Miele KM7201FR Review
A super-fast induction hob
Verdict
An exceptionally fast hob, the Miele KM7201FR’s TwinBooster setting can bring water to the boil in double-quick time on the largest cooking zone. It’s also a great-looking and hard-wearing hob, thanks to its stainless steel surround.
On the whole, controls are simple to use – although the keep-warm function would ideally have its own setting, rather than requiring a press between the 0 and 1 settings.
If you’re after a standard hob that offers a lot of power then this is a great choice; but it lacks the flexi-zones and automated cooking options of rival hobs.
Pros
- Main cooking zone is super-fast
- Simple heat controls
- Looks fantastic
Cons
- Additional features difficult to use
Availability
- UKRRP: £899
Key Features
- Cooking zonesThe Miele has four traditional round cooking zones
- PowerThis hob needs to be connected to a dedicated 32A circuit
Introduction
With its TwinBooster settings, the Miele KM7201FR can push a staggering amount of power to each of its cooking zones, delivering super-quick heat-up times that rivals can’t touch. The hob is extremely well made and easy to use – although it’s expensive and doesn’t come with zones that you can link.
Design and Features
- Five timers
- Double power boost
- Auto heat and keep warm
While most induction hob designs are glass edge-to-edge, the Miele KM7201FR is bordered by a stainless steel surround. Not only does it look great, but it protects the side of the hob from becoming chipped or knocked.
Thankfully, this border is well attached, so you needn’t worry that food will become caught underneath it. In fact, the Miele KM7201FR is as easy to clean as any other hob: find out the best way in our guide on how to clean an induction hob.
Miele keeps things simple, as far as the KM7201FR is concerned. None of its zones can be linked, coming with four standard cooking zones instead. There are two identical mid-sized zones for pans between 14cm and 19cm in diameter; a small zone for 10cm to 16cm pans; and a large zone for 16cm to 22cm pans.
Controlling the hob proved easy. Although you can manually select a zone, auto-detect picks up the presence of a pan on the hob, moving control to that particular cooking zone. A row of buttons across the bottom of the hob, with a scale of 0 to 9, are used to select the level of heat: just tap the power level you want and you’re good to go.
There’s an option to add more heat modes, with half-steps between each number; but this minor level of variance just isn’t very useful. I recommend leaving the hob on its default settings.
Tap setting 9 twice and the cooking zones go into Power Boost mode; tap once more and there’s a second level of power boost (TwinBooster). This puts quite a staggering amount of power through the zone, which is great for quickly boiling pans of water for pasta and the like.
There are a couple of special modes, too. Press between 0 and 1 for a keep warm mode, which is great for sauces and dishes that you’ve finished cooking but don’t want to go cold. Auto heat-up is just as useful: tap and hold a power level and the hob switches to maximum power to heat a pan, and then switches back to your set power mode after an established amount of time. This time varies between 15 seconds for heat level 1 to 2mins 50secs on heat level 8.
Both modes are useful, but because they’re not marked on the controls, I kept forgetting about their existence. Clearer labelling would be welcome.
A maximum power drain of 7300W is available, which means that the Miele KM7201FR has to manage power settings. All the zones can be run at level 9 together, but start with the TwinBoost setting and you’ll begin to see the other zones reduce in power automatically.
For example, stick the largest zone on its highest setting, and the smallest zone automatically switches off; put the smallest zone on maximum and the largest zone switches to level 8. With regards to the medium-sized zones, using the highest TwinBooster setting cuts power on the other medium zone to level 6.
If you need to boil water fast, it would be worth doing that job first to avoid affecting the other cooking zones.
There are five timers on the Miele KM7201FR: a standard timer that beeps when done, plus one timer for each hob that turns off the power when it reaches zero. The timers are easy to set: you can use the number buttons to set the time in minutes. That’s far faster than on many rival hobs.
Performance
- Fast heating
- Uses standard rounded cooking zones
To test the Miele KM7201FR, I put it through my standard heat-up tests. Starting with a big pan of 1.5-litres of water, the hob heated it from 20ºC to 90ºC in a staggering 2mins 19secs – which is faster than a kettle would manage. On the double power boost setting, the large zone can draw a staggering 3650W.
Moving to the medium pan with 1-litre of water, I set the medium cooking zone on its second TwinBooster level, which can draw a maximum of 3000W. This saw my pan of water boil in just 2mins 6secs – which again is super-fast.
Finally I set a small pan filled with 500ml of water on the smallest cooking zone, which tops out at 2200W. Here, the water heated to 90ºC in a speedy 1min 49secs – although the AEG IAE84851FB was even faster.
I used a thermal camera to take a photo of a pan as it warmed up. Miele uses standard round cooking zones, so pans tend to get warmer around the outside. Regularly stirring food will ensure that it’s cooked evenly.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a standard-sized hob that can heat quickly, this is an exceptional choice.
If you’d like more flexibility and a greater number of automatic settings then look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
If you’re simply after a standard hob with exceptional heat-up times, there’s a lot to like about the stylish and simple Miele KM7201FR. However, note that it lacks the automated settings and flexible zones of many a rival hob, which may mean an alternative is a better option for you.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every induction hob we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main induction hob for the review period
We measure how long it takes to bring 500ml, 1-litre and 1.5-litres of water to 90C using different sized burners.
We test any special cooking programmes to see how they perform
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FAQs
It can use a maximum of 7.3kW, so it requires its own dedicated 32A circuit.
It has four standard round cooking zones.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
