Jerrod said:
"My everyday dishes are Fiestaware along with another thick brand and I don't have any trouble fitting it in my Euro model. "
Alex said:
"Wait! So you're saying that the grinder does not even catch stuff like spaghetti? Is this particular to one brand of dishwashers or do all modern units with grinders leave things like peas etc. in the bottom? Ditto on thick plates in Euro dishwashers: I usually load them in the front row because the tines are spaced further apart."
I'm not saying that no Euro-style dws fit Fiestaware. I'm saying that racks vary and one should definitely be aware of that fact when shopping; I'm also saying that racks vary for the same manufacture from the TOL models to the BOL models and also from year to year. If someone has a $500 budget and that model Miele happens to have a rack with closely spaced tines that don't fit Fiestaware, your options are more limited and may push you towards an American model. For example, I know of at least one example of a person who owned a Bosch and 9 years later intended to buy another one and didn't because the racks had changed enough that their dishes wouldn't fit well, so they got another brand. The TOL Miele will pretty much fit more than any other dishwasher, and with very few exceptions.
As for extreme examples, I usually stop paying attention when people bring up stuff like oven racks. Yes, it'd be great if they also fit, but I'd probably pick a machine that can fit more dishes, clean better and be quieter over a loud, energy waster that can't fit as many regular dishes, primarily because I don't wash my oven racks that often, but also because usually oven racks don't tend to fare well in dws anyway, so if I'm gonna need to handwash, I'll just do that once. That doesn't mean my opinion should affect anyone else's life, if they think the opposite, it's a free country, the other models are legal and for sale, I'd say go for it, I won't think any better or worse of someone because of the appliances they choose -- live and let live is what I say.
Alex, as for the disposers. Yes, they'll get rid of pasta. But you see, first the pasta will have to get thru the grates that protect the pump/disposer module from hazardous things like twist ties, glass shards, screws etc. Some grates are tighter than others and manufacturers change the design from time to time -- too small a grate and people complain about food they now need to clean by hand, too coarse a grate and people complain of broken pump modules, one just can't win really. The link shows a picture of an older (probably 20 years ago) GE machine, the picture of the Maytag above doesn't really show how large the grate is (it's the round gray structure in the sump). Things like long strands of spaghetti and ziti are unlike to pass thru, but the truth is that those should have been scraped off the dishes before loading anyway. To make things more confusing, ten years ago or so Frigidaire used to sell a model that for all intents and purposes had a filter very similar to the Euro-style machines, but it was advertised as selfcleaning and Consumer Reports listed it as such. I think each manufacturer spins things in the best possible light for them.
As a friend from the Netherlands who lived here for 15 years used to say, one can buy the exact same cosmetic here and in Europe, but in America the ads will proudly say "Ancient European beauty secrets" and in Europe they'll say "Advanced American technology". Let the buyer beware. ;-)
And I love the go anywhere bins like in my SMEG!
