Meet Dr Miele, fourth generation of a family whose company's appliances do the thinking for you
IF CAFFÈ LATTES could be judged on their show-offability, then I am drinking an egomaniac. All froth on top, a distinctive layer of caffeine and then the milk bar below. While the person who made it no doubt had considerable barista abilities, the machine that whipped and brewed it into the perfect three-layer drink did much of the work.
And that's where we are with high-end appliances: they take over where our culinary skills are lacking. "There is less and less knowledge about cooking and housework being passed on through the generations, and we are putting what is being lost into the machine," says Dr Markus Miele (pronounced meelay), who recently flew into Dublin for the
opening party of the new Miele showroom, in Citywest.
Your parents might have stuck a knife or fork into a cake or roast to see if it was cooked, but you can now buy ovens that come complete with a probe that sticks into the food and tells you when it is perfectly done.
The oven also has a pipe that sucks up water and whooshes steam into, say, a loaf of bread at various intervals and then, near the end of the baking, slides a layer of glazing over the lot. Such steam injections also help fish and meat stay succulent, even if you've somehow cheated the computer and cooked them for too long.
While Dr Miele points out that the challenge for the company's designers is to create elegant, modern and timeless appliances that keep their looks, because they are designed to last for 20 years, you might want to hide evidence of the cookers, lest dinner guests realise that the culinary ability is not all yours.
That longevity of design and function gives the appliances thoroughly modern eco-credentials. Dr Miele says that one reason they don't get changed often is that "every new oven requires change and learning things in the manual, and few people like that" - although many kitchen companies, including Miele, Houseworks and Drumms, will show customers exactly what such cuisine machines can do by holding cooking demos in their showrooms.
Dr Miele is visiting Ireland with his business partner, Dr Reinhard Zinkann. They are the fourth generation to run the family business that began when their grandfathers met in a bar in their north German home town in 1899. Carl Miele was a technician who had already been in business with another technician, but it had ended badly. When he met Zinkann, a salesman, the men decided that their talents would work well together. But having been stung once, Herr Miele wanted the business to have just his surname, lest this second partnership fail. He needn't have worried: the company has now been in existence for 109 years.
"We have lasted through the depression of the 1930s and two world wars without any debts," says Dr Miele. He is sure that the company policy of never owing money has stood to them. Dr Zinkann admits he had an overdraft once, when he was a student, but his father's reaction made sure that never happened again.
While many appliances are in stainless steel and of a contemporary design, the company began with a wooden butter churn. Both of the founders had a farming background and knew how difficult it was to make butter. "They realised there was room for improvement in the type of wood, treatment of wood and its assembly."
They went ahead despite the fact that 40 other people were making butter churns within a 100km radius, and they have followed the motto of immer besser(always better) since then.
Having begun in the kitchen with a simple timber device, the company went via car, motorbike and bicycle production back to the kitchen again. There are still Miele bicycles being pedalled around Germany, but there is only one car they know of; it operated as a taxi in Norway until recently. They tracked it down and bought it for their museum. "It was still running," says Dr Miele, although he adds that they don't start it up now, "because we are anxious about spare parts".
So invention and improvement of products are core parts of the Miele business. One breakthrough was making the first dishwasher in Europe. "We produced it in 1929, and everyone thought we were mad because of the world crisis and the fact that it cost the same as it would to pay a housekeeper for three years," says Zinkann.
Next they started making ovens, at first getting a local plant to manufacture them and then going it alone when that company went bust.
A Miele appliance costs about twice as much as a standard product, with an entry-level oven selling for €899 and a top-of-the range version costing just under €3,000. Customers tend to be about 40 and are buying their second appliance. Women mainly make the decisions, but when their male partners come into the showroom for the final selection they tend to upgrade, apparently. Men are also more interested in all-brewing, steam-spewing coffee machines.
The built-in coffee maker was one of the company's inventions, says Dr Miele. "We look at what the customer does and wants, and look around the business in professional kitchens and regions. Our wok burner and steam oven came through the growing popularity of Asian and fusion food in Europe.
"Not all inventions are completely new but instead take things from a different perspective. We launched the in-built coffee machine in 1996, and, while it looks nice and clean, we didn't expect it to be the success it was."
They also came up with a honeycomb drum in washing machines that forms a film of water between the clothes and drum, meaning less wear and tear on fabrics.
Miele has also created a range for a new kitchen designed by Porsche and Poggenpohl, launched at the Design House Dublin showroom, at 30 Sir John Rogerson's Quay. This kitchen is designed to appeal to men, with its clean lines and handle-free cabinetry. Just 100 will be made every year worldwide; prices start at €90,000. (Many of us can remember a fairly recent time when you could buy a city-centre house for that.)
"We don't cater just for the needs of today but look forward five or 10 years," says Zinkann. So what's coming up? "Much more sensors and support," says Dr Miele, observing that we are just at the start of letting the appliances take on the brainwork. Not that we risk losing it by not using our cerebral matter; it should free us up to engage in more intellectual pursuits. Pointing to the fact that there used to be a whole washday every week, Zinkann quotes a German sociologist who said that such advanced appliances had done more for women's liberation than any politician.
Miele has 42 outlets worldwide and, says Dr Miele, one thing he does when looking to open in a new country is to go and see how many German cars are on the streets. Ireland's plethora of Mercs no doubt swung it for us.
The ethos of growing organically still stands, and the pair would love to hand their business over to their children, who are too young at the moment. "My son thinks I just sign documents and travel around the place on trains and planes," laughs Zinkann.
They stress that family members have to earn their place in the company management, through training and interviews. Their doctorates speak for some of the work the pair have done to get here, so their children would have to be willing and able. As Dr Miele says, "I would rather have a good painter or soccer player than a bad businessperson."
