The Bosch 800 Series still does what made the brand famous: cleans thoroughly without pre-rinsing, runs quieter than your refrigerator, and CrystalDry actually delivers bone-dry plastics. The gamble is that recent USA-made models are failing early, pumps giving out before year two and door latches popping open mid-cycle, problems the old German-built units rarely saw. If you find a German-made 800 (increasingly rare) or score a killer deal on a USA model with a solid warranty, the performance justifies the premium. At full retail on a current unit, you're paying Miele money for reliability that now lands closer to mainstream brands.
Two independent drawers that each run their own cycle, solving a real problem if you cook daily but hate waiting for a full load or bending to unload. The top drawer sits at counter height, owners with bad backs or aging knees swear by it, and the ability to run just one drawer for breakfast dishes while saving the bottom for pots is genuinely useful. The plastic tub at this price is hard to swallow, and the flood sensor trips if you load something tall and water splashes during the cycle, forcing a manual reset. The real dealbreaker is service: authorized techs are scarce in the US, so when something breaks you wait weeks. If you have reliable local service and the ergonomics solve a daily pain point, it's a clever tool; if you just want dishes clean without fuss, a traditional Bosch costs less and breaks less often.