Programmable Espresso Maker  Product Reviews

"I read that another reviewer had trouble with her machine. Hopefully it was the exception and not the rule. It comes with a 3-year warranty, so I figure that I have reasonable protection should anything break. This is my first espresso machine and I did a lot of shopping and read a ton of reviews before deciding to buy. I was nervous about buying it because there were zero reviews at the time. However, I loved the look, liked the feature set, and believed in the Cuisinart brand. I have had the machine for a week and have used it at least once each day. So far I am extremely pleased. I had considered the DeLonghi EC155, which gets good ratings and is reasonably priced. However, it requires the operator to guess or measure the volume of espresso. I am terrible at guessing the volumes of liquids, so I liked that this machine has buttons that make a pre-set (or programmable) volume of coffee. It turns out that this is a great feature and really frees me to multi-task. In the mornings, I hit the power button, and by the time I fill the portafilter the machine is ready to brew. I hit the brew button and mix up my meal replacement shake. After the coffee is finished, I hit the steam button and pour the milk for frothing. It takes less than 30 seconds to froth and steam the milk, so I am pleased with its power. I have never run out of steam and was able to make a nice foam with very little practice. I can make my breakfast shake and a cappuccino or latte in under 10 minutes with the above process. Not bad for an amateur. Overall I am very pleased with the machine and am having a great time with it. I would recommend it based on my experience thus far."

"I was really excited to receive this machine -- the housing was all stainless steel and Cuisinart has a good reputation. It arrived on a Tuesday, and I didn't attempt to make coffee until Saturday morning (never enough time on work mornings). I watched the video and read the manual before attempting to use the machine. The coffee brewing mechanism works fine. So far so good! I then attempted to steam the milk. When first turning the knob, I thought it was very difficult. I also felt it steamed the milk very very slowly -- it seemed to take forever to reach the desired temperature. When I tried to turn the knob off, it was ipossible with one hand. I literally had to pull the wand out of the milk quickly and risk a small mess. It took both my hands to turn the knob. I asked my husband to try it and he too felt it was stiff. We attributed it to the fact that it was new and thought it might loosen up, so he worked with it that morning. I attempted to use it one more time the following morning with the same problem. I packed up the machine and mailed it off the next day. I was extremely disappointed and feel Cuisinart needs to stop sales of this model until they improve the frothing knob."