Aerium from Miele: Extremely exciting cleaning in the wardrobe

AA few years ago, when we first saw a wardrobe that somehow looked like a fridge at the LG stand at the International Consumer Electronics Fair (IFA) in Berlin, we shook our heads in disbelief, just as the wardrobe shook our clothes. To get rid of wrinkles and bad smells, they not only shake back and forth 180 times a minute, but are also enveloped in steam at a temperature of 70 degrees for a while. The Koreans called the device “Styler”.

It’s still there. There is space for up to six items of clothing such as jackets, shirts, dresses or trousers. When LG presented the styler at the IFA, the Koreans saw their product more in hotels or offices. In the meantime, this type of second washing machine is also available for the home from around 1600 euros.

Then came the airdresser

A few years later, it was Koreans again who wanted to bring this type of product closer to us. Samsung calls its 45 centimeter wide cleaning cabinet “Airdresser”. Again the same idea: Don’t wash, but air properly. Clothing can also be smoothed, dried and disinfected.

As with LG, steam at 70 degrees is supposed to remove pollen, dust and germs from clothing. Some UV radiation also helps to make bad smells disappear. After the end of the humidification, the device dries the clothes by extracting moisture from the inside of the closet. And finally, if necessary, the airdresser sets a scent mark. The price for the device from Samsung leveled off at around 2000 euros.

And now it’s Aerium’s turn

It’s now 2023 and Miele is the next company to introduce a laundry care cabinet. At this year’s IFA in Berlin, which opens its doors to visitors on Friday, the Gütersloh-based company is presenting the Aerium as the highlight of its stand. Next year it should come on the market in the spring for just under 4000 euros. The cabinet is two meters high and about half a meter wide.

The vanity looks similar to LG’s styler and Samsung’s airdresser, but looks a bit fancier. Aerium is opened by knocking twice because it has no handle. The door springs open a few inches to allow the hand to pull it all the way open. In contrast to the Koreans, Miele didn’t just think about jackets, shirts, trousers and blouses, but integrated the five hangers into an air-permeable shelf and fold-out air and steam outlets into the closet. Shoes, gloves, bicycle helmets, pillows or teddy bears can also be aired, dried or cleaned with it.

Miele is also making steam

In the basic function, all competitors are similar. Steam ensures that the hanging clothes lose their wrinkles and odor. In return, the Aerium generates a permanent draft. A heat pump, which Miele uses in its tumble dryers, is located in the lower, closed part of the cupboard. The unit next to it is a steam generator that comes from the steam cookers. Two 1.4 liter tanks hold the fresh and waste water.

Below the shelf in the lower area, the Aerium emits steam from two slots, which quickly pulls upwards because a fan above the brackets sucks in the air, directs it through a Hepa filter and cleans it of pollen, spores, dust or allergens, among other things blows out the air-permeable special frame. This takes at least 45 minutes, and the Aerium makes hardly any noise, which makes it easier to choose a place in the apartment.

use of plasma

There are three programs: Powerfresh, Dryfresh and Autodry. They differ in whether the Aerium cleans with or without steam or just dries. If that’s not enough for you, you can use the Fragrancedos function. Then, according to Miele, the clothes smell of water or nature. An additional disinfection option can be set for each program.

Miele is thus going its own way to not only eliminate the last allergens, but also bacteria and viruses. And with Hyonic Plasma technology. This cleaning process has been around for a long time and is used in many other areas. Miele has now been able to integrate it into its laundry care cabinet. An ionizer is located between the heat pump and the steam generator, consisting of two electrodes that generate a strong electrical field under high voltage. Plasma is created, and the permanent flow of air inside the cabinet distributes the ions. Electrostatic interactions now take place in the air, they are supposed to split and destroy the molecules of microorganisms. The air is almost pure.