In Consumer Reports testing (consumerreports.org/join $10/month digital), Miele compact washers and dryers performed well but they are small and other, full-size machines did better and cost less, in some cases far less. In your new house can you provide space for full-size appliances?

@jwvideo, haha thanks for the practical persons view of that test and always cold water washing. My Fisher&Paykel ecosmart toploader is still going strong but like many the Miele or Speed Queen frontloader is the dream machine fot both performance and long life.

you can read the threads mentioned above. We have a set (the top end) and they are great. What is nice , from a design point, is that they are ventless and can go anywhere in your house - doesnt have to be an outside wall.

You obviously need water and a drain, but that is it. The heat pump dryer works great and is as fast as the washer - no long dryer times. The washer can use the built in DOS chemical system which we find to be very good. What is nice is that you don't need some dripping two gallon jug of Tide close by making a mess or adding a storage closet just for it

Hey Amanda,

I have the highest end W1/T1 . My experience has been a mixed bag. I'd suggest getting the entry level W1/T1 as they have a better UI (in my opinion) and are reasonably priced, all things considered. If you look at the W1/T1, carefully examine the manuals for the entry and middle / high end models to make sure you know what you're getting. Knowing what I'm aware of now, I would have gone entry level instead of highest end.

I liked the straightforward UI of the entry model and didn't spend so much time looking at this until I had mine and realized the higher end models have a control panel that's "more capable" and simueltaneously "more complex". I end up using the "towels" settings for almost everything I do since it's closest to my prefrences, but that's not just a dial flip over, it's a burried choice in a menu.

I haven't used any of the TwinDos or anything like that since the Miele detergent has more chemicals in it than I'd prefer. At some point I'll try putting my own detergent into their containers but that's low on my priority list. In EU Miele sells refillable TwinDos containers but in the US you have to buy new ones from them with their detergent. People have found the EU TwinDos and US TwinDos are NOT mechanically compatible either, which is pretty d*** like.

W1: Pro:

- Clothes really do come out clean! I'm very impressed at how clean stuff is when it comes out, so it succeeds at its primary goal.

- Quiet! The only noise you hear is the clothes sloshing, ZERO motor noise or whine unless it's in a spin cycle or pumping water out. It's weird and very impressive. And I'm an Engineer who has designed electronic motor drive systems before!

- Lots of options and programs / vartiations to get what you want (if that's your deal)

W1 Cons:

- Spin cycle doesn't seem to be long enough, clothes have come out more wet out of the W1 than a cheap $300 top loader. Not always but has happened more than once. I've had to go back into More Programs and run a spin cycle to get more water out sometimes. This is frustrating because I got the highest end model to get a 1600 RPM spin and mechanically extract as much water as possible.

- Mine has given me several inlet pressure errors ; I have external water filters which might be the issue so I'm not fully blaming the machine but I don't think the machine should be so sensitive to water pressure -- it's a clothes washer, not a fuel injection system on a $80K car. I've since pulled the plastic water filters on the hoses / clothes wsaher that Miele ships with since I have external filters which will catch any sediments or particles anyway. Also they should have used metal mesh not plastic for the price of the unit. I'll keep an eye on it and will see if it gives me these errors again after this change.

- Aside from the entry level model, I think the UI on the middle / upper end models isn't super intuitive since they're giving you WiFi / cell phone / tablet to control more "advanced" features.

I'd ideally like a "favorite" which for me would be cold water wash/rinse, shortest cycle time and highest speed, extended spin. That does the job for most of what I want except for towels where I prefer warm wash. I think you can get custom profiles with the app but I've been hoping to avoid having to introduce a cell phone or tablet just to do laundry!

On my old HE3ts I could get that with a few button pushes in a matter of five seconds. On the W1, I have to choose More Programs dial, towels, then force the spin speed to max from it's default of "high" using the "touchless" buttons (capactive). It's not the end of the world but I've had to explain this to a few other people more than once if they use my W1 and they look at me and ask "How much did you pay for this?!"

- There is a LOT of water the pools in the gasket at the end of a load. I've used lots of front loaders before and there's more in this one than any other I've had. Again, for a premium unit I'd expect they would have solved this. I keep a towel on the unit just to clean up the pooled water and prop the door open so it dries sufficiently.

- W1 doesn't have any sort of internal filter / mesh for catching lint or debris -- not that I think other companies do this either but I think Miele should have done this for such a high end unit.

I have mine dumping water to an external basin (fascinating to see how much dirt it pulls out, I'm watching right now as I write this!) and I installed a metal filter mesh at base of the sink to help catch lint, etc. Surprisingly at the end of every run I find a noticable amount of hair and lint in the mesh which would otherwise eventually end up clogging the drain had I not put something there.

In a normal set up the drain hose just goes into a drain so all of that stuff would certainly end up in your drain lines at some point.

I did try using some very fine stainless mesh on the drain hose (which sits inside a sink mind you) and it ended up backing up since the water drains at a really fast rate, so that wouldn't really work if you routed the drain hose normally and not to a sink.

T1 Pros:

- The ventless drying is overall great, low heat added and clothes come out dry and it's pretty low power consumption. It's astonishing how much water it pulls out, when you remove the drawer and dump it you see first hand how much water it's extracted.

- You can have the T1 store water in the tray (which you empty after each run) or can have it drain water externally. I now have mine dumping water to the external sink and so no need to mess with the drawer anymore (which is very nice).

- Door is reversible

- I have NOT yet tried out the steam function which is the primary reason I went for the highest end T1 since CV19 and work from home, having wrinkle-free clothes hasn't been a priority.

T1 Cons:

- Dryer is NOT made in Germany, it's made in Eastern Europe (I think Slovenia or Czech Republic).

I don't know for sure, but I wonder if it's made by Asko actually. For a "premium" product where they keep pushing it's made in Germany, I don't see any literature that the dryer is NOT made in Germany which I think is deceptive marketing, and frankly overpriced if you're not getting a "German build".

- My dryer's heat pump system (which is basically a refridgerator) is super noisy / loud. I think mine is defective and I have a call put in with Miele to help but for a new "top end" unit this is disappointing.

- Have to bias it to a longer run time, even on Normal Plus setting my clothes are still fairly damp

Just be cautious about anecdotal prior experience. I am on 11 years with a Samsung front loader with no issues at all. The dryer has been a pain but still working - but many replaced parts.

I think if you go with the argument that most modern appliances are terrible, you usually are correct. Punishing one for being terrible may not be fair.

@amanda

We have the top w1/t1 washer and dryer. We do laundry for 13 people with one set. We now have over 6000 hours on the washer. No Problems. Don't worry one second about lint/hair filters on the drain side of the washer. Been doing laundry for decades and never had a problem.

The top Miele washer brings a recirculation pump for the washer liquor. This brings the quick intense wash which is under 1 hour and excellent wash results.

The middle tier washer adds twinDos detergent dispensing, but lacks the recirculation pump and the associated cycles.

The basic W1 is missing a lot of the cycles. It is there in the lineup for those who want a long last washer, but can't/won't pay for the more feature rich models.

The "complexity" of the wash is being over blown. It is rotate the dial for the most commonly used cycles. Adjust speed, temp, spin, extra rinse, etc. if desired. You can turn on memory in settings and these options will be remembered for each cycle. This makes it very quick to just spin to the dial to the cycle you want and hit start. If you usually use the same settings every time I don't know how it gets any easier?

The T1 dryer is the best heat pump dryer on the market. Other than an increase in time to dry for some items if they don't spin at max rpm, it is really a faultless dryer. It just works. No vent needed. It saves electricity. Runs on 120V outlet so you can put it anywhere.