The Mercedes In My Laundry Room
Written: Aug 15 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Does everything well
Cons: sticker shock
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| lizziem's Full Review: Miele Novotronic W1918A Front Load Washer |
What Mercedes-Benz did for cars, the Miele Novotronic has done for washing machines: efficient, well-engineered, and does what a washing machine is supposed to do without loads of soap and a minimum of H2O: gets clothes clean.
My first introduction to Miele laundry machines was as a guest in a German home. I was impressed with 1) how clean the clothes came out; 2)how little soap and pretreating was necessary; and 3) how easy things were to iron afterwards (like men's dress shirts) because there was no soap left in the clothing.
Miele machines were not available in our area until just recently, and at $3200 for the washer/dryer stacking unit, the sticker shock was off the Richter scale, but nevertheless, we felt as a family it would pay for itself over time and now having used it nearly daily for three months, we're amazed at its efficiency.
Some of the special features I love: the water can be heated up to 190 degrees for cottons, and the long cycle has four rinses, so every bit of soap is removed. I have all men in my family; two sons (one is a cowboy who comes home on weekends covered with manure, and one is waiter who comes home covered in marinara sauce), a husband who plays and coaches ice hockey, and a dear elderly, semi-incontinent father-in-law who lives in assisted living but brings his laundry over here. Need I describe what I put into the Miele on a regular basis? Sometimes I use tongs! But, after the long cycle the cotton underwear is white as can be, the wrangler jeans are crystal clean, there are no marinara stains on the white dress shirts and the hockey clothes actually smell quite decent. In other words, this is a workhorse of a machine.
There are regular settings for cottons, permanent press and delicate, with wide temperature ranges that you can set yourself, and then extra buttons to 1)shorten the cycles from 4 to 2 rinses for things that aren't too gamey; 2)extra gentle cycle for really fine items; 3)extra water for bulky rugs, comforters, etc., 4)and an extra dial which you can manually set the rpms of the spin cycle - amazing. The highest is 1600 rpms and the clothes come out just needing a few tumbles in the Miele dryer: great way to save energy and money.
The buyer should know that garden variety American laundry soaps do not work well in these machines. They will oversuds and come pouring out the soap drawer and you will be forced to make a frantic call to Miele's 800 number where a very nice guy in New Jersey will tell you how to drain and rinse the load. I learned the hard way that Tide makes a product called "Tide HE" specifically for European machines and I highly recommend it, but can't always find it so I stock up several boxes when I am able to locate it.
The Miele Novotronic dryer that stacks on top of the front loading washer is equally well-engineered and efficient. I am particularly impressed with how quiet both machines are. There are many other features which I can't list here, but I recommend a visit to the nearest Miele dealer. My next consideration of a Miele product is their cabinet-mount coffee/espresso maker which looks like something out of a NASA design lab. Viel Vergnugen! (lots of fun!)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
lizziem
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Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 3 members
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