5 Reasons I (NO LONGER) Love my New Miele Dishwasher
I want to give you 5 Reasons I (no longer) love my new Miele dishwasher, and why it’s (not) the best brand out there.
UPDATE: Edited on August 29, 2017, over three years later, to include up to date review information in italics.
You probably cannot imagine how many dishes, bowls, glasses, plates, pots and pans I use on a daily basis. My new Miele dishwasher has saved me from a nervous breakdown. You can read about how excited I was to replace my failed Bosch dishwasher with a new Miele dishwasher.
Disclosure: Miele has provided me with a dishwasher so that I can write about it and inform my readers about my experience. I intend to review this dishwasher and honestly report my findings here. As always, my opinions are solely my own.*
Not only am I an avid cook, I’m a messy cook. If I need one bowl, I’ll end up using two. Nothing has changed here, unfortunately ? Due to the fact that I usually make three different things at once, I don’t have time to clean as I go. This makes even more of a mess. So, when I tell you that a really reliable dishwasher is a godsend to me, I mean it more than you can imagine.
You’re probably wondering about the photo above? I’m not a normal person who brings paper plates and buys cupcakes for dessert when going to an event, like a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. No, I make and bring homemade rhubarb crumble in glass ramekins. Then, when I come home around midnight, I’m tired. I often leave the dirty dishes and deal with them the next morning. Do you see where I’m going with this? I need a workhorse of a dishwasher and I’ve finally found one. I have yet to find something it can’t wash properly. (See my other post for the full story on the photos below. It includes an awesome Pasta al Forno recipe.)
For the last 11 years, I have been a Bosch dishwasher owner, and a very unhappy one. My dishwasher was brining me to the point that I really felt I was going to lose it. From the moment I first ran my dishwasher, until the moment it “died” a few months ago, I was disappointed. Looking back, I should have returned the machine right away. If solely due to the noise factor, because it was so loud. I had a Whirlpool dishwasher before my Bosch, and it was more quiet than my Bosch. Right after we installed it,
I had a technician come out to check it. He told me that our model didn’t come with insulation, which explained the noise. However, I just couldn’t understand why a dishwasher would be made without insulation. Especially if the company advertises how quiet they are. As they say, “hindsight is 20/20”, so it’s a mistake I’ll never make again.
The only reason we hadn’t considered a Miele dishwasher was because we were dissuaded by the price. However, if I’d truly done my research properly, I would have found that we were missing a vital piece of information. This probably would have made a big difference in our decision on which brand to purchase.
Miele products are built and tested to last 20 years, which is twice as long (or longer) than most other brands. Many of you are probably thinking to yourselves, “I remember when appliances used to last 20 years”, but Miele’s still do. To fairly compare Miele’s prices with other brands, one should actually figure out a “cost/year”. In doing this, there’s a realization that it’s a much more reasonably priced appliance. I really should have enjoyed a reliable dishwasher all these years with how much time I spend in the kitchen.
I purchased a Bosch because I’d read reviews about how quiet it was, and it was supposed to be a good quality product, but I learned otherwise. I should have added that my Bosch cooktop was a lemon, too. The technicians who came out actually told me I had a defective cooktop, yet I’d been using it for 7 years because Bosch didn’t want to do anything about it. Grrr… Given this experience, I am now a current Miele owner, and a very happy one. I’d like to share some of my reasons for being so satisfied and pleased with my new dishwasher. I am listing these in no particular order as it’s really difficult for me to decide which features I like more than others. NB: I do want to add that the Bosch model I had was not comparable in cost and features to my current Miele dishwasher, however I’m letting you know of my overall experience, and I would definitely be doing a disservice to withhold information about my experience with Bosch.
5 Reasons I Love my New Miele Dishwasher
- NO NOISE. It’s quiet. Compared to what I’ve had to listen to for the past eleven years, it’s incredibly quiet. One night my husband asked (while he was standing next to the dishwasher), “Are the dishes clean or dirty?”. I responded, “Neither one, it’s running!” We’ve been used to hearing our Bosch dishwasher from the dining room.
