A built-in refrigerator is a big investment—is Miele the best brand to buy?
Whether you’re renovating your kitchen or replacing an older model, your fridge is critical to your kitchen’s look and flow.
And a built-in one can add a valuable high-end finish. But since it’s a fixture of your home, you want to be sure it’ll really last.
I’m here to walk you through Miele’s built-in fridge options.
In this article, I’ll introduce you to Miele’s lineup and its pros. Stick around, and I’ll mention some cons you should keep in mind too.
Table of Contents
Features
Mieles have features other high-end fridges don’t.
In addition to the dual compressors and high-end water and air filtration that are pretty much standard now, Mieles have unique Push2Open doors.
That means you give the door a gentle push and it opens—no need for a handle.
It’s ideal if you want a sleek, modern kitchen. Prefer a handle? No problem. You can switch off this feature.
We’re fans of Miele’s fingerprint-proof stainless steel. My colleague has two little kids and a Miele fridge at home, and he can’t remember ever seeing a smudge on it.
Miele makes all its steel at its own refinery to the exact same specs, so every appliance matches in terms of the grain, color, and shine.
Mismatches or blemishes can be an issue with other fridges since the front is such a big panel of steel. That’s the kind of thing that could drive you crazy.
With Miele, you get a smooth, consistent look on your fridge and other appliances.
The fingerprint resistant finish is embedded in the steel, and as I mentioned, we’ve found it really is smudgeproof.
It’s also easy to clean with a microfiber cloth.
Miele fridges have superior interior lighting. Three LED strips on the sides go from front to back.
Other fridges might have square lights that hit only the front. It’s a nice, high-end feature you’ll appreciate every time you open the door. You’ll be able to see everything, front to back, even when your fridge is full of food.
A couple other things to note: All of Miele’s 84-inch-tall true built-in fridges have an ice maker and Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi connectivity sends you door open alerts, and lets you control the temperature from your phone.
One particularly useful setting is the Super button. This lowers the freezer temp to -22 degrees for 12 hours to flash freeze everything inside, then adjusts it back to your usual temp.
It’s great for people who like to cook freezer meals ahead of time or storage summer vegetables—or just refreeze softened ice cream or desserts.
They’re all available in stainless steel or with a panel-ready front for cabinetry.
Here’s a pro tip: If you order a stainless steel Miele fridge, it’s going to stick out about three quarters of an inch from your cabinets.
If you want a flush install, order a panel ready model with separate stainless steel panels. It’ll fit seamlessly.
In this article, we’re focusing on Miele’s fully featured MasterCool series true built-in fridges.
Miele also makes a PerfectCool series of built-in fridges. These are meant to give you Miele quality at a lower price point, but they’re shorter and lack a lot of the features of the MasterCool series.
Now let’s talk details, starting with the styles Miele offers.
Styles
Miele doesn’t make a 48-inch-wide fridge like some of its premium competitors.
But you can get the same amount of cold storage by combining columns, individual fridge, freezer, and wine cooler units in different widths.
Miele makes fridge columns in 24, 30 and 36 inch widths. Its freezer columns come in 18, 24, 30 and 36 inch widths.
Columns can end up being more expensive than a single fridge, but you can put pieces together to get exactly what you need.
One thing to note here: The 18-inch freezer column comes only with a left hinge, so keep that in mind when planning your setup.
Miele also makes a 24-inch three-zone wine cooler column with the same nice interior LED strip lighting and 13 solid acacia wood racks.
Popular ways to combine the columns include a 36-inch fridge plus a 36-inch freezer, for maximum space.
Putting a 30-inch fridge together with an 18-inch freezer gives you that classic 48-inch width.
People who want the most fresh storage in an efficient space should consider a 30-inch fridge column plus a 24-inch bottom mount freezer fridge.
Speaking of those, Miele makes 24, 30, and 36-inch true built-in bottom mount freezer fridges. It also makes a 36-inch French door fridge with a single bottom freezer drawer.
We love that Miele’s French door fridges don’t have a flap in the center the way most other brands do. You don’t have to close one door before the other to get a perfect seal.
Sum Up
To sum up all the pros, Miele fridges can be installed fully flush and have a Push2Open door that doesn’t even require a handle.
You can get a really sleek finish. They have a unique stainless steel finish and lighting you’ll love.
And they come in a variety of widths you can mix and match. I already mentioned the only major con: Unlike with Sub-Zero and other premium brands, you can’t get one large fridge-freezer unit.
I’ll also point out that Miele interiors and shelves are plastic, not stainless steel as you’ll find with pricier competitors.
And they have fewer bells and whistles than mainstream brands like Samsung or LG—no cameras here.
Finally, you can paint a custom cabinet panel any color you like, but you can’t buy a custom color fridge from Miele—for that, you have to go to someone like Smeg, BlueStar, or True Residential.