Hi everyone, Today I’ll be reviewing the Miele Washing Machine, model
W1 WDB030.

Here is the review in video form:

And below is the text version of this review:

About the Manual:

The machine comes with a very thorough 77 page manual which will talk you through instructions for first use and through all the specific customizable options the machine has. In this review: we’ll look at the main everyday-use aspects of this machine.

About the Exterior Build:

DOOR:

The whole exterior build of this Miele washing machine feels and looks to be of high quality.

Looking at the door, you can see the door hinges are on the right and it opens to the right. It has an orange line to show you where the handle is. and it’s a simple pull-to-open door, and is easy to close shut with a click.

About the Interior Build of this Miele Washing Machine:

DRUM & ITS CAPACITY:

The spacious drum fits a maximum of 7kg worth of dry clothing.
This is the maximum load for the Cottons cycle though I should note that different cycles have different weight limits. For a delicate wash for example, the maximum recommended load is only 2kg, and for your quick Express load, which is the one I use very often, the maximum load is 3.5kg.

If you put smaller loads in the machine than the maximum that it can hold, the manual says that the machine has an “automatic load control sensor” that adjusts the amount of water and energy used, depending on the size of your load.

Another thing I’d note about the drum, is that it’s positioned a little lower down than the drums of some other machines, which is something we noticed when we tried to close the door for the first time, and our normal laundry basket got in the way, which it never did with our old machine.

DRAWER FOR DETERGENT & FABRIC CONDITIONER

The drawer has 3 compartments:
1.) The first space is for your powder or liquid detergent, which you add according to the amounts specified on the detergent packaging.
2.) The second space is for washes where you have selected to do a pre-wash, and in this case you’d put a third of the detergent amount into this pre-wash section, and two thirds into the main detergent section
3.) The final compartment is for your fabric conditioner, which again, you add according to the amount specified on the packaging of your chosen product.

A few things I’d note about this drawer:
One point is that it’s built to accommodate the special Miele capsules, which is why it has unusual little protruding bits that other machines don’t have. But using their capsules is absolutely optional. I tend to use my regular fabric conditioner here myself.

Another point I thought I’d mention is that the manual says that it’s normal for a little bit of water to collect here in the fabric conditioner compartment after a cycle, so don’t worry if you see that happening.

Wash Programmes

PROGRAM DIAL

After we’ve put everything we need into the drawer, we can move onto the programme-selection dial and select the program we want to run.

We have quite a few programs to choose from:

There are two cotton options:
a.) The first one is the more eco-friendly cotton option, marked by a little tag-like symbol. And this cycle uses the least amount of energy and water consumption.

b.) The second Cotton option is the normal wash that is less eco-friendly, but is a little quicker.

The eco-friendly Cotton cycle lasts just about 3 hours, whilst the normal cotton wash lasts around 2 hours 30 minutes. although you do have an option to shorten both of these if you select the “Short” button on the control panel. If you press this Short button, you can see it makes the eco-friendly cotton cycle go from 2 hours 59 to 2 hours 12 minutes, and the normal cotton cycle is shortened from 2 hours 29 to 2 hours 1 minute at 60’C, or if you lower the temperature to 40’C, it lowers the duration of this cycle to only 1 hour 24 minutes.

Other cycles you can run are:
– the Minimum Iron Cycle which is for synthetic and mixed fibres,
– the Delicates wash for things like silk clothing, lingerie, and net curtains,
– the Woollens cycle
– a special wash for shirts,
– a separate rinse / Starch option
– a drain / spin option
– a cycle for proofing which you may use for things like skiwear,
– one for outerwear like coats and jackets,
– a cycle for dark garments or denim,
– and lastly you have a useful, time-saving Express cycle,

Of all of these options, the two I use the most are the quick Cotton cycle which I use for things that need a really good wash like bath towels or gym clothes, and the Express wash which I use for things that aren’t really very dirty but just need a quick wash to freshen them up.

With the Express mode it decreases your wash cycle to 20 minutes, and you have the option to lengthen it to 30 minutes if you feel that 20 minutes isn’t quite long enough and you’d like a slightly longer clean, which is what I tend to do.

PROGRAM CUSTOMIZATION PANEL

To the left of the program dial is the touch-screen customization panel this gives you the options to customize all your cycles.

You can:

• adjust the temperature from a cold wash right up to a very hot 90’C
• you can change the spin from a low 600rpm to a more substantial wringing cycle of 1,400rpm;
• you can select the Short option, which I’ve already showed you, or you have a few more options here like
• the Water Plus button, which you’d use to increase the amount of water in the machine if you feel you need it
• And you have a pre-wash option and a soak option, which you might want to use for particularly dirty or stained clothing.

Not all options are available for every program. The available options will be the ones that are lit up dimly, and the ones that are greyed out or not lit, are not available to you.

As you touch to select an option, it beeps to let you know it has registered your touch (although you do have the option to turn off the beeps if you prefer a silent interaction with the machine).

Aside from the beeps to let you know your touch was registered, the selected option also goes from dimly lit to brightly lit to let you know it’s selected. The difference between the dimly lit unselected option and the brightly lit selected options is a little bit subtle – I would have ideally liked to have seen the difference to be more obvious, but it’s still clear enough to work with.

If you’re wondering what the buttons are that look a little like a pair of shorts or boxer underwear, these are the buttons you’d use if you’re using the special Miele capsules – but you don’t need to worry about them if you don’t use these capsules.

The clock and arrows on the right of the panel allow you to delay the start of the machine so that you can time it to start at whatever time you like – for example when electricity prices are most economical at night.