- CLEANING. It washes everything PROPERLY. Actually, it goes above and beyond, “washing properly”. I’ve been having to re-wash so many glasses, dishes, pots and pans for so many years, that I am over the moon with the ability of my Miele dishwasher to clean everything I put in it. I’m kicking myself because I didn’t take a picture of the dirty pan, but I made a pork roast last night and I wanted put my Miele dishwasher to the test again. I did take a shot of the roast for instagram though!
My daughter was loading dishes and she didn’t put the Le Creuset pan into the dishwasher thinking it was too difficult for the machine as it was covered in baked-on grease. She said, “There is no way it’s going to get clean”, and I admit, I too, doubted and said, “I know, but let’s try.” So I put it in, without any pre-washing, scraping or brushing. This is what happened, and if I didn’t see it myself, I don’t think I would have believed it. - WATER CONSERVATION. This is a triple feature, because I’m saving water three ways.1. Not having to rinse dishes (it’s simply unnecessary and ill-advised). 2. By not having to re-wash dishes because they come out of the dishwasher clean the first time (unlike my old Bosch). 3. Miele dishwashers are so highly water efficient, I’m saving water just by using the dishwasher. If you haven’t heard, California is in its worst drought since records started being kept. Water conservation is incredibly important to us now, more than ever. Not pre-rinsing can save up to 3,500 gallons of water a year! That is a lot of water, time and money saved. My Futura Diamond model has a cycle which runs for only 35 minutes for a light load, and it works great! I never could have imagined such a short cycle could wash dishes so well. Especially given my experience with my old Bosch. The normal cycle on my old machine ran for over 3 hours and the dishes still came out dirty. There are so many different cycles and options on my Futura Diamond. Each load of dishes can be washed according to what sort of dishes, pots and pans, or china has been loaded. I also set it according to what kind and of food is on them and how much. Now, I can actually run my Miele dishwasher, not feel guilty and have clean dishes!
- TIME-SAVING. If I could add up all the time I’ve spent re-washing dishes for the past 11 years, I’m sure I could have taken a trip with that time. :(
- DESIGN. I was talking to a friend about my Miele dishwasher and I ended up telling her, “I really think they thought of everything.”
When I realized there was no cutlery basket, but a third rack instead, I was concerned. So much so, that I kept the cutlery basket from my old Bosch, just in case. I thought I might miss the basket, but there was no need because I simply love the third rack! It makes so much more sense, and I no longer loathe putting my cutlery back in the drawer. It’s all organized before I even get to the drawer. Then there’s all the easy-to-adjust options: anywhere there is a yellow tab, an adjustment can be made in seconds, it’s just brilliant! There’s a stem for vases, flip down slots for wine glasses–I could go on and on. As I said, it’s as though the designers have thought of everything.
Below is a photo of my loaded Miele dishwasher. It doesn’t look like it does in magazines, with every single matching plate and bowl in perfect order, because this is the real deal. I’m using this dishwasher in what I’m sure is one of the most-used home kitchens in LA and I love it.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below. You’ll also find my other posts about Miele there.
I believe in sharing information about companies that try to dupe their customers, so check out my Open Letter to Lagostina.
Another Miele appliance I own is a bit smaller. I entered and won a contest on Instagram. I am now the proud owner of a Miele CM6 Fully Automatic Coffee machine!
Don’t miss another recipe or travel post; sign up for my free subscripton below!
Life in LA…
Tchaikovsky Spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl, with the USC Marching Band. It truly is spectacular.
*Miele agreed to provide me with a dishwasher in exchange for my review and posts on my blog. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone, and as always, I only recommend quality products and services that I truly believe in and would purchase and use myself. There have been no conditions stating that the reviews must be positive; I am disclosing this in compliance with the FTC’s regulations.
36 minutes sounds great. I clearly need the model you have, then.
118 minutes is the normal mode for the used Miele G892 I bought without knowing the wash times were so long.
Youre right, though, the economy mode takes less time: 85 minutes. (1 hour and 25 minutes)
Now I’m going to call the local water authority to find out how many gr/gal our local tap water is putting out so I can calibrate the Miele to get around the cloudy glass thing.
Thanks for feedback.
