Above image: More than 23,000 visitors experienced Miele’s The Invisible Kitchen at Zona Tortona during the Milan Design Week.

One of the best stands at EuroCucina at Salone del Mobile in Milan this year was the Miele exhibit. Large and glittering, the ranges were displayed to perfection presenting a plethora of new and exciting products that blurred the lines of the professional chef and the home cook. Coming to terms with the quantity of product on display was made easy with a guided tour of all that was new by managing director, Sjaak Brouwer, and brand ambassador, Shannon Bennett.

Miele, always at the forefront of product innovation and technological advancement, did not disappoint the thousands of visitors who journeyed to Milan to see the latest in kitchen appliances at EuroCucina this year. While many companies presented new products, the vastness of the Miele offering was, well, almost overwhelming. Take, for instance, the refrigerator with the blackboard façade. A simple idea, yet so practical. No more pinboards or paper, just the perfect place to write notes or shopping lists. Then there’s the 45-centimetre wine conditioner with touch opening. If you accidentally touch it and it opens, it understands and closes to keep the temperature stable for the wine. You can actually smell the scent of the wooden racks! And, as Shannon Bennett notes, it’s a good size refrigerator to install, not only in the kitchen, but even in a bedroom!

One of the most innovative products on offer, however, was a cooking plate with TempControl. Brouwer explains, “What TempControl does is it regulates the temperature in the pan. When you lift the pan you can see a little sensor and the sensor always monitors the temperature inside the pan. But usually in traditional cooktops, you switch on to, let’s say, a setting of seven or eight and then the temperature goes up to that point. But it doesn’t stop, it goes on and on, it gets hotter and hotter, and then you get the burning element, right? So, when you set the temperature, for example, to make pancakes or eggs, it stabilises the temperature at the right temperature; you can actually walk away and it doesn’t burn. So it’s a really convenient feature to have.”

Bennett says, “Even in commercial environments we don’t have technology like this. This allows you to cook [for example] a steak evenly on both sides… [This technology] basically measures the residual heat in the pan. So from a scientific point of view, it will be the first time ever a home appliance will actually generate into a commercial appliance, and you’ve got technology in your home, potentially, that other professional chefs would be envious of.”

Another ground-breaking product on display was a new range cooker. Already launched in the US and coming to Australia next year in three sizes, 60-, 45-and 30-inch (152-, 114- and 76-centimetre), the cooker includes the plate, cooktop, speed oven and warming drawer. All the appliances you need in one. There will also be new combination ovens with one product that includes a microwave and a steam oven to cover the range of cooking options.

One of the most interesting of the new products, however, was the vacuum sealing drawer and steam oven combination. Vacuum sealing food has many benefits such as compact storage and no freezer burn on foods but also allows for sous vide cooking. This product will be launched in September and should be a winner.

Brouwer explains, “So, for the vacuum, there are three vacuum functions, in terms of strength: 100 percent, then about 70 percent and then 50 percent. In sealing terms, it can seal fully, because the bags that Miele provides are really commercial grade –very, very heavy… And there is the container setting and, if you’re doing something delicate, even certain things like sponges and desserts, you can actually vacuum pack them through containers. But with the sous vide you can actually cook things like a piece of fish perfectly, or a lamb leg for three hours, for instance, in a vacuum pack bag. Just marinate the meat in the larger bag, and then place in the sous vide and three hours later you’ve got melt in the mouth roast lamb or braised lamb with all the flavour still inside the bag. Fantastic!”

Along with new technology, Miele is always ahead of aesthetic trends. This year it’s all about being ‘handle-less’. Of course, there are the many products with handles, but there will be a full range of handle-less appliances available in three colours – white, black and graphite grey. Brouwer says, “This is definitely a trend in general and we see more and more, that people are having this handle-less kitchen.” With the variety of products and finishes on offer, however, there are many different ways to customise appliances. “So, it’s not one trend; it’s more than one trend. It’s just about tapping into that opportunity,” adds Brouwer. “We can offer with handles, we can offer without handles, we can offer with handles we call signature, so you can actually make it very individual and personal, so there are a lot of options we can play with.”

Miele’s slogan of ‘Immer Besser’, or ‘Forever Better’, is certainly working overtime with a vast array of new products to be launched into the Australian market this year and into 2017, but it won’t stop there. There has never been a better time to be a home chef with the opportunity to use appliances that mirror the professional products. It’s all about bringing the best products to the general public and making life easier in the kitchen. As Brouwer succinctly says, “At Miele we don’t take anything for granted and we have to invest in the brand and we have to invest in our consumers.”

The investment is definitely paying off with new products such as these that, together with the Miele guarantee of quality and customer service, present a complete offering.

Forever better? It certainly is.

www.miele.com.au