What this Miele Washing Machine is like in Use:

When you’ve put in all your clothes, detergent, fabric softener and selected your custom program, you’re ready to start the cycle, and you do that by pressing the touch-screen green start button on the control panel.

The machine signals the beginning of the wash cycle by making a locking clock-like sound as the door locks shut, and this is also visibly indicated by this lock icon appearing on the control panel.

10 minutes after the cycle starts, the light display on the control panel (the display that has the countdown-till-the-end-of-the-cycle timer) shuts off to save energy. If you want the countdown timer to show up again, you can press the green start/stop button to get the display to come up again.
This pressing of the start/stop button to wake up the display won’t interrupt the cycle at all.

If you’d rather the countdown-display stays on all the time and would prefer it not to shut down, there is that option available – you can customize the settings to keep the display on continuously.

Noise Levels of Machine in Use

In use, I found the machine to be significantly quieter compared to my previous washing machine.

It has a varied repertoire of sounds throughout various stages of the cycle, but in my opinion, none are loud or high pitched enough to be intrusive, and overall I’d say that for a washing machine, this one is on the quieter side.

To give you an idea of the noise levels of this machine:
we had the washing machine on in our utility room with the door to the adjoining kitchen open while we were having dinner in the kitchen. We noticed that a plane passing high over our house could be heard through our double-glazed windows more loudly than this Miela washing machine’s sounds – so I thought that was pretty good! Particularly since with our previous machine it was so loud that we definitely wouldn’t have been able to hear if a plane was passing overhead when the machine was on.

The loudest part of the cycle is the Spin cycle part, but even that isn’t *too* loud.

What happens when the cycle ends?

When the cycle finishes, unlike some other machines, it doesn’t make any beeps or chimes to indicate it’s finished. We use a separate timer to beep for us and remind us to take out the clean washing.

As soon as the machine finishes its cycle, an anti-crease function kicks in which keeps the clothes gentle moving every so often for up to 30 minutes after a cycle has finished to prevent creases developing. You can switch this anti-crease function off if you prefer.

To switch off the machine at the end of the cycle, you press the start/stop button, return the dial to closed position and take out the clean washing.

Effectiveness of Cleaning & Wringing: What are the Results like?

In terms of how well it cleaned our clothes, we were very happy with this machine’s performance. The clothes came out looking and smelling clean and fresh. In the specs the machine was given an A rating for washing performance and we’d definitely agree with that.

In terms of how well-wrung-out the clothes came out of the machine: Before using this washing machine I was a little concerned to read in the specs that this machine only got a B rating for spin performance rather than an A rating, and the specs also said that the clothes would have 53% residual moisture after a wash, as opposed to other machines which retain a lower percentage of moisture.

I was afraid this would mean the clothes would come out sopping wet, but I was pleasantly surprised that they weren’t at all sopping wet, and to be honest, to the touch, I didn’t really notice a huge difference in dampness between 53% residual moisture and 40-something percent residual moisture of our previous machine.

Having said that, I did notice that I had to add about 10-20 minutes extra drying time to the tumble dryer to get the clothes completely dry compared to the washing wrung out by my previous washing machine, so in that sense I can understand why this machine was given a B rating for spin performance.

Other Features to note

A feature I liked and find really useful is that this machine has indicator lights that automatically come on to helpfully give you alerts if you’ve, for example used too much detergent, or it lets you know when it’s time to clean your machine with a high temperature wash to help keep the machine itself clean, or it even alerts you if there are faults with the drainage or water inflow.

Summary Pros & Cons

PROS

• Good-sized load capacity
• Easy and intuitive to use
• A large amount of programs available (12 programmes available)
• Cycles very customizable
• Large temperature range: cold-90’C
• Large spin range: 600- 1400 rpm
• Beeping in controls optional
• Cleans very well: A-rated washing performance,
• Eco-friendly option
• It has a useful and quick Express cycle option (20-30 minutes)
• “Shortening” option available for almost all the cycles
• Quiet
• Timer delay function

CONS

• For us the low drum was a slight disadvantage because it meant our laundry basket didn’t fit below the door for easy use
• The shortest substantial full wash time cycle is about 1.5 hours long, which is a little on the long side in my opinion
• I would have preferred the machine to wring out the clothes a little better to reduce tumble drying times.
  (53% residual moisture / B-rated spin cycle. Clothes left quite wet after wringing cycle and require longer tumble drying cycle)
• I haven’t mentioned this yet but as well as some water being left in the fabric conditioner drawer, we found that some detergent and fabric conditioner residue remains in the drawer after a cycle too and it needs to be wiped away, which something you’d need to do with all machines.
• Needs maintenance / hygiene high temperature wash about once a week if you use the machine as often as we do (which is several washes every day). The plus sign indicator light pops up about once a week for us. This makes this machine higher maintenance than our old machine.
• And finally, the machine has no end of cycle chime

Overall Thoughts & Rating

Overall, taking all the pros and cons into consideration,
I’d give this washing machine a solid 4.5 / 5 rating.
My overall feeling was that this is a high quality washing machine that does an excellent job.

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Related Products

Here are some related washing machine products on Amazon for UK and US visitors:

From Amazon UK (amazon.co.uk) :
From Amazon USA (amazon.com) :

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Disclaimer:
I was sent this Miele W1WDB030 Washing Machine from the company ao.com to honestly and thoroughly test and review it for them. Please note that although I was sent the washing machine for reviewing purposes, this isn’t a sponsored or endorsed blog post, and all opinions in this review are entirely honest and are entirely my own.