Good luck, Liz! I wish you happiness with your dishwasher! CC
I’ve had a 20 year old GE dishwasher for the last 9 years and have recently decided I needed a better looking dishwasher. The problem is, I never thought that I would have to wait 118 minutes to wash the dishes! (the GE took 50 minutes). If I’m having a party and run out of glasses, I have to ask my guests to stay overnight while we wait for this thing to finish washing.
Energy savings is nice, but if a 20 year old highly manual, downright dumb dishwasher can wash perfectly in 50 minutes, something is wrong with the definition of energy savings. 118 minutes is unacceptable!
The claim that I’m rewashing dishes is completely wrong, too. The old dishwasher dishes turn out perfect every time, end of story.
In addition, my dishes have never had a problem with cloudiness resulting from hard water!! (and I’ve always ignored the “rinse aid”) Well, the Miele clouded up my first set of dishes.
Over designed, overpriced, boastfully complex (i’ve never needed 6 cycles : The only thing I need from a dishwasher is:wash the dishes..)
My old GE is already missed.
Hi Liz, I had to use a terrible dishwasher for 11 years, so I empathize with you. There’s nothing worse than not being happy with a product you use daily as it’s a constant source of irritation, however, I don’t quite understand everything you wrote.
First of all, I’m assuming you purchased a Miele and that is the brand of dishwasher you currently own. You claim 118 minutes is unacceptable, but you also have 5 other settings on your dishwasher. I would wonder why you don’t try a shorter cycle? I have express (36min), energy saver (76min) and more to choose from on mine, so you must have at least one setting which washes for less than 118 minutes, correct? I can also guarantee that your 20 year old GE, while only taking 50 minutes, will have used significantly more water and energy, so I disagree with your assessment that the length of the cycle = the degree of energy savings.
I am confident that most of the issues that you express here could be resolved by calling Miele customer service and probably without a service call. If you ignored the rinse aid in your GE, I’m assuming you might be ignoring other requirements on your Miele, then I wouldn’t be surprised to hear you are getting cloudy dishes.
After having a lemon of a Bosch for 11 years, and now using a Miele everyday, sometimes twice a day, I cannot tell you how much stress has been alleviated from my life (as you know I’m a food blogger, so I live in my kitchen). I don’t see the Miele as over designed (it almost seems designed to my personal specifications, in my opinion); overpriced is subjective, but given that a Miele lasts twice as long as most other brands, that brings its price into a whole new perspective, and I think it’s quite simple to use and have never had an issue.
I’m very sorry you miss your GE, but I would strongly encourage you to contact Miele customer service, as I know they’d prefer that you would love your dishwasher as much as I do! Good luck to you, Liz! CC
Sorry Christina but I for one absolutely DETEST my Miele dishwasher (Model G2472)! I don’t find the cutlery rack to be a time-saver at all because you have to load all the same cutlery together, so in essence you’re still sorting it but you’re doing it when they’re wet and there’s food stuck to them (yuck!). Also, I have to put them in the opposite way of how you loaded them in your picture. When I load them the same way you do, they don’t get fully clean because the tines of the rack are covering a portion of the knife, fork, spoon, etc., so they come out “spotted” and have to be rewashed.
Next, the bottom rack is a source of constant frustration when I’m trying to load my stoneware dinner plates. I can’t tell you how many times I have loaded the plates and I get the last one in and all of a sudden the rack for the plates completely slides out of the area in which it’s situated, causing all of the plates to fall! Not only that, the spaces between the tines are very narrow, so forget about loading soup bowls, etc. I’m doing much more washing by hand than I ever did when we had a cheap dishwasher.
I just want something that has the normal “grid” in it so that I can load it in many different ways depending on what I’m washing vs. “dedicated” areas that only hold dinner plates, lunch plates, etc., which greatly reduces its functionality. That said, there are many people who are avid lovers of their Miele dishwashers; I’m just not one of them ;-)!
My advice to anyone looking at dishwashers would be to take a load of your dishes with you to the appliance store and put them in like you would normally load your current one to see if the design/configuration works for them. I know it’s kind of a hassle, but it will be worth it in the end. I wish we would have done that – if we had, I wouldn’t be writing this comment! Thanks, Christina, for allowing me to add my two cents, and your food looks divine!
