Miele CM 6110/6310

Poor Performance, Poor Customer Service – First point is performance. The machine does not make the the milk hot enough. My wife complained from day 1. We returned the first machine to Miele and got a second one. Same problem. She has to heat the milk in the microwave. Not quite an automatic machine. Second is the customer service. After about 18 months, I took my machine to my… Read more

dealer (I thought it was a one year warranty) for service for a fault F80. Both my dealer and I have been trying to get a response of any kind (other than automated) from Miele Customer service. Not a peep. Just sent off another email today.

Great coffee, frustrating inconsistent programming – Makes really great coffee. Heats up very fast and can make coffee after coffee with no loss of temperature. Must be cleaned a huge amount of times more than any other machine we have had. The programming however is very frustrating as it will decide to make a different coffee than what you have asked and then when you cancel it the machine goes… Read more

into a cleaning cycle that takes a lot of time. So much so that we just go to work and buy a coffee.

Also decides arbitrarily that it will not make any coffee until you clean the milk pipework - we never make milk coffee! Again this takes time when you just want to get out the door in the morning.

Similarly it will not proceed with out the pucks being empties and the waste water cleared even when they are clean.

Very frustrating - this is the second machine due to these issues and is going back.

HOWEVER it makes great coffee.

Absolutely brilliant coffee machine – I'll preface that I am a Miele fan. However when our older Philips/Saeco coffee machine decided to go to coffee machine heaven, we weren't completely sold on getting another Philips/Saeco, as it lasted only 3 years. Now 3 years I guess is a long time in today's world of disposable appliances. There are so many little things that can go wrong with… Read more

these machines. Complication can lead to poorer reliability. But after trying several machines and also looking at this guys little brother (CM6110), and older brother (CM7500), it was sort of a Goldilocks moment. The little one didn't have enough to justify its cost, and the larger was just that, too big for our small inner city sized kitchen, with nearly zero bench top space.

As is the norm now-a-days, I pour over the net to find reviews, the good and the bad and everything in between. It seemed that everyone who owned one, LOVED it. I could seriously not find one review, blog, blog or otherwise with any negatives. Obviously the cost was the only downfall.

After trying all three at our local gallery in Frenchs Forest, we debated a good half hour, sipping on our coffee, which to be honest was pretty amazing. My partner had made 3 shot coffees almost everyday (except weekends) for the last 3 years' that's quite a bit of coffee. And figuring we paid about $900 for the P/S, we were content that we got our money's worth. We looked at it as no matter the upfront cost, it would be much cheaper in the long run, rather than buying 3 coffees a day at $4 a coffee. This came to approx. $9400, which is 3 coffees per weekday (261 avg calendar weekdays a year) for approx. 3 years. So it absolutely paid for itself many times over. We would have gotten the CM7500, but the lack of space stopped us (it's really pretty big).

So the CM6310 was $1599 plus the $249 Miele Service Certificate (definitely recommended) brought the grand total to $1848 plus a bit more for the obligatory cleaning tablets and such, as the machine only comes with descaling tablets, but not the milk cleaner et cetera. Even at this price, it's a bargain. Paying for itself very quickly.

Once we got it home, I immediately set it up. Super easy to do so. It's a great site, looks great, and is as silent as a mouse compared to our old one. I do, however wish that the milk flask could have been integrated into the machine somehow, as its not a functional issue, but rather an aesthetic one. After de-boxing and reading (which means skimming) over the directions, we set it up and ran a few cups of water through it before we actually tried it.

Yuck! Were our first words when we tried it. "This can't be right, it just doesn't taste anything like it did at the gallery!" It seemed as if we were duped. Panic started to set in. Well back to the directions with a proper read this time.

So after reading through the entire manual, quick start guide, and YouTube tutorial, I think we figured the issue. The setting are so customisable it's not even funny. Granted that's a great thing, but because of my excellent read through the manual on the first go, I didn't notice that was the issue. You can seriously customise everything, brew temp, pre-brew length/temp, water quantity, coffee quantity, grind courseness, hard water/softer water settings, coffee intensity and so on and on!

