There is nothing quite like walking into your dream kitchen; a space where you know you’d be just as inspired as Jamie Oliver or Martha Stewart to create amazing, flavour-rich dishes, capturing the hearts of your dinner guests immediately. I felt like that recently when I had the opportunity to check out the grand opening of the new Miele Experience Centre right in my neighbourhood, the Beltline of Calgary. The new centre is absolutely beautiful with stunning kitchen set-ups, the latest innovations in Miele technology and the ability to actually test-drive every single product in the store.
As part of my visit to the Centre I also had the opportunity to interview the special guests of honour for the grand opening event - Dr. Markus Miele (Executive Director and fourth generation owner), Dr. Axel Kniehl (Executive Director of Sales & Marketing) and Dr. Reinhard Zinkmann (Co-Proprietor and Managing Director). It was fantastic to sit down with them over coffee and hear their passion for not only Miele itself, but for the innovations and design they are spearheading through their new projects and products.
The stories that Dr. Markus Miele shared with me about his family history were really fascinating and shows how far Miele has come since the company was founded in 1899. For example, the company started with a butter churn and then quickly moved on to the first Miele washing machine. With this kind of innovative history behind the brand it is no surprise that the company quickly evolved to debuting the first electric dishwasher in Europe in 1929 - which was a big undertaking and expensive for consumers but did end up finding success in the 1950s. Since then they’ve become a household name across the world and are known for the exquisite design and quality that they ensure in every level of their products.
Walking through the Miele Experience Centre I was blown away by the attention-to detail of all of the beautiful products and innovations. The space is exquisite with every square inch thought out and their helpful staff is just the cherry on top - offering up demos and so much knowledge on every piece of equipment.
Dr Axel Kniehl shared with me how the new Miele Blizzard CX1 Vacuum (which debuted late last year) is a truly revolutionary product that is quickly changing the way we will clean our houses - and actually create healthier spaces with the reduction of fine dust that normal vacuums can’t suck up.
“These vacuums are incredibly strong, durable and long-lasting. You can literally stand on top of them - that’s just how durable they are,” shared Dr. Kniehl. “Of course, that’s not the only key point of this product - the really innovative part is the filtration system. There are basically three levels of filtration happening simultaneously. They vary from very rough dust to very extreme micro-particles that you can’t even see. The canister is very easy to use - easy to open and quickly empty the canister eliminating the very rough dust. Our system makes the air that is coming out of the exhaust pipe of the vacuum cleaner significantly cleaner than the air that you will be breathing right now. The second level of filtration doesn’t involve anything besides simply running the filter under water to clean it periodically. The third level of filtration is a lifetime HEPA filter which you never have to change.”
For anyone out there who loathes vacuuming (my three-year-old included!) will be pleased to know that this vacuum is incredibly quiet and is more *soothing* and subtle than disrupting. A welcome change for anyone in charge of cleaning the floors in their house.
One of the newest innovations in cooking was announced by Miele last September that is truly going to change the way people cook. Called the Dialog Oven, this new product is revolutionary in the way that it uses electromagnetic waves to communicate in a *smart* way with the texture of the food. The Dialog Oven’s waves cook the food without browning - which is incredibly awe-inspiring when you think about how you currently cook your food.
“It’s an entirely new way of cooking,” says Dr. Kniehl. “If you think about our entire history of mankind and the way we cook, we take heat and basically cook it from the outside to the inside. For example, when you want a medium-rare steak it’s typically medium-rare in the core, but there the further you go out the less medium-rare it is. Basically the new system is something entirely different - it cooks in the inside at the same time and same speed as the inside. One of our finest examples is putting an uncooked cod filet inside a block of ice in the Dialog oven and cook it for eight minutes. We remove it from the oven and the cod filet is cooked yet the block of ice is still there. We call it the Dialog because the oven and the food are communicating.”
The Dialog Oven is set to debut in Europe later this year and the timeline for North America is currently unknown but this new technology is going to change so much about how we approach cooking.
While I did know that Miele has legendary coffee and espresso machines, one thing I learned on this tour was that they actually have their own brand of coffee beans. By roasting their own beans they leave very few variables for the consumer’s final product (aka the cup of coffee) to have something go wrong.
“People often buy an expensive espresso machine or coffee system only to throw in cheap coffee beans and then wonder why the coffee doesn’t taste right,” shares Dr Kniehl. “It is a combination of the perfect grinding system, the pressure system in the coffee machine, the water you are using, the filtration system and the beans. We can control pretty much everything except the water you are using. So, we decided to start with these new beans about a year ago and the feedback has been absolutely fantastic. You can use these beans for just about any coffee drink - from lattes to espresso to a cappuccino. It was really important for us to use fair trade beans, focused on using a small private roastery.”
I was lucky enough to stick around for a delicious latte and can happily report back that the coffee was delicious. Miele invites anyone to drop by and check out their coffee bar, check out a cooking class or simply browse their incredible range of appliances and products. It is an opening welcome space and is simply inspiring to anyone dreaming up their ideal kitchen space.
—
This post is in partnership with Miele Canada however all words and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting such an amazing brand like Miele here on The Archives of Cool.