As someone who detested her dishwasher for 11 years, I completely empathize with you, although I cannot relate to your issues with your Miele, as I’m still in love with mine. Regarding the silverware not being washed properly, I would contact Miele as something doesn’t seem right. Mine come out sparkling and spotless no matter which way I arrange them, and no matter which cycle I use. I can rearrange how my racks are set up, so I never have a problem getting everything in, and it still continues to be a dream to use. With my parents here with us for the winter, I sometimes run it twice a day. Everyone in my family also loads the dishwasher with no problems, so I wonder if you have called Miele to discuss the issues with them?
What I didn’t see you comment on, Cynthia, is the service support (or lack thereof). My Miele dishwasher is only 5 years old; not many issues until recently when it started to make a grinding noise. After troubleshooting over the phone with a Miele service representative they referred me to a third party service company to schedule a call. Much to my dismay, I discovered that they do NOT have a strong field service team here even though I live in one of the largest cities in the U.S. Furthermore, they demand $125 just to check the dishwasher – an obscene amount of money when you consider my Sub Zero and Wolf appliances were almost half the cost for a service call. The response I got from the manager of the Miele service department was, “that’s the going rate.” If they had bothered to do their homework they would discover that is far from the truth. Buyer beware! When researching your next dishwasher purchase ask the sales representative about service support availability and total cost of ownership. Most importantly, avoid Miele at all costs!
Not sure who you are referring to (Cynthia?), but all I can say is that I’m sorry you have had trouble with your dishwasher and customer service in fixing the issue. I’m in Los Angeles and service calls vary, but I don’t think $125 is an obscene amount as I remember paying $100 for a call on my KitchenAid oven. Unless you’ve owned a Bosch, you don’t know how bad owning a defective dishwasher can be. Good luck, Mary Kay.
Thanks for this post…I hate my dishwasher and almost from day one, it’s been less than satisfactory. I had never considered a Miele before, but you’ve brought up some interesting points. That’s for the photos as well, I love the third rack for cutlery and large spoons.
Isn’t it ridiculous that we waste so much time and money on subpar appliances? It truly is infuriating.
I have been waiting for my dishwasher to die so I can buy a new one. Your recommendations are really helpful, I am considering several brands and Miele is one of the brands I am considering, Thanks for a great review and lots of helpful information,
I had to laugh at your comment, Suzanne! I love that you are, “waiting for my dishwasher to die…”. I feel your pain! Good luck and I hope your dishwasher goes peacefully and soon! ;) CC
I don’t lust after a new car, or a huge screen tv, but this dishwasher is calling my name. That cutlery shelf is to die for!!
With as much cooking as you do, Sue, you also need this dishwasher! Agreed! :)
After reading your post, I can see that saving time and natural resources are big draws with the Miele. And for people who love aesthetics (that top rack of flatware just looks like they’ve been beautifully laid out for their close up) and performance and efficiency, this seems a hands-down winner. I’m always budget conscious, and after all your compelling arguments about why Miele shines, the cost/year breakdown is the clincher. Thanks, Christina, for an informative and beautifully-illustrated review. Before I read your piece, my one word-association when I thought of Miele was “quiet.” Now I have a host of other reasons why this should be my next choice of dishwashers.
So happy to read your comment, Maria! Yes, there are definitely things we see in hindsight and information we can take to heart from the experience of others, and I hope other dishwasher shoppers are able to avoid what I’ve gone through. Thanks for stopping by! CC
Dear Christina,
Love your posts, you are very funny. I love the glass dishes at the Hollywood Bowl. Your Rhubarb Crumble must have delicious. I am so thrilled for you that you have this new Miele Dishwasher. Some of the simplest things are so important. With all your cooking and baking you are correct that you need something to really help you clean up. Love your review about the Miele but I think what is the best is that third rack, the one that holds your silverware. What a timesaver and a convenience, who wouldn’t love to have that! The Tchaikovsky Spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl must have been magnificent! Love Tchaikovsky, what an evening. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the week, thanks for sharing your review…Dottie :)
You are so sweet, Dottie! Thank you for your lovely comments, and yes, the third rack is such a marvelous feature on the Miele, I don’t know how I lived without it for so long! Thank you for stopping by! CC