Miele CM6350 Graphite Grey Countertop Coffee Machine, Medium

The Miele coffee machines add professional quality espresso drinks to my morning. I've tried many others ( less to more expensive... Nespresso to Jura) but they just don't get the flavor intensity or crema right.Likes:1) ABSOLUTLEY Great-tasting coffee and coffee drinks.2) BY FAR the best, most consistently professional frothed milk for cappuccinos and lattes.3) Brew strength, temperature, and volume are adjustable by type of drink.4) Rinsing process keeps the machine clean and sanitary. The milk rinsing process keeps the milk fluid path clean ( unlike some others which don't really rinse out the milk pick-up tubing)Could be improved:1) Ease of access, more direct access to menu options... Would be nice to have a few more direct access buttons ( like to Froth milk).2) The water tank could be twice as large! I have to refill if I make coffee drinks for my family of four on Saturday AM...2) Drain tray and spent coffee grounds volume could be a little larger ( but the plus side is the machine rinsing works). MAKE SURE you place the machine near a sink to empty the waste liquid - otherwise, you will undoubtedly deal with minor spills.Dislikes:1)The machine is messy... Lots of overspray when the machine rinses itself ( which is frequent).2) The machine can be finicky if you don't stay on the CLEANING process. Spoiler alert: DO NOT skip or blow past the CLEANING or DESCALING processes. Miele (as well as other coffee machine companies) will all say the issues stem from oily coffee beans and not to use Starbucks or Peets ( funny that they don't design machines to work with the most widely available quality beans in the U.S. ( Note: Cleaning ( like de-scaling and de-greasing) is different from RINSING).3) Miele CLEANING and DESCALING products are really too expensive. ( Attention shoppers... there are other products which work just as well).4) It's super easy to accidentally overfill the ground coffee by-pass... USE THEIR MEASURING SPOON!5) Internal machine cleaning ( when you take the brew unit out) requires precision and attention to detail - not for someone who doesn't like to do proper maintenance. Spoiler alert - pay attention and carefully clean the 'guts' and you'll be rewarded with a trouble-free machine.

This machine makes excellent coffee drinks. However, it is extremely high maintenance, constantly requiring attention. Cleaning tabs and descaling tabs are not inexpensive and if you happen to run out, the machine locks up until you get them.Worse yet, after six weeks the machine went into demo mode. I contacted amazon customer support and spent an hour on the line with them. No luck. The directed me to the third party that I purchased the machine from. Another hour on the phone. No luck. They directed me to Miele technical support. Another hour on the phone (15 minutes just to talk to someone). No luck. They said they'd send a service person out the next day between 11 and 3. When no one showed up I called Miele again. After waiting on hold for 15 minutes, I find out that I was given incorrect information and that I needed to send the machine in (after sitting here for four hours waiting for them). They will send me packaging material to send it in. All shipping will be ground. With any luck I will have it back in 15-20 days. But first he went through trying to fix it yet again. No luck. He gave me several distributors to call locally thinking maybe they could help. I call and they direct me to another number. Again no luck. So now I sit here waiting to get packaging material to ship it back to them.For nearly $2000 I could go to a high end coffee house many times. Don't waste your money on a Miele.

I am using this coffee machine now for a month and I am loving it. I had two Jura/Capresso machines before. These machines worked also pretty well, but it always bugged me that I could not take the brew unit out and clean it. The coffee ground that inevitably gets stuck inside the machine starts sooner or later to grow mold and it is necessary to send these coffee machines in for maintenance to get them cleaned. The Miele is different. You can easily take the entire brew unit out and rinse it under water. No more sending it back for cleaning :-)I read the different reviews before I bought the machine and was concerned about two criticisms I read:a) the coffee is not hot enough, and b) the display is difficult to read and the controls are hard to find. After one month of use, I find that both criticism are not justified - at least with the machine I got. The coffee is very hot, and I have to use the minimal temperature available to get coffee I can drink without waiting for the coffee to cool down. The display crisp and very easy to read. Obviously, you have to read the manual and you have to learn how to use the machine. But that is true for any coffee machine. After a week of using the machine my wife and I have no problems operating the coffee machine.And the coffee tastes excellent.

I've gone into this purchase very cautiously as this is not an insignificant price for a "coffee pot" , BUT we couldn't be happier with our purchase. I go to bed each night dreaming about which coffee beverage I'm going to drink in the morning, all from the same beans. The machine works extremely well, but the surprise has been the maintenance or lack thereof. The machine tells you what to do every step of the way. Watch YouTube videos if you're considering making the purchase yourself. Other reviewers have commented that "just when you want a cup of coffee ,the machine starts an extensive cleaning cycle". Nothing could be further from the truth. Each day as we get closer to a cleaning cycle, the machine tells you..."you have 24 (or "x" number) of beverages before cleaning is required". You see this coming a week in advance. I recommend waiting for a "rebate" ours was $300 which brought the price down a fair bit. The coffee tastes fantastic, the frothed milk is perfect and the machine is extremely customizable, although out of the box, it makes a perfect coffee. There are no plastic or aluminum pods to buy and the waste product goes straight into our compost bin. I highly recommend our Miele CM6150 countertop coffee machine.