[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] My husband and I enjoy several cups of coffee per day (living that WFH life) and, after spending time in Spain last year, have come to appreciate espresso over the watered down coffee-water of our Keurig. We had previously moved over to using a Nespresso, but were thrilled to have been gifted this espresso machine from Kitchenaid. We care so much more now about enjoying one good cup of coffee instead of several weaker ones.
First off, this machine is a beast. It’s so heavy and has quite a large footprint, so ensure you have the counter or cart space to accommodate that. It’s quite solid and clearly very well built. The accessories are also durable and thoughtfully complementary to the machine. There’s a hidden storage tray behind the drip tray that can be hard to find, but is quite clever and handy. The portafilter is heavy and feels good in your hand. There are four included filter baskets to suit all different grinds and sizes.
What’s truly impressive is the absolute customization you can use in your production process to create the perfect cup of coffee tailored to your needs. Changing the texture of the grind, setting the volume of the grounds, the temperature of the water, the crema, all of it is at your fingertips! The catch-22 is that, if you’re like us, you might not have a background in the barista arts, so there’s a sharp learning curve in interpreting the settings to obtain the ideal result. My husband and I devoted a few hours to watching instructional YouTube videos to learn the techniques and vocabulary to adjust the settings to our liking. We still have a ways to go, but we’re enjoying the experience and trial and error of customizing the exact flavour/intensity.
Some of my favourite features: this machine is quite fast! The water reservoir is gigantic, but designed in such a way that isn’t bulky. The “deck” of the machine has under lighting so you can clearly see what you’re doing while you’re doing it. The milk frother/steam wand is fantastic and easy to learn! I’ve already made delicious lattes that far exceed the coffee we were producing before with the pod machines.
Some of my concerns: my husband and I were very frustrated with the manual. One basic thing it was missing was a page simply listing out and showing the contents of the box, which is something almost every other electronic device we’ve used had come with. Better visual/image instructions would be helpful, especially for the initial setup and preparation process. We found it quite frustrating to interpret the terms without an image explaining what each buttton and item was. We did figure it out, but it took an unnecessarily long time to do so. This is not a simple machine, so if you’re looking for something basic, this isn’t it. But if you’re willing to invest the time to learn, this machine will produce coffee shop-like results.
Truth be told, we’re still learning how to use this. If you have barista experience, I’m sure this machine would exceed your expectations with its features and performance, but if you’re new to pulling espresso, be prepared to invest a significant amount of time and effort into learning the process. Buy a bag of cheaper beans in the beginning to get the hang of how to use the machine well and try out the settings to find out what suits your personal tastes.
All in all we’re incredibly pleased with this machine. We probably never would have invested in a high quality espresso maker before we received this, but now we can’t imagine being without one. Absolutely well worth it and a solid investment for any coffee lover.
Customer reviews for KitchenAid Semi Auto Espresso Machine with Burr Grinder for