DeLonghi EAM3200S

I’ve had one of these for about 8 months. If you like coffee and appreciate a quality cup, then this is for you. I like mine dark and very strong, my wife likes it weak and decaf. With this I can make one right after the other, no fuss. Go on Greg, buy one. FANTASTIC 5-STAR

Works better than fine, great coffee

Hi,
I felt I should write a review to try to stand by my coffee maker, with an honest review. 4 stars = good, it makes good coffee.
Not too sure why, but I'm having no trouble at all with this coffee maker, either for espresso, filter or frothing and heating the milk via steamer. All I can say is that I have followed the instructions to the letter.
If I were to offer tips, don't wait for espresso to finish before you froth, the pressure will have dropped. Also, as when in Italy, warm the milk you add to filter coffee, say 30secs in the microwave, or use the stream, if you don't mind the froth.
I also believe the single most important thing I did; throw out the M&S coffee my girlfriend bought, and bought a decent quality Italian brand blend.
I did find that I had run water through a few times to lose the metallic tang
The coffee from this will never be as good as a £8000 cafe Gaggia, but no domestic coffee maker ever will be, even a £250 Gaggia.

Lovely retro look but not as good as it should be

I wanted one of these machines for a while before finally buying this one. I wanted to go for the Kitchenaid one (over 500 pounds!)but my husband persuaded me this one was fine. I have now discovered a couple of annoying glitches the first one being that the one and two cup spouts supplied with the machine are plastic (not metal like those with other machines) and they don't fit under the filter properly and fall off. This means that we can't use them and have to make single cups every time - which is a faff if you have 3 or 4 coffees to make - either that or fiddle around pouring coffee from one cup into another or use a small jug etc.....Which brings me onto the other frustrating thing which is that there isn't much 'headroom' for a cup under the filter (even less with the spout attached) - only short espresso cups fit and so if you wanted cappucino you have to pour the espresso into a bigger cup to give room for the steamed milk. I now know that the Kitchenaid is higher and so would take taller cups and mugs.
I guess the X1 is made this way so that it's not too tall to fit on the kitchen worktop where there is a wall cupboard above but it does compromise it's function.
I have to say despite these frustrations it looks lovely, I use it every day, it works very well, has a good sized water reservoir, heats up in good time, it makes great coffee, (but I'm drinking too much!)
Overall 325 pounds feels too much to pay for something that isn't quite what it should be.

Great when it works

Brought this cooffe machine for my wife who loves lattes, as do I now. Machine looks great and works well always great coffee.
the relieabilty is something that you must consider as when it goes infor repair we really miss it and filtered or instant coffee tastes just so watery. We had the machine for a year before it first brokedown but since then with the help of couriers and the post office it has been back 12 times and thats not cheap. Gaggai always helpful and to be fair it is a good machine but when you pay over £600 it had better work for more than a year before it breaks down. I am now looking at other makes as we have paid for 3 machines by the time you add all the repair bills in and thats expensive coffee in anyones book.

Perfect

as i spread my coffee fixes out over the day, if i make a cafetierre its either too much, or goes cold and stale. this makes a perfect (in my opinion just right) cup every time, and dosent taint the coffee like a paper filter does (and you dont have to buy the papers either)
very pleased. Whittards are certainly not helping me kick the habit.

Top Coffee!

I saw these in Italy about 5 or 6 years ago, and bought one on my return to England. I've never had any issues with cup sizes (I use regular espresso or cappucino cups), and mine came with a metal spout, which has always fitted without any problem.
It still makes fantastic coffee after 5 years.
If/when it does finally throw in the towel, I'll be replacing it with one exactly the same.

Disappointing - but it looks good

I was so disappointed. The design award must be for aesthetics alone. It is difficult to use. The base is hard to screw into the top. When you pour the coffee the lid flips open. After using various coffee types I have been unable to obtain any crema.
If you want a kitchen ornament buy it, otherwise try another brand if you want to use it to make coffee.

Fantastic

As for the previous review about it being cold, it says in the manual to prime the machine every time it is switched on - IF ONLY PEOPLE READ THE MANUAL!!!!!!!! The water tank just needs to be lifted up - no hassle!

I think this machine is perfect, the coffee is great using senseo soft pods and the frothing nozzle is extremely good quality. If you're looking to buy an coffee machine that does it all, get this as you won't be disappointed!

What a Shame

I am now on my THIRD machine. It makes great cappuccino but stops drawing the milk up the tube after several uses.

Please refer to my full review under the CM8 cappuccino heading before buying.

good crema

this machine makes good coffee but the frother takes too much time to wait for so i have taken to have my coffee with the crema on the top of the coffee instead if froth

Very poor product

Well it made a lovelly cappucinno for a couple of weeks and now it does not empty the milk container, but there's steam everwhere and the boiler runs dry.Probably because the machine is sitting in a fresh lake of hot water. And in the cup is a couple of sips of coffee.....Not to be reccomended. Unreliable and currentl very cheap at the countries biggest supermarket. Can't think why ! DO NOT BUY

Great machine - shame about the steam

Yes, this machine is industrial. Very heavy cast iron which is the hallmark of Kitchenaid.
The crema I get from this machine is good (given a good grind).
My only complaint with this machine so far and it is a big one, is the limited steam you get from the steam pump. If you are just using the tiny jug supplied with this machine then it is fine. If you use a larger jug for say 4 people, the pump runs out of steam after about 60 seconds. You have to wait about 3 minutes then for it to build up pressure again. Not good. And the hot water feature is basically to be avoided.

It has a proper wide group handle which is what you need for making good coffee and the fact the filter basket is held in by clips makes knocking out a simple step just like professional machines.

If Kitchenaid could sort the lack of steam, I would give this 5 stars. O'wise, I'm sticking to 3 stars.

Easy to use and does fantastic coffee

The only thing that this machine does not do is let you know that it is short on coffee beans - everything else is looked after! As a newcomer to these machines, I was worried that it would be fussy or complicated. I couldn't have been more wrong. We were also wondering if we would use it enough to justify the price. Well, no worries on that front as we use it at least 3 times a day. It tells you when you need to add water, when you need to empty , when you need to clean etc. If it doesn't come with the extra milk container, order one from the Krups site at 12 Pounds- well worth the money as it makes a latte ( or cappucino) perfectly. This has been one of the best kitchen gadgets I have ever bought - in fact, probably the best.