots. I only run the dishwasher about twice a week and it does an outstanding job (Normal wash) with my 3-4 days old dishes.

Re: disposal. Years ago, someone here said something that I at the time thought was a tautology but it turns out is worth repeating here many times over: a dishwasher is not a food disposal. You shouldn't be putting chunks of food into hte DW. Scrape but do NOT rinse and you'll be fine. If you can't be bothered to toss the scraps before you put the plate in, best stick to something that has the food disposal in it.

Happy shopping.

What I am looking for was in my first post "So with a Bosch and using jetdry or similar, will my plastic items come out dry and spotless? At least 95 % anyway. As mentioned above I know water gets trapped on top of mugs and in the rims of plastic lids and containers which I don't mind shaking off."

I did plenty of searches on this site as well as the internet. From my first paragraph "Like many others I have been searching and searching the internet looking for reviews/comments and whatever I can find." I guess I did forget to mention that I spent several hours on this site reading posts before I posted my own. Yes a lot of owners gave their experience with drying, but it was not consistent. Not everyone stated if they had to prop the door open, use jetdry etc etc. So I wanted to try and get more accurate data. Unfortunately I don't know anyone personally that has one so I can't get any first hand knowledge from a friend. So right now it looks like KA or Kenmore might be the way for me.

I am thinking I will just go to sears since they carry the brands I am looking at. Hopefully if I got say a KA and didn't like it for whatever reasons I could trade it for say the Kenmore or maybe start out and give Bosch a try and if the drying is not to my liking then swap it out. I know I have done this with other appliances at Lowe's, but I am not sure on Sear's policies. I will definitely ask before I make a purchase no matter where it might be.

Thanks

I've had a Kenmore made by Bosch for nearly a year and we love it. Very quiet. Normal cycle does take nearly 2 hours, but the dishes come out clean, hot and dry. Plastics may have a little water on them, but actually less than they did in my old (7 year old) dishwasher. We haven't had to clean the filter yet, but we remove large chunks before washing. Baked on dishes - we put them in really dirty and they come out clean. It tells us when we need to add Jetdry so we do. The water does get trapped on flat bottomed glasses/mugs if they aren't tilted - just like they did on every other dishwasher I've had. I, too, was concerned about the drying but I am pleased. The quick cycle takes roughly a half hour, so it doesn't have the "drying" time that is built into the normal cycle. Dishes come out clean, but a little damper. However, if you let them sit in the dishwasher till you get around to emptying it, they will be dry. If we are in more of a hurry, we will prop the door open. We never prop the door open on the normal (2 hour) cycle. We definitely would buy a Bosch product again.

Data is what you've been getting above before your second post. Homeowners telling you that they use jetdry and their plastics come out damp (eandhl & paddy) to somewhat damp (lightly starched and then me). Effiemyrtle added her level on satisfaction on the dry plastics debate after your post.
To this extent, this is all the data you're going to get in an anonymous, blind, unregulated forum, consequently, I still don't understand what you're hoping to get from your post. There are so many variables that govern drying performance - water conditions, jet-dry setting being just a couple of the variables.

I will tell you that the majority of people who have reported being delighted with their european DWs are that way because they are taken with the fantastic WASHING performance as even quite messy dishes come out excellently clean. The quiet while doing so is the other big appeal. These are the two distinguishing characteristics. You're just not going to find people euphoric about the DWs drying results - we are all generally more than satisfied with that but we are thrilled with how reliably clean the DW turns up.

Allow me to summarize what has been reported on this site on DWs:
Most folks do use jetdry.
Most folks for whom bone dry is a preference purchase domestic DW that does have a heated dry.
Most folks with a bosch/miele/asko dw deal with the water that's left and don't find it too cumbersome.
Some people really hate the dishwashers that they have bought (including the domestics GE, KA, WP etc.).
;-)

My favorite thing about my Bosch SHU66 is the covered heating element - not sure if the KA has that. That means that I can put Tupperware, whatever on the bottom rack with no fear of melting. Plus, I don't know when it's running, it's so quiet! As for drying, we are in the habit of leaving the door ajar so that everything will finish drying - not an issue for us. Our cycle runs about 90 minutes. I know that I should use Jet Dry, but I tend to forget to refill! We do have soft water. And I have never emptied the filter - but my family tends to rinse more than needed (even thought I tell them not to!)

I would buy a Bosch again also. Like very much how it works and the covered heating element and drying process. Plasticware does not get cooked or destroyed.

Watch for grapefruit seeds to wind up in the strainer tub. Cleaning that out is no big deal. To avoid having seeds wind up there, I now just make sure that nothing of that nature winds up going in with the dishes.

Spent a good long time in Sears yesterday talking with a salesman, seemed pretty knowledgable. While looking inside of Bosch, KA and Kenmore, the Bosch did seem a little smaller space wise. I like the outside look and handle the best on KA as fas as matching my other appliances. In the end though, I think I am going to go with the Kenmore Elite 1315. Not much rack wise has changed since the Kenmore I have now. Silver basket is almost the same but now has the divider lids. Layout is the same but now has some fold down tines and the top rack is adjustable. So that being said I would be able to load my items almost exactly as I do today. Rated at 47db, so I think plenty quite.

Still not 100% sure yet though. I am going to watch sales over the next 3-4 weeks and see what happens.

Thanks everyone.

Is this KE1315 one of the new HE models? They have the filter in the bottom like a Bosch but also have a heating element in the bottom for the dry.
I have read that these HE models will only heat the water to 120 degrees for the wash instead of 140 like the older ones, but that the rinse will heat to 140. Did the salesman say anything about any of this?

The 47 decibel should be very quiet!

I have a Ken/Elite that is 6/7 years old also. I have liked it but lately it hasn't washed as well as it used to. Leaving ground up stuff on the dishes. I checked the chopper/screen but that was fine so I don't know unless it is the pump but it all sounds very normal running-just leaving stuff behind.