Miele Quiet Dishwashers
9 December 2008
“Going My Way”
OK, I’m going to be honest here. I was a bachelor for a long time before I married my wife, and, old Army cook that I am, I never had a dishwasher. Cook the meal, wash up one plate, one pot, one glass—OK, you get the picture. And with our being childless, the idea of a dishwasher never really seemed very high on my list of what I would want in a home, but it was important to my wife, so we’ve always had one. In actual practice, we don’t have many mor
e dishes on a day-to-day basis than I did when I lived alone, but flash forward to the big doings—Thanksgiving dinners and the like—which I never hosted as a bachelor, and suddenly that dishwasher takes on an element of pure genius!
Turning to our own remodeling plans for our kitchen, one of the things that is absolutely paramount to me is how quiet the new dishwasher is, because, as it stands now, we never run it when we’re in the adjacent family room watching TV. It also means that whenever we host big doings, and get all those offers to help with the clean up, we decline them because we don’t want to have that dishwasher drowning out the sounds of conversation. So the work that might have been done in half an hour with all those eager hands to help becomes the labor of several hours for the wife and me after c
ompany leaves.
So, on that basis, a truly quiet dishwasher is to me, a pearl of great price, and I am prepared to pay for it. Miele has a reputation for making some of the quietest dishwashers around, and the G 2002 is their quietest line of dishwashers. I have read reviews in which people have sworn that these dishwashers run so quietly that they sometimes put their ear to the door to make sure it’s on!
This line has so many features that I am not going to be able to cover them all, but to me, it starts and ends with its quietness. We are not, of course, the only ones who have a kitchen that adjoins a family room, but those who have families probably start the dishwasher every day; for them, especially, the thought of not having to turn up the sound on the TV or move the computer to another room has to be a godsend.
But wait, there’s more! This line has what they call highly flexible lower and upper baskets, which enable one to wash pretty much any configuration of items, which is especially helpful for those who wash their pots and pans in the dishwasher or have need of washing baby bottles or vases. The cutlery tray is at the top of the dishwasher, which leaves more space for the lower basket, and one of their models can wash as many as fourteen place settings. They also have a drying system I don’t entirely understand, except that it does the job without consuming nearly as much 
energy as the standard heating coil at the bottom of the dishwasher. And for those who prefer having the dishwasher blend into the cabinetry with a wood panel, they’ve gone that concept one better by coming up with a model that has a panel that completely covers the door, including the controls, which have been moved to the upper edge of the door, so they’re hidden when the door is closed.
Finally, there are some 19 wash programs which are controlled with what they call Navitronics, Miele’s state-of-the-art menu driven user interface. The dishwasher is engaged via touch screen controls, and with a few steps, you’re off and running. And they’ve included a PC Update function. Using a laptop computer, a Miele technician can alter the machine’s programming parameters, changing such things as water intake, electricity consumption, or adapting it to a new type of detergent.
All in all, the Miele La Perla is a most impressive machine, but at over $2000 it’s an expensive way to go, and I’m not going to say it’s not. But on the other hand, I firmly believe you get what you pay for, or at least you should. Any cabinetmaker will tell you that he has no idea which tools he paid too much for, only those he did not pay enough for. So, I guess I know which way I’m inclined to go when we finally do make a decision on this.
Joseph
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One Response to “Miele Quiet Dishwashers”
December 17th, 2008 at 4:47 PM
We don’t have a Miele dishwasher, but we do have a Miele vacuum. When I brought it home my wife asked me what it cost. She couldn’t beleive I actually spent about $900 on a vacuum that she had never heard of. That was in 1989. The vacuum still runs great. If they put the same sort of quality into the dishwashers they must be great machines.
Joe