I have some vintage and some newer fiestaware dinner plates. I have a couple year old Maytag and they fit fine. I wouldn't be able to get any more of any other plate in there. Meaning, I don't have to skip tines or anything.

My everyday dishes are Fiestaware. I have Paykel & Fisher dish drawers and the plates & bowls fit within the tines, nest closely but too close to clean. I realize the dish drawers are not popular with most, but I love mine.

My sis has a Bosch and they fit pretty well. It's really the disc shaped bowls that are a little clunky. Mine is an actual KA, and absolutely everything fits -the deviled egg plates, the platters, even the serving bowls. But then I love my dw so much I refuse to replace it. In the future dishes will be washed in a Jetsons-like virtual sanitizer and I will still have this dw. I'm never giving it up.

Keep in mind that American dishwashers are just bigger overall (deeper, I think), so whatever you're trying to fit, you just have more room to do it. That said, buy the dw you want. You'll adapt by running it more often, or changing the way you stack your bowls. Good luck!

My dishwasher is a moderately-priced Fridgidare, and your concern is valid:

- The plates fit just fine.
- The bowls -- incidentally, I have those same bowls that EAMM44 shows -- have to be placed in every other space. Otherwise, the water can't get in /they don't get cleaned. Yes, this means that I am able to fit in fewer dishes per load.

There is a way to re-face the DW. You can panel it even if it's not panel ready, by using wood veneer and painting or staining it to match your cabs; you can also use a stainless veneer. I did the wood veneer in my beach cottage before I sold the place. It was very cute.

This post was edited by EAM44 on Mon, Dec 15, 14 at 0:08

We have Fiestaware, as well as the Homer Laughlin diner dishes which are equally as thick. Fit fine in our Kitchenaid, one reason I chose it over the Bosch.

Hi lisa_a,

When you put a bunch of plates in the Bosch, was the problem that all the plates were too close together or was the problem that the spacing appeared to vary too much? I have thick plates and a Bosch dishwasher and in my case the problem was the latter (spacing varied), not inadequate spacing perse. And it took me a couple weeks to figure it out, but the root cause is that my plates aren't flat, so the "lean" of the plates varies with plate rotation, and the solution is to simply rotate the plates in place (0-90 degrees) as needed to achieve even spacing. It really is super easy & convient and I definitely wouldn't opt for a lower capacity dishwasher to avoid this simple dishwasher loading adjustment.

good luck!
Gordon

I have a mid-range KitchenAid that was probably $800-$900 a few years ago, and Fiestaware.

Plates fit in tines right next to each other. The plates are heavy, and the rack pieces holding the tines are noticeably distorted when I have more than 4 or 5 in the rack. The supports do come back to their normal shape when I remove the plates. Dinner plates usually only go in the back row of the bottom rack, as putting them in the front row leads to the plates rolling around when I push in the bottom rack. You could fit in two rows of dinner plates if you were careful, or just load them in, close it once, and run the dishwasher.

The 19 oz medium bowls have to go every other tine on the bottom and top rack, as posted above.

When I load this way, everything comes out clean. I've had the experience of four dishwashers in 8 years (some of those were rentals!), and all have required a "learning" curve on dishwasher -Tetris to figure out how to fit the most in, and still have it clean.

Thanks, MrsPete. I forgot to add that we need to leave every 4th tine empty for bowls. If I try to load more than 3 in a row, the 4th bowl sits higher and doesn't come clean. But that's still much better than leaving every other tine empty. (btw, I have the same bowls as you and EAM44).

Thanks for the suggestions, EAM44, but I don't think I can make them work. The DW has a curved door plus a white control panel with a plastic handle (that is still fairly white but not as white as it once was).

Thanks, ctycdm! I knew I wouldn't be the only one who faced this issue.

I don't know if that was the case, GauchoGordo1993. All I did was try to load the dishes in each tine and see how they fit. The plates looked like there were nearly touching in either the Bosch or Miele and the bowls had to go every other tine. Even if the plate problem could be fixed by rotating the plates, that would *never* happen in this house. But thanks for sharing your experience and advice!

Thanks, julieboulangerie. I looked at the new KAs and Kenmores and the interior lay-out looks to be nearly the same as my old Kenmore/KA. I remember we had a learning curve when we bought this one. I should just buy another Kenmore/KA and be done with it.

My folks had an Asko. It was 20 yrs old and still working when I replaced it prior to listing their house for sale (it was white, we replaced the dead oven with a SS move, as recommended by the realtor). It cleaned well, was quiet but despite the fact that my parents' dishes were thinner than my Fiestaware, it didn't load well either. Are European plates really that much different in scale?