Hi - I have a Gaggenau, just put it in, it's pretty good. It uses quite a bit of coffee beans though. Otherwise, the flavor is good, it heats up fast.

I have the Miele and view it as the best of the available built in superautomatics. The CVA-4066 (US Model) is directly plumbed to a 1/4" PEX water supply line preventing the user from having to constantly fill it with water. It holds a full pound of beans, has a pre-grind bypass function, steams and foams milk for you, makes cappuccinos and latte macchiatos for you without having to manually steam a milk jug (It works by filling a thermos jug with milk and inserting it into position in the door, the machine pumps and heats the milk automatically when the beverage calls for it.)

The beverage quality is quite good and it is wonderful to walk out into the kitchen in the morning, grab a cup, put it under the spout and push the button for coffee or espresso.

My biggest reason for selecting the Miele was the ease of maintenance. You open the door to get at all user-serviceable components. They all pull right out of the machine. The bean container and water container, waste container, and brew group all come right out for cleaning and or filling. None of the other coffee systems I looked at had anywhere near as sophisticated a setup for maintenance.

Was it worth it? To me, absolutely. If it died tomorrow I would probably just go get another because I am so spoiled by the convenience. And I so much enjoy not having to worry about constantly keeping pots of coffee brewed for all of our morning and breakfast guests. We go through a lot of coffee and it gets to be a pain in the rear having to constantly make a new pot. You NEVER worry about that with the Miele. I tell people where the cups are, show them what button to push and let them get their own coffee. The Miele can keep up with more people than I could ever fit in my house.

Mojavean - thanks for the info. I have the meile 4066 on my to purchase list. I really like having the water already plumbed. I was wondering if we would miss the "pot" of coffee, but I think we'd waste a lot less coffee by making only what we need

I think Mojavean offers some very good suggestions. If you are wanting push button, immediate, caffeine delivery systems, SuperAutos are a viable option.

For similar funding you have options for espresso machines (which you can plumb in as well), that will deliver an artisinal espresso experience, but will also require more effort or your part.

Worth the money? That depends. You can get better tasting coffee and espresso for less, but you will also need more involvement. Do you want to be or just press a button and go? How much is your time worth under the circumstances?

I would urge you to try a demo and see if you are happy with the results.

Splendid points, Covington. I think I would like to expand a bit on the demo aspect of all of this. Miele has a few manufacturer storefronts or "galleries" dotted about the USA. In addition, some authorized retailers have demo units set up (I think mostly so that they can grab a cup of coffee whenever they want.)

Anyway, if you go the the Miele website and lookup the nearest gallery, give them a call and request a full demo of the coffee system. Tell them you want to bring your own beans (there is no telling what they will have in their demo units) and try tailoring your own coffee.

You can dial in the amount of coffee, the fineness or coarseness of the grind, the amount of coffee used, the prebrew (ground saturation and pause), the temperature of the water, the amount of water dispensed for each beverage, and probably a few things I can't remember but am too lazy to get up and check. Anyway, you get at all of these functions via the settings menu on the machine. (except for the grind setting which is done via a mechanical lever inside the door.)

So bring your favorite cup (that way you can see if it will fit in the Miele warming drawer) and anything else you will consume testing the system. Then run the thing using the settings menu to optimize the brew according to your own tastes. If you can get a cup out of it that you really enjoy then you are looking at the right machine. If not, you have saved yourself some money by finding out beforehand that the Miele won't do what you want.

But be sure to try those settings before dismissing the machine as incapable.

I am considering buying a gaggeneu (sp). does anyone have any experience with these coffee systems?

Yes, when I was researching coffee systems, one of the units I considered was the Gaggenau. They are rebadged Electrolux Icon coffee systems.

The Electrolux units are mounted to the cabinetry on rails and the whole machine has to be pulled out of the wall in order to add coffee. My wife and I were looking at one of the rebadged (this one was a Dacor) units at a large appliance dealer. I pulled the machine out to inspect where the coffee and water were added; the whole machine started to tip out of the wall. Turned out they had not adequately secured the rear of the rails in the showroom cabinetry.