At this point, it was just too much to bother with at the moment, I told myself I'll do this tomorrow. But my partner fiddled with it for a good hour or so, and had programmed the perfect cuppa! And yes it was perfect. You can customise every single drink it can make and save it under your own individual profile. Great if you have guests' sort of the same mentality of "memory seats" in the car. Don't you often loathe to lend your car out only because your mirrors are just so, the recline and tilt of the seat is perfect, and every other setting is tailored to YOU? The utter thought of someone moving it and you having to go through the whole process again is absolutely devastating for some. So the point is, it's a feature that many cannot live without.

After trying his macchiato, yum! It tasted like it did, actually better than what we had at the gallery. So I took the time to set my profile as well.

So basically all is well. Now we can actually get to using it to see how it really compares. In one word, amazing! Seeing as is the middle child, it has a few features that it's younger sibling doesn't. One of my favourite feature is the "BrilliantLight" or Miele speak for LED lights. It has two, of which can be adjusted for intensity and duration. A great feature on this cold winter mornings, where you are half asleep and don't want to turn on the lights in the kitchen. A great feature in my eyes. A heated pad on the top also can keep your mugs and cups toasty warm' it truly does what it says. The milk flask is also something lacking in the younger brother. Yes yes you can just put the tubing into a small glass or milk jug, but having the flask just completes it. You can fill it up, and depending how many coffees you make with milk will determine how long it lasts. And it is easily stored in the fridge until the next day. It keeps milk cold a good 4-6 hours outside the fridge. And after thinking that it was a downfall not having an inbuilt tank to hold milk, I actually prefer the flask; why? Because sometimes I like to use food 'ol Oak chocolate milk in my coffees. If it had an inbuilt tank with milk still in it, you couldn't just easily empty the machine, unless you wasted all that was left. This way you can easily switch between milk flavours, fat content (for those who must have non fat or full cream), and even non dairy substitutes, soy, almond et cetera. So it's actually a better design in my opinion. Another differentiating feature is the hot water spout. It's located just to the left of the main spout or "group head". It produces instant hot water for teas or anything else that you may need hot water. The cost difference is $200, so really it's not like you are paying that and getting nothing in return.

Another handy feature is the auto rinsing, which after you are, finished using the machine, it will ask if you want to rinse it. A truly great thing for the milk tubing, as nobody wants goofing, sour milk for the next coffee. No because it's automatic, you don't need to spend time doing it. It's completely thought out for you. Other than the programming of your own personal profile, it's quite an easy and efficient machine.

It also tells you when you need to descale, clean and clean the milk tubes (comes with a spare tube that handily hides just inside the door where the brew group is located. Another great thing most of the parts are dishwasher safe. So once a week you can toss most of the bits and pieces in the dishwasher and voila! All clean. It doesn't to the group head though, which I think would be common sense. It also doesn't really need any routine maintenance other than cleaning one a week and also when it commands you to descale et cetera. I believe from what I've read, being typically German (although made in Switzerland) and over engineered, if you don't follow it's command to clean or descale, it won't let you continue to make coffee if you don't do what's asked. You get the feeling, like with German automobiles, that once the "service required" light illuminates, and you ignore it, it may refuse to start, and you'll hear in a German accent "I will not go on! You must do as I asked!" I'd say akin to the AdBlue required by some Diesel engines, that you can literally only start the car a certain number of times after it has commanded you to add more, and it will not start again, having to be towed to your dealer (or if possible you can add it yourself). The Germans take engineering to a whole other level. Which I think I a great thing, as the over engineering creates reliable, well made, and products that people love.

