• Commercial Washing machines and lab washers offer user convenience and plenty of space

• Worlds away from mainstream: The Aura 3.0 cooker hood

Miele has this year received no fewer than four iF Product Design Awards. Miele's commercial division (Miele Professional) was particularly successful, with two lab washer series and the compact washing machines from the acclaimed Little Giants series, which both hit the market in 2019. The prize-winning products also include the elegant Aura 3.0 cooker hood for domestic kitchens.

Every year, the awards are handed out by the world's oldest independent design institution, the iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hanover. In this case, a 78-strong international jury of experts selected from 7298 submissions from 56 countries.

When it comes to commercial washing machines from the Performance Plus range, it is obvious that these are not domestic machines simply by looking at the high-quality stainless-steel fascia. The underlying technology was designed to cater for much higher levels of strain. This is accompanied by extremely short cycles, high-level efficiency and choice materials for excellent product longevity. These models are available for load capacities of 6, 7 or 8 kg and are operated using a touch display with texts in up to 32 languages.

Miele's new large-capacity lab washers from the PLW 86 series reduce the burden of work, thanks to an intuitive touch display and three-colour lighting in the chamber, allowing the machine status to be easily visible from a distance through the all-glass door. Innovative components, such as a variable-speed circulation pump which reduces consumption and the new EasyLoad system ensuring particularly fast and convenient loading, are instrumental in achieving this.

Slim on the outside, flexible on the inside just about sums up the free-standing lab washers from the SlimLine series, offering ample space in the chamber in a product which is only 65 cm wide. Optimum use of the chamber is facilitated by up to three sets of telescopic runners which can be used at four different positions. This creates additional loading flexibility and allows the cleaning of large-volume laboratory vessels with a capacity of up to 50 l.

The design of Miele's Aura 3.0 island cooker hood is anything but mainstream. Its brilliant white canopy with a diameter of 70 cm is reminiscent of a flat cupola. Virtually invisible controls and a power supply via the delicate wires suspending the canopy unit round off its elegant appeal. Dimmable LED lighting (A-rated energy efficiency) and automatic Con@ctivity were further reasons for granting the iF Product Design Award.

Company profile: Miele is the world's leading manufacturer of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floor care products. This line-up is augmented by dishwashers, washing machines and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications (Miele Professional). The Miele company, founded in 1899, has eight production plants in Germany as well as one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Romania and Poland. These are joined by the two plants belonging to Miele's Italian medical technology subsidiary Steelco. Turnover in the 2018/19 business year was around € 4.16 bn, with a share of business outside Germany of approx. 71%. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries. Throughout the world, the family-run enterprise, now in its fourth generation, employs a workforce of around 20,500, whereof 11,050 are employed in Germany. The company has its headquarters in Gütersloh in Westphalia.