Miele dishwasher symbols
12 lights, programmes and buttons that Miele shows in its own manual or support pages, each in our own drawing, with the maker’s own name for it next to ours. Tap a symbol for what it does, what to do, where makes differ and every source.
Check your manual — models differ. Two Miele dishwashers can carry different programmes, options and lights, and the same drawing can mean different things on different brands; only your model’s manual says exactly what a light or button does on your machine.
Read this first
The source here is one Miele manual, for its dishwashers with a touch display. Miele is the odd one out: for salt, rinse aid and the water supply it writes a message on the display — Add salt, Refill rinse aid, Please open the stopcock — rather than lighting a drawing, so on this page the maker’s name is that message. Miele also switches the salt message off by itself when the water hardness is set below 0.9 mmol/l (5 °dH), and its AutoOpen door can let steam out onto a delicate worktop.
The 12 symbols
Salt refill light (two arrows in an S)
Maker’s name: Add salt (display message)
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: “Add salt” message; after filling “the salt refill indicator may still appear … if the salt concentration has not yet reached the correct level”; it is switched off for water hardness below 0.9 mmol/l (5 °dH).
Rinse aid refill light (starburst)
Maker’s name: Refill rinse aid (display message)
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: “When the refill reminder Refill rinse aid appears in the display, the reservoir contains sufficient rinse aid for 2 to 3 programmes only.”
Water supply light (tap)
Maker’s name: Please open the stopcock (display message)
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: Water inlet fault: the in-operation light flashes quickly, an alarm sounds and the display shows “Please open the stopcock”; remedies: open the stopcock fully, clean the filter in the water inlet; pressure below 50 kPa needs professional advice.
Auto programme (sensor, 45–65°)
Maker’s name: Auto 45–65 °C
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: Programme overview: “Auto 45–65 °C Variable programme sequence, sensor-controlled adjustment according to load size and level of soiling.”
Intensive programme (pot or pan)
Maker’s name: Intensive 75 °C
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: Intensive 75 °C: “Pots, pans, everyday crockery and cutlery … Stubborn dried-on, burnt-on food deposits containing starch or protein … Maximum cleaning performance.”
Glass or delicate programme (wine glass)
Maker’s name: Gentle 45 °C
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: Gentle 45 °C: “Temperature-sensitive dishes, glasses and plastics … Programme with glass care”; Glasses programme for beer glasses (no rinse aid, no drying); advice to buy glassware labelled dishwasher-safe and use detergents with glass protective agents.
Extra dry option (heat waves)
Maker’s name: Extra dry
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: Extra dry: “You can select this extra to increase the programme's drying performance. If you activate this extra, the programme durations and final rinse temperatures will increase.”
Hygiene or sanitise option (plus or shield)
Maker’s name: Hygiene 70 °C
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: Hygiene 70 °C: “Robust items that need to be hygienically clean, e.g. baby bottles, chopping boards … Programme with special parameters for the hygienic cleaning.”
Machine care light (the dishwasher itself)
Maker’s name: Hygiene cycle message
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: Hygiene cycle setting: a message recommends a high-temperature programme after several low-temperature programmes; if deactivated, “run the Intensive 75 °C programme once per month.”
Quick or rapid programme (stopwatch)
Maker’s name: QuickPowerWash 65 °C
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: QuickPowerWash 65 °C: “Short programme taking less than an hour” for mixed crockery with lightly dried-on normal food deposits.
Speed option (double arrow)
Maker’s name: Express
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: “The Express extra reduces the programme duration. In order to achieve optimum cleaning results, the temperature, and therefore the energy consumption, will increase.”
Automatic door opening (door ajar)
Maker’s name: AutoOpen
Shown in:
- Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF), checked 2026-09-26: “AutoOpen: In some programmes the door automatically opens slightly to assist the drying process. This function can be deactivated”; warns that steam could damage delicate worktops.
Not listed for Miele
The Miele documents checked here do not show these dishwasher symbols from this site, so they are left off this page: Eco programme, Half load, Pre-rinse or soak programme, Tablet or all-in-one option, Light on the floor. That does not mean no Miele dishwasher has them — only that no Miele manual or support page cited here shows the symbol. If your machine shows one, see all dishwasher symbols by shape.
Other brands
Sources
A symbol is listed here only when one of these Miele documents shows it. Each was fetched and read on the date shown; the maker’s names and quotations are the maker’s wording, everything else is ours.
- Miele: Miele — Operating instructions, dishwashers with touch display, M.-Nr. 11 831 681 (PDF) Checked 2026-09-26.