See where the knobs broke.
Or should that be knobs off?
On the surface Miele is the brand to buy. It’s solid, doesn’t discount and sponsors most of the important food events. It is the backbone of the mobile kitchens at Prahran Market.
Then why am I left so angry by my stove top? Because it is really badly designed, has plastic knobs which broke off within a few months and because it costs about twice as much as, for instance, Smeg.
Miele also invoices direct so retailers can’t discount. But because I packaged it with a shitload of stuff, the retailer applied a discount to everything else. That means I didn’t pay full price for Miele (Yah boo sucks to you) anyway. This included my Qasair extraction system which is custom installed semi-industrial and which is probably the best you can buy. And I don’t say that lightly.
I’m not saying I expect the hob to be durable enough to survive cooking for several brigades of storm troopers invading Poland. But I do expect it to be robust enough to survive the vigourous shuffling of pans and the odd -okay, quite frequent – pot boiling over in the hands of a brigade of onefood wanker cooking for two.
On the plus side the hob has nice heavy trivetts and I’m sure if I was igeneous enough I could disable a modern day T-90 Russian tank with them.
There are several problems with my Miele hob. On the design the raised panel with the knobs raises the knobs too high, above the hight of a pan on the trivetts so when you pull the pan towards you it hits the knob knocking it off. Remember these are cheap plastic knobs and after several months of being knocked off plastic bits broke off so it is difficult to operate the knobs now.
The burners although seemingly robust are not. The rivets on one have corroded and the whole unit has fallen apart. What I’m cooking here is stocks and soups, not concentrated sulphuric acid or making home made explosives.
I regret leaving my Ilve in Sydney. But them Stephen Downes had problems with Ilve and on his comparatively low profile blog attracted some 27 comments from people griping about their stoves.
It’s a sad time that it is so difficult to find, outside Choice, any independent advice. Food glossies certainly don’t give this advice and that’s perhaps why they lost their way, because they have been led astray by big spending advertisers like Miele. Or Ilve for that matter.
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Ed I share your pain.
Years ago we renovated & I got sucked in to getting the shiny new, expensive kitchen with all the ‘brands’. What a fucking disaster.
Same thing happened to me with the stove top, the oven fan always stopped working, the friggin extractor that was supposed to give Divine Brown a run for her money made so much noise we couldn’t talk whilst cooking. every surface was impossible to keep clean etc etc.
These days I have the most basic, standard & humble of cookers & am a happier cook for it. Dont get sucked in!
The place we bought had Smeg – not sure if it’d be my choice necessarily, but at least it saved the pain of having to make a decision, and then having to take responsibility for the decision. No real complaints about it, but we’ve considered change and then abandoned the idea due to the process being so daunting. Will now cross the Miele (and the Ilve!) off the theoretical list.
I picked up a Highland cooktop about two years ago. They are pretty sturdy and made in Tasmania I believe. I would definitely recommend one of them over the brands.
I’ve got the exact same cooktop as you for the past 3 years without the knob problems.
I guess it’s because I don’t fling my pans around bashing them into the knobs. Must get pretty wild in your kitchen. I’m sure Miele will replace the knobs if you ask nicely.
Steve, but what to do if you are a food wanker now?
Injera, I’d have probably chosen Smeg if it wasn’t for the name.
Dylan, I’ll look into Highland.I’d never heard of them.
Simon, bad design is bad design and demonstrated by the fact the knobs are raised higher than the trivetts meaning that even making an omelette the pan will come into contact with the knobs.
I need to get a new oven as mine has just about crapped out… again
grays online has an auction on Ilve
http://www.graysonline.com/sale.aspx?id=146692&N_ID=881&WT.mc_id=881
most of it out of my price range though, I was think of geting a bosch
I have 2 Miele gas jets (no knob problems so far, touch wood) and I also have a Miele induction stove, which I definitely have a love hate relationship with. Every time a pot boils over, or even starts to steam / condense a lot, the moisture turns off the electronic controls. Imagine if every time you put pasta into a furiously boiling pot, you turned around and discovered the stove had turned itself off. To get it going again you need to wipe every last trace of moisture away because otherwise the eletronic controls don’t work. So very frustrating… but it is great for low temp cooking!
I am so glad you posted this, when we upgrade the kitchen, I will give Miele a MISS.
I get sucked in by the brands too, and then it’s such a slap in the face with their design faults.
has anyone tried adding flour to thier kitchen aid whilst it is going…
Ahh, I feel for you Ed. Those high end fancy wancy tickle your nancy brands are no where near as good as they used to be and over rated. If you want bang for buck, maybe consider a full commercial stove top? They are practically indestructible.
A restaurant I worked at, after each day the chefs used to stand on a Goldstein (http://www.allquip.com.au/home/index.cfm?fuseaction=PRODUCTS&category_id=41) to clean the rangehood above, dripping all sorts of suds, water and gunk into this baby… Then they’d take the stove apart and scrub the crap out of it.
Looks great afterwards every time.
Agreed. We have a Meile stovetop. Complete rubbish.
Ed
I have just encountered the same problem. To add insult to injury, Miele charge $45 for each replacement knob.
I have written to Miele suggesting that as the design of the cooktop is deficient, they should be replacing the knobs free of charge. (Cited the relevant provisions of the Trade Practices Act).
Will let you know if I achieve an outcome.
John, $45 for a replacement. They offered to send a technician around to replace mine for free. I sort of feel dirty accepting it. Let me know how you go.
I know this came a little late but I’ve heard that Auscrown is quite a popular/famous brand among the restaurants. They’re a local company, not a big brand like the European giants but have been known to make really sturdy stuff. Worth checking them out! I know I wanna get myself one of those outdoor burner stoves!
I’m a bit late on this as well but I’ve recently been through the selection process. I ended up with a St George cooktop. Solid construction, metal knobs and a high powered wok burner that is only matched by the Highland which has already been mentioned above. Not cheap though.
Oh dear! Thank god for the internet! Yes, in my search for a new cooker, for our yet to be ‘completed’ home, I have been woed by big names and style (also thinking of resale and big name brands are the go in real estate terms). What will I do now!
I believe ( I am told) that St George went under.
Thanks for all your comments.
Mandy,
I’ll be interested to see what you choose and your verdict.
I bought a Bosch 90cm freestanding 0n the weekend after much debate and googling. There were countless positive reviews on Bosch appliances (many happy customers). It will be a while though before I get to turn on the gas as the foundations are not yet laid.
The price was good as well and even more reasonable by the fact that Harvey Norman had it $1000 cheaper (at $2900) as they are about to renovate their kitchen showroom (bought the floor stock) and I pressed them for free delivery. HN just bought out Clive Peters!
I will also buy Bosch for the other whitegoods I require.
This was a big jump given that I set out to buy Ilve or Miele. The power of the internet!
Something aside from Bosch, can anyone give feedback on Schweigan Rangehoods or electrolux for built in BBQs?
Our Miele gas hob is about 10 years old and we have had to glue and repair our black plastic knobs many times but now they really are falling apart…. for the money you pay the little things are very irritating, like the rubber feet on the cast iron trivet which perrish and cost a small fortune to replace (we use slilicone bubbles in stead) and the starter flashes which periodically go off of their own accord, even when cleaned…. not good enough for a premium item!
Paul, it isn’t good enough. Thanks for contributing.
I just checked out the Miele web site and I notice most but not all of the gas hobs, at least the more expensive ones now use metal knobs. Presumbably more robust! Personally I think they all should.