Very late to the party on this one, but... I have a kitchen full of Miele products (induction stove, oven, steam oven and dishwasher)...all great except the induction stove (KM5773). Since installation we have had the issue of the stove shutting off during operation. At first it happened only occasionally (every month or so) and was of course inconvenient when cooking dinner. However, the frequency of this issue has increased dramatically; happening every few days a few months back and now happening every. "Resetting the touch controls" as outlined on page 18 of the User Guide usually worked (~70%) with a trip to the basement to flip the breaker usually working the rest of the time, so this was more of a nuisance than anything. And my general thoughts at the time were that it's embarrassing for Miele to have designed such a high end stove top that costs $3000 be prone to a ridiculous DESIGN AND ENGINEERING FLAW. However, over the past several months we have had instances in which we could not even reset the stove...ruining meals, plans, experiences, etc. The capper was when my wife hired some chefs to come and cook for eight of us for a birthday celebration. A night half ruined when only some of the dishes were already finished. I'm appalled by the reliability of this unit. From the posts online, I'm of the mind that this is NOT isolated to just me and that Miele should consider a product recall...or at least a solution. I'm at wit's end with more ruinous experiences when I should be enjoying the not inexpensive equipment. Note -- Miele has a website with very positive reviews of their products...all suspiciously submitted on either September 5th or 6th of 2012. I've submitted the above review twice to no avail. You've been warned...caveat emptor

Sure, you can have great food and clean dishes from a cheap kitchen. Absolutely! My built-in fridge needs replacing after 20+ years because I can’t find parts for it anymore. You know what’s breaking? The gasket. Searched high and low and the gasket is extinct. The new fridges that would fit in the counter depth x 30” spot are all built-in or way too small. I can either redo the entire kitchen or spring for something that fits in the allotted space. I did look at everything. Many built-ins certainly are built for giants. Ridiculously tall. But I opened a SubZero Classic and simply fell in love. Sometimes it just comes down to that. Not in debt, not going into debt, it’s just a personal choice. And I have to wait a year to get it— the backlog is that long. And it better last 20 years! I will fix it so it does. Meanwhile I have duct tape and my daughter’s dorm refrigerator as a backup 😂

Harry - I DO get it. Expansion and growth are a rarity in a flat or down ecomnomy, even for the Ultra Wealthy. You must have made a fine professor, as you have macro economics down pat. I DO get it, the net worth of the majority of the world's wealthiest people is down, so is the majority of everyone's. Does this mean they flee to a financial bunker and stop spending? Heck no, some do , just like some of the merely rich do, just like some of the middle class does, and just like the everyone else. However, many are still out there doing things normally some are even bargain buying like never before: I didn't make up Rolls' or Gulfstream's #'s people are buying them! Even in a downturn big co.s are buying too: Delta just gobbled up Northwest and B of A just wrote a mega check for Merrill. Don't let the media persona of Buffet fool you. A few years back all he'd talk about was how flying commercial was the best thing to do and a private airplane was not smart. What's he do a bit later- buy a Gulfstream? No he buys an entire company full of private jets and keeps the largest Gulfstream there is on standby. Same with his home, his modest $200k +/- Omaha house is real enough, but what about his 15 million dollar place in SoCal that you don't hear about??? Same with his sob story about his secretary paying more INCOME tax than he does. That's because she MAKES MORE INCOME which is subject to income tax than he does. Think she pays more dividend income than he does? Who's AMT tax bill do you think is larger at year's end? Don't take the media's cookie cutter soundbites or eye candy as the absolute truth or big picture. Remember W.R. Hearst's contempt for the masses? "They'll belive what I tell them" Same is true in the media business today. He's an anomaly, the very wealthy spend trainloads of $$$ you just don't see or hear about it because the majority value privacy, anonimity, and their time above all else. DC - while I don't entirely disagree with the premise that the luxury goods sector is down as a whole like everything else, I do wonder about the sources of these stats? Some blogger from Orange Co. doesn't exactly instill confidence in me for the trends of the nation or world as a whole. I gave you 3 examples of rarely debated "luxury" items that have seen rises in sales during a weakening economy. I guess it boils down to what's going to be considered a luxury item and by whom. Does a $1000 Prada purse qualify, or is a luxury handbag more likely a Kelly Bag from Hermes at well into 5 figures these days? I don't think BMW qualifies anymore these days, but they are always included in "luxury car" rankings and catagories by most auto professionals. Another point I'd like to make that I think few around here get or agree with is that companies making luxury or high end goods don't rush to lower prices at the first signs of a downturn. Some not even after many quarters of neg. results , and some not ever. It defeats the purpose of positioning an item or company as "luxury" or " high end" if you are going to start charging lower prices because sales drop. You either create more demand or a better value proposition or you deal with flat or no growth for a while till you figure it out. Some don't and they fold. Businessmen with any seasoning and experience accept that slaes go up and down just like stock prices and comodity prices. They hope that the broader trend is a rise in the metrics that they use to manage and measure their business. So , don't count on a cut rate deal from Sub Zero , Viking or Meile in the frist part of next year or even at all. Long before they consider lower prices you'll see "incentives" like fridge, oven and cooktop full price DW at 25% off or Viking will throw in a set of their knives when you buy theri range. Miele might extend their warranty another couple of years but I'll bet the farm you won't see a sale from a German firm.

