Kitchen remodel

Re: Kitchen remodel

Hi, Greyspirit. I refitted my own kitchen about 5 years ago, and it’s nice to be able to start from scratch and plan everything exactly as you want it. I have no expertise at all in most kitchen appliances, but do know quite a lot about coffee, how to make it, and the machines that do so. I’m presuming you want a built-in espresso machine, as opposed to a filter machine ?
Unfortunately, whatever the price or posh manufacturer label on domestic built in espresso machines, they are all an example of style overriding function. Virtually all of them have the innards of an inexpensive domestic espresso machine often made by someone else, and you pay a huge premium for the posh label and housing. Many aren’t plumb-in, and of the ones that are, I think you’d be hard put to it to get one with plumbable drainage, and one without the other isn’t worth it. You really don’t want to have to carry a slops tray to the sink to empty it.

So – if you want a built in one, there isn’t anything much to choose between how well they work (except that “bean to cup” machines are notoriously unreliable and difficult or impossible to service), so get the one that matches everything else you buy.

Making good espresso at home isn’t easy, and unfortunately the minimum kit you need to do so isn’t available as a nice neat package on the domestic front – this one is nice, but is a real hefty professional bit of kit, with a price to match (a little more than your total budget I think !
http://www.jet-steam.com/Ai-1_Brochure.pdf )

Edit – having said all of that totally negative and dispiriting stuff, there are some attractive alternatives to a standard built-in machine if you are interested, and I apologise for shooting your rabbits….