A capacitive proximity control device (28) for a domestic washing machine (10) or other domestic electrical appliance is proposed. In some embodiments, the proximity control device comprises two planar sensor electrodes (34, 36) arranged on a door (20) of the washing machine at a spatial distance from one another. An electronic assembly is connected to the two sensor electrodes, which electronic assembly is adapted to generate, in association with each of the two sensor electrodes, an electrical sensor signal which is representative of a change in a capacitance associated with the sensor electrode in question. By mutual correlation of the two sensor signals, the electronic assembly is able to determine a proximity operation of the control device. A shielding electrode can be arranged in the spatial region between the two sensor electrodes.