A manufacturer of appliances in Gutersloh, Germany, Miele has always kept the family business in the family. Miele that is actually pronounced as me-lee and not my-lee was established by Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann in 1899. Their first line of appliances was built and sold as Meteor applances and included a tub washing machine, a cream separator and a butter churn. The two partners shared in the operating processes of their new company. Reinhard Zinkann managed the financial aspects including sales and Carl Miele oversaw the making of the applances personally.

Soon, the Meteor brand name was dropped and the Miele trademark was put on all machines, printed materils and advertising, nameplates and all items made by the company. The Miele trademark consists of the word Miele with a dash instead of a dot over the i. This trademark has been used by the company since the middle 1920's.The Miele name of an appliance has become a part of the German manufacturing scene and remains as a sure way of identifying a real Miele apart from other similar products manufactured by other companies than Miele. Most people in Germany can identify a Mield appliance simply from the trademark with its unique dash.A European based appliance manufacturer, Miele ships to 37 countries and expanded to the United States in1983.

Their headquarters in the United States was in Somerset, New Jersey. In 1999, Miele in the United States relocated to Princeton, New Jersey to a building that was designed by archetect Michael Graves. Today, Miele products are manufactured in the Czech Republic and in Germany and are shipped worldwide and to ten states to be sold in their showrooms of modern appliances.

Miele has continued its tradition of manufacturing appliances and has added laundry appliances, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, built in convection microwave ovens, cooker hoods, refrigerators, and a host of other products that are used in the kitchen both home and commercial. The Miele company has become well known as well as respected in Germany, In 2007, Miele was voted the Best Company in Munich, Germany beating out even Porsche.

Miele has also won awards in the United Kingdom for having the Best Domestic Appliance Brand although their appliances are manufactured in Germany and shipped to UK showrooms. The presence of Miele in so many world wide showrooms has given the company a cosmopolitan perception from all of the countries in which Miele does business.