To me, there's nothing wrong with mixing "high end" and lower cost, functional good-quality kitchen components. More important to me is to avoid the waste implied in buying things that will not last or that will certainly become unfashionable. I live in a working class neighborhood, mostly little 1950s houses with lots of retirees, including myself. Although our lot is on a lake, this property will NEVER command top dollar because of the settlement pattern of the community. The recession has really hurt home values here; I thought our house was $275,000 to $300,000 because of previous improvements, but I believe that it's now $220,000 and that was before we launched a major addition, geothermal, and new siding, etc. No matter what we sink into the house, it's for us, not for resale or peer pressure. We have decided to retain the 30 inch refrigerator we bought last year (an emergency purchase) but to put it in a position where a larger unit could some day fit. No wooden housing around it. We are keeping our old electric range, but are adding a portable induction burner that can be set out on the countertop to increase functionality. There is room for another oven on a wall outside our new G shaped kitchen, but I don't think I will be the one to buy it (unless my grown children move back to live nearby); a portable roaster oven will suffice to augment the baking and roasting for large gatherings. We use our outdoor gas grill in all seasons for grilling. My husband enjoys the ritual of being the griller and he shovels the access space before dinner parties. The broiler in the old range suffices if he doesn't want to venture outdoors. We are retaining our existing dishwasher. Our big innovation is to add a second sink to the kitchen. All sinks and appliances are white. My muse is the idea of a "workshop kitchen." I am not trying to reproduce any particular theme, unless it is a farm kitchen that processes a lot of food in season. I do hope to make the kitchen work as a functional, welcoming space for myself and husband now that we're empty nesters and for events when we have visitors, whether large or small groups. Laminate for countertops is sufficient and my ego does not require anything more dazzling on the countertops, although there will be slabs of butcherblock on either side of the stove. Hubby decided to go with hardwood floor and install it and finish it himself, although I was ready to order the vinyl. We have found a local cabinetmaker who said he would meet the price of a sample plan of readymade cabinets from the Big Box home stores. Now, we're adding custom touches to the cabinetry plans, not in decorative features but real utility features, such as tapping the space that was wasted in "spacers" between boxes. All materials are American made, or American harvested. Except for the old siding and walls and flooring, very little is going to the landfill. Furnace went to the scrap metal guy. My own eccentricities will add all the "pop" and pizzaz that this kitchen will need. Fabric, color, laminate choice, color of stain, art, displays of collections-- a creative outlet without a high end price tag. We have splurged on a bank of windows and a few light fixtures (No, we're not putting in "cans" because the ceiling feeds to an attic where we're fighting heat loss.) We are working very hard to live within our means, following the requirements of good sense and ignoring consumer manias. When I get myself too fired up about making a more upscale purchase, I remind myself that the photos, the ad copy, the home shows and the open houses, are all there to facilitate SELLING, not living. Here in Minnesota, where granite is quarried, I know that some of the rock countertops are fairly reasonable, but as I have declared elsewhere on this forum, I refuse to purchase anything that is sold with a "how to care for it" bottle of something and some warnings about how to protect the finish. In many ways, by definition, I am free from the pressures that other posters feel in order to keep up with the neighborhood, to make a kitchen that defines a house value, or to prepare for the brutal house market. I don't envy the young and broke. But I was there once and I not only survived but thrived on it. The original kitchen in this house was painted baby blue without concern for the cathair? gobs in the paint and the kitchen 'table' had a hinge so we could access the refrigerator. My hubby and my carpenter father and a different local cabinetmaker came up with a sufficient re-do that we have appreciated since right before the Bicentennial. I raised two sensible daughters in that modest kitchen. This doesn't mean I'm not agonizing over choices today, though. "Leave me alone, I'm thinking!" is a common mantra right now. Today's musing: Do I want to order fancier cupboard doors? It's always something. Enjoy your day. Florantha