Miele Combiset Induction

11 years ago

We just installed the Miele combiset induction in our temporary kitchen, which by the way, is infinitely nicer than our present kitchen. I started to do the ubiquitous water boiling experiment and wasn't blown away by the performance which was 9 minutes, 30 seconds for 5 quarts of water in an All-Clad pot.

But, I realized: #1 I have no idea how long our run of the mill electric coil top takes to boil water. #2 This Miele was purchased to flank the gas O'Keefe & Merritt that will be installed in the new kitchen and that is the comparison that truly matters. #3 The Miele owner's manual indirectly tells you how long it takes to boil water. The boost setting, designed for boiling water, automatically turns off after 10 minutes.

From my brief experiment, I will say the truly, truly amazing feature of induction is the instantaneous response from a rapid boil to whisper of a simmer with a turn of the knob.

Noise Impressions: There is noise. Buzzing with a Tramontia pot. With the All-Clad there didn't seem to be buzzing but the fan was on from the beginning because the unit was already warmed up from the Tramontia boil. The fan is gentle white noise, nothing compared to the drone of a builder's grade range hood. I am persnickety about noise but the noise of it doesn't bother me. It won't interfere with your ability to have a conversation, etc. At the rapid boil I could compare the sound to the hum of a dishwasher or a front-loader washing machine.

Appearance: The combiset is large and the ring size is quite generous. It sits proud of the counter a little more than I expected. Most of the photographs on the internet are taken from an angle that doesn't show it.

A two burner induction would have been nice, but I was stuck by my aversion for touch controls and had to have the Miele because of the knob.

Featured Answer

westsider40

11 years ago

Frankly, I am surprised at the time it took to achieve a boil.
Was it on the highest setting?

Did you then add the boost setting to the highest setting? How does the owner's manual tell you indirectly the amount of time necessary for boiling?

What did the manual say about boiling?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you may need to contact Miele service department, or the dealer service peple.

There is user error, time measuring error, or a flawed cooker because it should take way less time to boil.

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Comments (6)

attofarad
11 years ago
Even on non-boost, the Miele is a bit faster than the O'Keefe & Merritt. I expect that gas burner to take close to 20 minutes to boil 5 quarts.
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chac_mool
11 years ago
Is it hooked to 120v or 220v? What is the amperage of the circuit its on?

I'm guessing the "indirectly" telling time to boil means that the manual says power boost turns off after 10 minutes, is all.
onedogedie
Original Author
11 years ago
Attofarad - thanks for that! I'm not sure if it was whimsy or practicality that made me decide to add the electric burner/hob to flank the gas stove but I think it will be useful. I just boiled 5 quarts of water on my regular coil electric stove and got a time of 16:20. Applause for the Miele for cutting 6.5 minutes off of the task.

westsider40 - I used the boost function to boil the water. I was surprised myself but today I looked at previous gardenweb discussions on the subject and felt like my findings were validated. The manual recommends setting 9 only for boiling water or parboiling. Setting 9 with power boost for quickly boiling large quantities of water. 5 quarts of water has to be around the maximum amount of water the home cook would be boiling for pasta. The power boost turns off at 10 minutes so I felt like Miele had picked that time frame as the maximum needed to boil water.

chac_mool - It is 220v on a dedicated 20 amp circuit. The unit has 3700 watts on power boost.

Time flies when you're fixing dinner, but a watched pot makes 9:39.8 seem like a long time when you're expecting miracles from a new toy. : )

I went for a hardwired unit as opposed to a portable induction (even one with the higher wattage) because I wanted a flat surface next to my gas range. As I said, this Miele isn't as flat as I was expecting, so I thought I'd share for the benefit of others. I don't know if other 1-2 hob induction units would be more flush with the counter. Don't rely on photographs like me! Study the specs. I'd still get this one because of the knob.
weedmeister
11 years ago
Cooktek makes one of these single units with a knob, both built-in and portable.
attofarad
11 years ago
Assume a starting temperature of 60F and an efficiency of 80%, and no loss of heat from the pot, it would take a 3700 watt hob 9.4 minutes to bring the 5 quarts to 212F/100C. The pot also takes some energy to heat, and it radiates heat away as it gets warmer. Anyway, in the ballpark of the OP's measurements.

Gas has been reported to deliver ~40% of the BTUs to heating the pot, which is how I came up with about 20 minutes for the gas burner, assuming 14kBTU/hr.