My friends (also with toddler) bought a new Bosch dishwasher (800 series???) about a year ago, and the only thing it doesn't get clean are the browned bits stuck to the bottom of pans. Everything else comes out beautifully.
Downside(s): you have to clean out a filter once a month or so, and (applicable to all dishwashers) it might be useful to check if your dishes will fit well with spacing in the dishwasher. Some dishwashers have wider or narrower spacing between the tines, so narrow spacing + chunky stoneware dishes = difficulty getting everything nicely loaded.
Another factor to consider is getting decent dish soap. I've always been a buy-the-cheapest-generic sort of person, but recently was gifted some of those Name Brand dishwashing pods, and damn if my dishes are't getting cleaner, even in my craptacular dishwasher.
In my experience, there are 3 factors in getting a dishwasher to work well: 1. decent soap, 2. loading it properly according to the manufacturer recommendations so the dirty bits are facing the way it was designed to work (usually down and/or toward the center), and 3. not pre-washing or rinsing (especially with modern dishwashers) (yes scrape off chunks. do. not. rinse).