Siemens versus Miele – which to choose.

Hi,

I’m in the market for a new (and first) dishwasher. The other half has specified that it as to look good in the current kitchen and white has been ruled out, and silver/grey just doesn’t cut the mustard either. So this leaves either Black or Stainless steel.

Black only seems to be offered by Smeg and Zanussi and from reading on here and the Which report, while they seem have a better reliability than the worst, they aren’t the best.

So I’m left with Stainless Steel. I originally saw a Kenwood KDW12ST3A but reports on here of Kenwood reliability issues have decided me against this. Next choice was the Siemens SE24M851 at around £380; I’m not entirely happy with the plastic finish around the buttons so I started looking around and allowing a certain degree of flexibility to the budget. The two options I am now considering are the
Siemens SE26T590GB (£499 at John Lewis, normally seem to be about £550) and the
Miele G1232SC (£663 at Co-op electrical shop, down from £795)

I know Miele are the better brand, however are they worth the extra £160 over the Siemens?
Both offer 5 yr guarantees
On the basics Siemens is 44dB compared to the 46dB for the Miele and 12L versus 13L for the water consumption; and the energy consumption is the same. The Miele has one more program. The Miele offers the overhead cutlery rack.

So as the general features set doesn’t provide much between them it seems to come down to relability and cost to maintain over a period of time. ie. A Total Cost of Ownership to myself and the environment. There’s two of us in the house with no immediate plans to expand that number so I’m expecting the load will be light to medium, perhaps run once every two days.
How long can I expect each to last? Reading on here and asking around seems to suggest 15+ years for the Miele, but not sure about Siemens.
How likely is each to go wrong and how much is a likely fix cost? I see that Miele parts are supposedly rather pricey and the technical details hard to get hold which I assume makes any repair rather pricey. Is the Siemens the same?

On a more abstract note at what point do you think the environmental costs of running an old dishwasher outweigh the intrinsic costs of building and disposing of an old one? Has the efficiency of dishwashers changed considerably over the last 10 years and can we expect to see similar sort of change over the next 10? If there is significant change then the running costs in terms of electricity and water may outwiegh the embedded energy costs of replacing the appliance (as with cars >10 years old). I see that the Miele offers a ‘PC- Update’ function “to take advantage of the latest technological advances”; has anyone actually seen a dishwasher updated in this way or is it a bit of a gimmick.

So which of the two should I prefer? I can stretch the budget to the Miele but I don’t want to spend an extra £160 for a few minor features. Should I be looking at something cheaper; or is there something else in the same price band I should look at? I haven’t really considered integrated – we may move house in a few years and they seem a little more hassle.

Oh yeh, does the Miele have an issues with wine glasses and the top cutlery rack?

Thanks in advance, and aplogies for the numerous questions.
Toby