I find that I can actually fit way more in the Euro machines than I could in the domestic machines. Like anything, it may take a few weeks for someone used to the Euro machines to be able to actually *stuff* an American machine efficiently and vice-versa.
Having used both kinds, I can tell you that if you have thin, Euro-standard dishes (some of the Corelle qualifies), there are more tines in the Euro machines, you can frequently fit a full service for 14-16 people, while American machines can often barely do service for 12, but you can easily fit Fiestaware dishes, which are hard to put anywhere or need 2-3 consecutive spaces in an Euro machine (particularly the bowls).
The filter is really a red-herring -- not only it's mostly self-cleaning, but it's actually easier to clean than the grates of the American machines with built-in disposers, you just take the filter out and rinse it instead of picking stuff up from the grates one by one. Also, when you rinse the filter, you use typically less than a gallon of *cold* water once every 30 cycles or so, sometimes as infrequently as twice a year. That saves an enormous amount of energy compared to machines that used over 6 gallons of hot water per cycle, not to mention it takes only 30 seconds or so as opposed to 2-5 minutes to clean the grates that protect the disposers/pumps from twist ties, screws, pieces of glass but also pasta, small pieces of hotdogs, ground beef etc in the American machines.
When friends ask me to help them choose a new dishwasher, they come to me with "what should I buy?" types of questions, they want to know brand and model. I never answer them in those terms. We pick a day they are free for at least a couple of hours, I pick them up at home and I make them pick 3 of each dish type (3 cereal bowls, 3 plates, 3 dinner plates, glasses, stemware etc), the dishes they use the most often that have weird sizes/shapes and sometimes silverware if it looks weirdly shaped/sized. We bring those to a store and try the machines with actual dishes. I can't tell you how many times people were all set to buy a specific model/brand and came up with something else because they did not feel like discarding old dishes and buying stuff that would fit the new machine. I also had at least a handful of people that came up with an Euro machine (usually Bosch) thank me later because they felt it fit more, cleaned better and was easier to clean the filter every once in a while than picking up spaghetti from the grates when their tykes "helped" load the machine. Conversely, I have at least one friend that was all set to get an Euro machine and ended up with an American machine who thanked me later too because his stoneware dishes were important to him. None of my friends remembers being "embarrassed" at the store with their dishes shopping around, in fact, usually, the other shoppers say "what a good idea, I should have thought of that!" and start following us around.
My take on it is that one doesn't blindly buy a dishwasher in the same way that one doesn't blindly buy a car. I had troubles with machines (we have naturally soft water around here) that some of you love and vice-versa. Two different brands of cars may both be wonderful, but some people will prefer the arrangement of the dashboard/controls in one and some the other.
Having used both kinds, I can tell you that if you have thin, Euro-standard dishes (some of the Corelle qualifies), there are more tines in the Euro machines, you can frequently fit a full service for 14-16 people, while American machines can often barely do service for 12, but you can easily fit Fiestaware dishes, which are hard to put anywhere or need 2-3 consecutive spaces in an Euro machine (particularly the bowls).
The filter is really a red-herring -- not only it's mostly self-cleaning, but it's actually easier to clean than the grates of the American machines with built-in disposers, you just take the filter out and rinse it instead of picking stuff up from the grates one by one. Also, when you rinse the filter, you use typically less than a gallon of *cold* water once every 30 cycles or so, sometimes as infrequently as twice a year. That saves an enormous amount of energy compared to machines that used over 6 gallons of hot water per cycle, not to mention it takes only 30 seconds or so as opposed to 2-5 minutes to clean the grates that protect the disposers/pumps from twist ties, screws, pieces of glass but also pasta, small pieces of hotdogs, ground beef etc in the American machines.
When friends ask me to help them choose a new dishwasher, they come to me with "what should I buy?" types of questions, they want to know brand and model. I never answer them in those terms. We pick a day they are free for at least a couple of hours, I pick them up at home and I make them pick 3 of each dish type (3 cereal bowls, 3 plates, 3 dinner plates, glasses, stemware etc), the dishes they use the most often that have weird sizes/shapes and sometimes silverware if it looks weirdly shaped/sized. We bring those to a store and try the machines with actual dishes. I can't tell you how many times people were all set to buy a specific model/brand and came up with something else because they did not feel like discarding old dishes and buying stuff that would fit the new machine. I also had at least a handful of people that came up with an Euro machine (usually Bosch) thank me later because they felt it fit more, cleaned better and was easier to clean the filter every once in a while than picking up spaghetti from the grates when their tykes "helped" load the machine. Conversely, I have at least one friend that was all set to get an Euro machine and ended up with an American machine who thanked me later too because his stoneware dishes were important to him. None of my friends remembers being "embarrassed" at the store with their dishes shopping around, in fact, usually, the other shoppers say "what a good idea, I should have thought of that!" and start following us around.
My take on it is that one doesn't blindly buy a dishwasher in the same way that one doesn't blindly buy a car. I had troubles with machines (we have naturally soft water around here) that some of you love and vice-versa. Two different brands of cars may both be wonderful, but some people will prefer the arrangement of the dashboard/controls in one and some the other.
