When I bought my oven Masterchef was included. There was no option. I've used it twice in 8 years and could easily do without it. However, I've read posts from people who were buying the oven for Masterchef. It works well if you don't know how to cook, or aren't sure or don't want to bother. If the oven doesn't have it then attention really must be paid to learning the way the various combination heat settings work and which to use for what since this is European convection. Example: one of my favorite settings -- autoroast -- is a cold-oven setting. By that I mean no preheat is required. The food is started in a cold oven then both the broiler and oven element are engaged to sear and bring the oven up to temperature. Autoroast isn't suitable for a souffle. But it's great for roasting poultry, meat or veggies -- and terrific for Thanksgiving turkey which is heavy and cumbersome to put into a preheated oven. Learning the oven is well worth it IMO but the alternative to figuring it out is Masterchef settings. Depends on your needs.

Fran.... so true that they want you to buy the coffee. We have two of the My K Cups and use them sometimes. Hate to admit, I am too lazy, especially in the a.m., to mess with it. I like the Keurig so much that we would have eventually bought another one ourselves, when the budget allowed. So, I am happy and grateful that they gave us the new one. And here I sit, drinking my first cup for the day. lol You can get some good deals on the coffee on the website. We just got a free four pack of coffee cups in the mailbox the other day (and that was before we called about the machine leaking). Also, Bed Bath and Beyond has good prices, if you use their 20% off coupon. It is one little splurge, much cheaper than a Starbucks. We gave my older sister a smaller Keurig because we saw when we visited that she was making a pot of coffee in her ancient Mr Coffee, and drinking from that one pot until it was gone. :( she is very frugal. She loved the Keurig, then she told my DH that she was (somehow) reusing the K Cup. I don't know how she did that, but I would imagine it would make a very weak cup of coffee.

You are lucky with that kind of longevity. My own experience with the grind and brew was different. I went back to Melitta and french press. That is excellent CS.

If you need warranty service, your primary contact is the place you bought it from, as they are the party that you have a contract with. A lot of manufacturers offer to step into this responsibility, as they frequently are in a better position to deal with warranty claims. But they can set the terms of this service when they do that. This becomes a problem when manufacturers have a restricted network of authorized dealers. And it's on you to confirm this information or revert back to contacting the dealer instead of the manufacturer. This is a pretty common concept in many jurisdictions around the world, and the US isn't as exception. Amazon throws an extra wrinkle into this whole thing. I believe they might actually be an authorized dealer for Miele. But that's only true if they act in their role as dealer. They also happen to operate a market place where they facilitate third parties selling to customers. In that case, you are most likely dealing with an unauthorized dealer who sources their appliances on the grey market. They might even be customer-returns, or refurbished units. Not surprisingly, Miele is less excited about providing warranty service for these. Can you confirm that you bought directly from Amazon, or was it a third party that happened to sell on Amazon? That's important you know. And yes, if in doubt, Amazon is the best point of contact for you.