a staggeringly good washing machine

Design and Features

• Hot and cold water inputs
• Compatible with TwinDos cleaning detergent
• App control

The Miele WQ 1000 WPS is beautifully designed, with a sleek white front and black strip running across the top. It’s been designed so that placing the washing machine side-by-side with a tumble dryer from the same range gives you a neat wall of appliances.

As you start to look around the washing machine, there are some noticeable differences between the Miele WQ 1000 WPS and a regular model. First, at the back, there are two water inputs: one for cold water and one for hot water.

Both water inputs are protected by a Water Protection System (WPS). Similar to that on most dishwashers, if the washing machine detects a leak it uses a solenoid valve to turn the water off.

Hot water inputs are starting to become more popular again, due to the rise of different heating systems, such as heat pumps. The Miele WQ 1000 WPS can still use a cold-water inlet only, using its own heater to increase water temperature, but if you’ve got a method of heating water more cheaply, you can utilise this input and save on running costs.

This system is covered for 20 years, and Miele will cover the cost of any water damage resulting from a defective WPS system.

At the front of the machine, there’s a large flap at the bottom, which takes the TwinDos detergent: UltraPhase 1 and UltraPhase 2. These liquids have been designed to be released individually as specific times in a wash cycle, for targeted cleaning compared to standard washing powder.

You can use the canisters and refill with your own choice of fabric softener and liquid detergent, but really this washing machine is built and designed to be used with Miele’s own-brand detergent.

It’s around £73 for a refill pack of three bottles of each, which Miele says will last for six months.

With the detergents you shouldn’t need fabric softener, but Miele also has additional Capsules that you can buy that are added into the wash. These include ones for softener, plus special capsules for waterproof items, stain removal, woollen clothes and sportswear.

These capsules are for one-time use and clip into the holder in the fabric softener section of the detergent drawer. This drawer also accommodates regular washing liquid or powder, allowing you to use your own if needed.

Control of the washing machine is via the bright LCD touchscreen on the front. It’s a lovely interface, with bright icons for each wash type. And, I could tap the info button to find out more about a wash, such as what it’s for and the maximum weight of supported clothes. That certainly takes the guesswork out of cycles and means that I didn’t need to turn to the manual too often.

All of the common wash cycles are supported, and there are additional modes for fast washing, wool items and bedding.

For each wash, I could then choose to override settings, including the wash temperature, spin speed, and set TwinDos based on whether I was washing whites or coloured items, and the level of soiling. If using a Cap, there’s an option to turn that on, too.

There’s a power button on the machine, but a motion sensor is enabled by default, which wakes the machine up as you move towards it. There’s a sensitivity setting, but I could also disable this feature entirely, which could be handy if the washing machine is kept in a high-traffic area.

As well as the touchscreen controls, the Miele WQ 1000 WPS is compatible with the Miele app for full remote control. It’s useful to have, as the app is a handy way to keep an eye on the current wash cycle, and you get a notification at the end.

A large portal makes it easy to get to the 9kg drum, which you’ll notice is different to drums in other machines, as there are no ribs. Instead, the hexagon finish is designed to be more gentle in the way it agitates clothes, with less for fabric to catch on. Part of the reason to buy this machine would be to wash more expensive clothes that need that extra level of care.

It’s nice to see a light in the drum, too. That makes it much easier to see what you’re doing when loading or unloading the machine.

Once a wash has finished, the door is pushed open automatically, allowing air to circulate, and preventing mould growth and smelly washing if you can’t get to it immediately.

Performance

• Excellent low-temperature cleaning
• Powerful spin

I test all washing machines in the same way, although I had to make some modifications for this machine. I normally use washing powder, proportioned based on heavy staining and hard water, but here I used the equivalent TwinDos settings. I also performed most of my tests with cold water, to allow me to compare the results against other machines, but I did run some tests using the hot water input, too.

Starting off by testing the standard Eco 40-60 wash cycle. Measuring performance, I found that this cycle cost 27p (assuming 24.5p per kWh), with my regular 5kg load of washing.

That makes the Miele WQ 1000 WPS a little more expensive to run than some of the competition, such as the Samsung WF90F09C4SU1, which costs around 21p to run the same cycle.

However, there are some nuances to the results. Thanks to its 1600rpm spin speed, the Miele WQ 1000 WPS left my clothes just 31.98% heavier due to water retention. That’s an excellent result, as most washing machines are closer to the 40% mark. That means that clothes will dry faster once removed.

Cleaning performance was also incredible. My stain strip contains (left to right), red wine, cooking oil, ketchup, orange juice and gravy. As you can see from the result below, the Miele WQ 1000 WPS delivered the best cleaning results that I’ve seen on this cycle, with all the stains gone, bar an outline of the red wine stain.

Moving to the Cotton 30°C test, I found that running costs jumped to 43p for the cycle, which is about average for an A-rated machine. Cleaning performance was incredible and the best that I have ever seen: the stains are all gone, bar the faint outline of red wine. I’ve not seen another machine that can come close to performing this well at this temperature.

Spin performance was, again, excellent, leaving my clothes just 32.93% heavier than when they went in.

I then tried a 20°C wash. This used a bit more water, so the cost of the cycle was 28p. My clothes were nice and dry at the end, having gained 28.91% in weight. However, wash performance wasn’t as good.

Although the red wine stain was diminished, it was clearly visible and the ketchup stain was not fully dissolved.

I went for a 60°C wash, adding the soak and stains and rinse+ options into the mix. This added a lot to running costs and the cycle cost 71p to run. Spin performance was excellent, once again, with my clothes just 30.58% heavier.

Wash performance wasn’t quite as impressive: the ketchup stain still had chunks around, and the red wine stain turned a funny colour. To be honest, I’d stick with the Eco 40-60 or Cotton 30°C washes, which are cheaper to run, too.

For lightly soiled items, there’s a fast wash, which costs 24p to run. The spin cycle’s not as good here, and my clothes were 50.2% heavier. If you need clothes in a rush, though, a fast wash cycle is nice to have.

To see what kind of difference the hot water inlet makes, I connect the supply to a system feeding water at 50°C. I tried the Eco 40-60 wash, but this didn’t use the hot water inlet, so I switched to the Cotton 40°C wash instead.

With the hot water inlet, a total of 56.5-litres of water and 0.469kWh of power were consumed, giving a running cost of 29p for the cycle. This doesn’t include the cost of heating the water, which will be variable based on your heating source and the cost of electricity. For example, if you have a time-of-use tariff, you could heat the water cheaply, or solar power could do the job for free.

Switching to the same cycle but with the cold water input, the machine used 66-litres of water and more than double the power at 1.08kWh, for a running cost of 47p. If you do the means to take advantage of the hot water input, you’ll get the same quality performance but can knock running costs right down.

Should you buy it?