There are so many features, from one button to make your perfect cup of joe, to another button that I'll instantly double the amount you specify. But features aside, the main reason we have these machines is many of us love coffee, so taste is paramount. It makes some seriously great coffee. Coffee that lacks bitterness and has a wonderful full flavour, with thick velvety foam and rich and creamy milk. I can't say I've ever had a better cup of coffee from another automatic machine, or espresso machine of any type. Off course everyone has different tastes and likes, but I feel for a majority of us, it makes some amazing coffee; coffee that if served to guests after a dinner party, they would probably think you have a restaurant/cafe quality machine that cost more than the car they drove to your house. It's really that great.

Of course there will be pros and cons, but absolutely why more pros than con. What would be a con you ask? That's honestly a very difficult question. Perhaps if it were easier to customise your favourite coffee, but then again without such adjustable parameters, you probably wouldn't have a great cup of coffee. I'm grasping at straws here, but the water reservoir is a tad small, and it doesn't include a way to add a water filter that is the de rigueur in 2017. I do wish we had other colour options like in Europe or the US, as they can get this in the brown "Mink' and Brilliant White as well (I would have gone for the white, as all my other Miele appliances are Brilliant White). And maybe Miele could have thrown in some milk cleaning sachets in addition to the descaling tabs. And one rather big thing; as I'm a Miele For Life member, and we often get vouchers in the post (now switched to email) that would include promotional pricing on certain items every few months. Well of course with my luck, that's exactly what happened. About 3 weeks after we purchased it I received a devastating email; it was a voucher code for 15% off any coffee machine that was set regular retail price. Bummer really as no matter what people buy, getting a discount or cheaper than what the cost is, is always a good thing. If I had received this just a few weeks earlier, I would have saved ~$240 (a coincidence that the Miele Service Certificate is almost exactly that much, hmmmm??) more than enough for coffee beans for at least a year. So that was one thing I wasn't the most pleased about, but hey, c'est la vie!

Would I recommend the Miele CM 6310? Absolutely. For it's price, range of features, taste, build quality, and the hope that being Miele and with their slogan "Immer Besser" we are hoping it will last much longer than our last one. With experiences thus far with Miele, I'm pretty confident that you nor I will have any issues with it. And yes I'd recommend the Miele Service Certificate, as it's now called, for $249. More likely than not you won't ever need it, but as it adds three whole years of coverage for a total of 5 years, it not only covers defects, or quality issues, but also any wear items, say a seal, or a plastic arm becomes fatigued and snaps, usually "wear and tear" isn't covered under manufacture warranties and we get the same song and dance of too bad so sad, but with MSC you are covered.

There's a saying in Spanish that my mother and grandmother often used, "Lo barato sale caro", which basically means if you go the cheaper route for something upfront, it will cost more in the long run, so very true.

*****UPDATE 1May2018*****

We had a few minor issues, although the issues rendering the machine inoperable on two occasions. Apparently a know design defect in the heating element has caused quite a few issues. But being Miele, they have sorted the issue and rectified our dissatisfaction extremely promptly and efficiently. So I wont change the stars I gave, because yes with the complexity with today’s tech and appliances, its understandable. Would of course be a different story if Miele didn’t offer what it did to solve the problem. Going the extra “mile” means a lot. So while this model is discontinued, I will write a new review on what we are currently using as a few months of using it.

LOVE this Coffee Machine- Quality construction - well worth the money – Miele For Life Discount meant we were able to save a great 15% . The machine is so well made and cleans itself constantly meaning less issues with internal parts. From Bean to Cup it makes an outstanding coffee , we use ours side by side so two coffees at once. From small piccolo to medium to large latte's this is simply a quality machine which we… Read more

love. We owned a major brand top of range pod machine for many years and decided when it was due for replacement to try the bean to cup. After heaps of research we picked this model and couldnt be happier. Made in Switzerland the machine quality is outstanding but for the price we paid $1100 it was way less than many other brands and ours is ONE TOUCH easy to use. Great product Miele