I just went through this. I had an Asko for 13 years, was definitely happy enough with it to get another. So quiet! So when it did eventually die I was going to get another one but the prices have jumped quite a bit. The next best are Miele and Bosch, I ended up with a Bosch that was on a super sale. I’m pretty happy with it over all.
The Asko as mentioned was very quiet, the one I had before it sounded like a freight train so that was important. Over the years the eco clean setting wasn’t as good (food left on)so we switched settings to the regular cycle and that was ok. About a year ago we kept intermittently getting an error which was from the water pump sensor so it wouldn’t finish the wash. My neighbour had the same one (the reason I got it in the first place) and her front panel had gone so she gave it to me for parts. I never did end up fixing it and we just limped along until about a month ago and I said fuck it and got a new one. One thing I really liked about it was the layout inside for my dishes. One thing I hated was the sharp metal around the outside front trim. When we went to install it, it gouged the wood cabinet.
The Bosch is nice, almost as quiet and doesn’t use much water. The model we got is made in Germany too. I’m not such a fan of the layout inside but that’s probably because I’m just not used to it yet. It’s got the top utensil rack which I like. The next rack down you can adjust the height which I haven’t had a reason to use but I can see being handy over the holidays. Definitely loving having clean dishes again! It does have internet connectivity but as long as you don’t download the app it will never connect. I also didn’t want that but it’s hard to find one without now.
Yup. Our wine glasses are stemless (I knock them over) and my husband doesn’t like his baking sheets in the dishwasher so as of yet we haven’t had a reason to use it. That being said, I know I will at some point!