Miele announces future production 1st in USA

[daveamkrayoguy]

Same Brand Applinces vs. Different Brands, rule & exception:

I have a same brand washer and dryer, both Maytag to replace what were both Kenmore, and usually there's a preference for most appliance owners too make their laundry appliances both GE, both Whirlpool, both Westinghouse, both Norge, Frigidaire, etc.

 

I have a Samsung gas range and Samsung dishwasher, as they were both the best value, however my fridge is a Whirlpool and will likely make my next one that too, but as for my over-the-range microwave, I'm likely to make that a Samsung as well...

 

Small appliances, it's Kitchen Aid for the mixer, Cuisinart for the toaster, and for my juicer and my old food processor which recently got replaced by a Kitchen Aid, and I'd had a Black & Decker toaster oven from the late-in-laws, which got replaced by another one that I'd forgotten we'd had years ago that was kept in storage which we now use, and a Nutribullet, mini-blender, a Mr. Coffee--you know what--of which it's okay to just call him Fred...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[mattl]

In a spacious kitchen differing finishes are fine, nothing is close together. But in a typical kitchen when appliances are close or even next to each other differences in finish draw the eye and are obvious. The grain  in the stainless may be vertical with warm undertones with one manufacturer, while another may be horizontal with cool undertones, near each other it's obvious and detracts from the overall look.

 

[henene4]

Again, you can't take aw.org standards and apply them to economic principles.

I have matching sets for oven and induction cooker, washer and dryer and that's it.

Thing is MOST other people DON'T care about having the best everywhere and DO care about saving like 1000€ or $ on a kitchen remodel.

Here in the EU, that's even further to the point certain SKUs are ONLY made available through furniture retailers.
If you move enough volume, you get them cheaper. That's a big thing behind the package rebates, too.
Also, putting a lot of the cost onto the resellers. If a kitchen outlet buys like 500 ovens at once from the same company and gets them shipped to one central distribution hub, that saves production setup costs and distribution costs.
And since the furniture company had to ship all the cabinets anyway, letting them handle final delivery saves money for all partys involved.

When my mum bought her new kitchen, the difference between buying all the appliances with the furniture or just the furniture was only about 2000€.
Even at cheapest retail pricing, buying the appliances extra, that appliance set was 2500€ or more.
Could she have had a slightly better oven and cooker for just a little more? Yes, sure.

Is she perfectly happy with the 5 year warranty she got for free, having everything fitted by the installers and having stil very good appliances?

Very much so.

 

[novum]

For a high end brand like Miele, the margins are pretty huge at least by the industry standard, but it probably makes a lot more sense for them to manufacture closer to the market they're supplying.

 

None of Miele's EU manufacturing bases are low cost. They're probably more expensive than where they're headed in the US.

 

Miele has a following in the US, but it's been far too niche. There's no real reason why they wouldn't be a major success, if they took the market seriously, which they really hadn't been doing. It always seemed like they saw it as a bit of a toe in the water, just serving a few high end customers and that their main market was in Europe and that's where they were more comfortable.

 

Miele's also tends to be a high priced product for consumers who are not very price sensitive, so they're simply not going to start chasing Whirlpool or Haier or whoever. Their business model is much higher margin and lower volume.

 

Hopefully they get this right, as I would rather not see Miele making any kind of major misstep and ending up losing a fortune on an operation like this. It's a big investment for what is really not a giant company and they're one of the last very high end manufacturers with a dedication to the quality of the product that are still standing.