I've had the dishwasher for a month now and had an opportunity to throw into it nearly all of my various kitchenware. There's not many real in-depth videos about dishwashers from owners and even less from Miele owners. Here's my thoughts on the model and what my experience was dealing with Miele directly after I discovered they false advertised/misled me on the feature content of this model.
CORRECTION: I said the 5056 is comparable to the 7166 in cycle options and cleaning features, I mis-spoke. The 5266 is the correct 5000 series to compare as it has Auto-Open.
(Or better yet, get a Bosch 800 which has 90% the features (and many the Miele doesn't have) of a 7300+ model but at almost $1K less, and a Benchmark has all the features, plus more, of a 7500 series but at much less $)
A few things I forgot to mention in the video:
- Quietness- is it quiet? Yes. Is it silent? No. I've never understood when people say they can't tell their dishwasher is running, I don't know that it's possible for a cabinet full of whirling pressurized water to be completely silent. I consider anything rated at 44 dB (such as this Miele) and below to be "I hear it but don't think about it" territory.
- Cycle Times: I almost always run my dishwasher overnight. You'll have seen the display say 3 Hours for the Normal cycle, this is on the long side for modern dishwashers. When I was considering a more basic (AKA price reasonable) Whirlpool model, I read complaints from many people that it took 3 hours to clean on the normal cycle; for some reason not a single person anywhere complained about that on Mieles. Cycle time was absolutely never a consideration for me because I'm just glad to not be washing the stuff myself.
- Lower rack- if you're watching this you're likely familiar with Miele, and you've probably seen their bottle holders on other models. Between the tines that oppose each other on the front of the bottom rack you can see the attachment point for the bottle holder. It's currently available from Miele separately as a spare part, but I don't think it's worth $60 for that. On higher models it's included, just as would be the smaller cup shelves that I added myself.
- Software Product Segmentation - They're doing this really weird/infuriating thing where not all models get all cycles. The 7166, just as it is missing the Intensezone option, has no ExtraQuiet cycle, no Filters/Grates cycle, no discrete Machine Care cycle, no Eco cycle, etc. These are all software defined cycles with no hardware dependencies as far as I can tell, I really don't appreciate the feeling of being nickle-and-dimed at this price point.
My other dishwasher history: In my last home I had a Whirlpool WDT780SAE dishwasher (and an all Whirlpool kitchen) for nearly 6 years that I never had a complaint about, so as far as commodity brands go they are my first choice. I almost went with a Whirlpool or KitchenAid, but decided I wanted a European style without a heating element that would damage plastics. At that point I decided to splurge since this is a heavily used item in the kitchen. My family has a 2007 Miele that has done well, which is why I’m familiar with them at my age.
1 year update:
The dishwasher itself has been great. Very rarely does anything come out not spotless, it’s extremely thorough. I have some extra thoughts I wanted to add here:
- The Miele detergent is kind of weird. I have had an issue with silicone items (spatulas, etc) coming out with a weird, odorless, colorless film on them that wipes off easily. Increasing the rinse aid dose helped, but using Cascade resolves it; the Miele detergent reliably leaves this film. Just weird.
- The machine came with 7 PowerDisks. I got an about a month with each one.
- The bottom rack is a little annoying for what we Americans do with our dishwashers. You can’t fit baking sheets, casserole dishes and large cutting boards can be a big struggle. Fitting bowls down there is doable but awkward. I understand now why the American brands uses that wide spaced layout- it’s a compromise between space for large things and plates. The Miele is very plate focused. Fortunately the cleaning is so good that as long as you get it in, it’ll get cleaned.
- Drying is great with or without the auto open door. Superior to an old dishwasher with heating element that would “bake” the water off dishes.
- User interface - Sometimes it it’s picky about turning on. I’ll hit the power button and nothing happens, then I’ll wait a few seconds and hit it again then it turns on. It’s a small thing but again, at this price it’s disappointing. And I stand by my previous comments, the controls are annoying. It is very whiny about starting the cycle ASAP.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:26 Controls/Features/Model
04:10 AutoDos
05:13 LCD Demo
07:52 Interior/Bottom Rack
10:55 Second Rack
13:38 Third Rack
15:11 Quirks
16:06 Cleaning Ability
17:17 Why I almost returned it
22:34 Model discussion & closing