Reviews of the Electrolux derivatives sort of put me off of all of them, but once I got a look at how you had to pull the entire machine out of the wall in order to add coffee beans, ground coffee for bypass ops, and most especially, water, I decided against them. But there for awhile I was seriously considering the Gaggenau. They had a guy selling them on ebay for about a grand and it was sure tempting. In the end it came down to ease of maintenance and user serviceability (for such things as adding supplies, etc.) that sold me on the Miele.

One thing if you do decide to go with the Gaggenau is to be careful where you mount it if you have any shorter coffee drinkers in the household. It must not be mounted too high because the shortest person in the house may have to fill it with coffee and the beans have to be poured into a hopper on top of the machine.

moja - what lead you to the conclusion that BSH was sourcing their coffee machines from Electrolux? The machines don't look at all similar to me, and certainly not a direct re- badge.

Also, it would be VERY uncharacteristic of a huge multi-national like Bosch going to another for something they could do in house. Now the machines under the Bosch, Gaggenau and Thermador labels are petty much the same unit sans badges. I'm also thinking that the BSH offerings were around long before Electrolux even offered a system for sale. Thinking I put one in or project manager's condo around 05' when they had just come out.

FWIW - Dacor's unit was made for them by Kuppersbusch and it looks to me like the Elux one is very very similar to it right down to 8 selection buttons with exactly the same features butoon for button. Perhaps the biggest giveaway in my mind is the blue lighting they all share. No one else's units have that and it's kinda been a signature look of Kuppersbusch fro the start.

I'll also hazzard a guess that Elux may well bring in a unit from their AEG division to take this thing's place. I'm supposing it's a UL approval issue, and Kbusch has long rebadged their units for others and has UL approval already in place.

Woops. Antss is right. It's been over a year since I was doing my hunting. The Gaggenau is a BOSCH rebadge, not an Electrolux.

My analysis of the usability aspects still applies to the Gag, though. You have to pull the machine out of the wall to load coffee and water.

Interestingly, the newer style Kuppersbusch machine, not available when I was hunting for our machine, does have bean and water loading through the front panel, though not as elegantly as the current Mieles.

RE; built in coffee maker. I have an Electrolux ICON built in coffee maker. It is telling me to, fill water tank, and It is already full. HELP !! I love this machine and can't find anyone to help me fix it. Electrolux knows nothing. It was discontinued in 2008.

Here is a link that might be useful: built in coffee maker

Look to see if there is a float built into the side of the tank. The little sliding float has a magnet in it that activate the fill water tank switch. If the float is stuck it won't float. Empty the water and try tapping the area around the float to loosen it.

I know this is an old thread. Wondering if you still love your Miele. I am 99% done with my cabinet design and need to decide if I am installing a built in coffee maker or not.

would love to hear any other comments. THX

I know you are asking about Miele but we have a Wolf built-in and it has been a gift during this shelter-in-place. I had eliminated my Starbucks trips before the SIP but my husband had not. Since SIP he has been using and loving the built-in coffee-maker. We make capuccinos and lattes.

Hi all, do any of you with built-ins have an opinion regarding higher than typical installation? I would like to install a Bosch flush with upper cabinetry making it approx. 18 above counter height. This will give us a little more counter space in this area of the kitchen which isn’t absolutely necessary but would be more aesthetically appealing. The machine we demo-ed had the controls at eye level but I don’t see there being much difficulty with the unit being about 6 in higher (we aren’t a short family).

Our built-in coffee maker is above our wall oven. The controls are 29 inches above the counter top and 66 inches from the floor. I'm 5'6 and my husband is 6'1. It works well for us. The one and only time I have gotten out a step stool is to see if the beans were clogging the unit (we refill from the top).

As a side note, during this pandemic, we have definitely gotten our money's worth for this machine with both of us using it multiple times per day (versus the trips to Starbucks).

So Miele and Wolf are the fave built-ins? Is there a reason you chose them over the Thermador?

Honestly, I don't remember looking at the Thermador.