A good, but not great, unit that makes great crema coffee and related drinks. Needs to be more robust in heavy use environments.
Positive Product Points
Product is easy to set up and use. For general purpose "crema coffee," unit is superb. Foaming is easy.
Negative Product Points
Product is used in a high use home office. Might not be up to 10+ cups/day. Doesn't handle hard water very well. Once we put in reverse osmosis system, coffee was measurably better. I've just had to send it back for scheduled service after about 15 months of use. That represents about 5,000 or more brewings.
Detailed Commentary
I had to send it in for servicing. Turnaround of service is a bit slow. They didn't drain it completely & shipped back during winter. The heater block froze & cracked. It was necessary to send it back again to New England.
During routine cleaning cycles, this unit can get coffee grounds stuck on metal tamp. Manual cleaning is easy, albeit hot and messy.
Coffee comes out hot but not exceptionally hot. There's no way to keep coffee warm or a way to heat the cups before serving.
Double nozzle can be raised and lowered. Some of my larger (taller) cups won't fit under the nozzles tho.
Buying Experience
My first unit was defective and Sur la Table in Cincinnati replaced it without issue. The store had one in their back room to test before purchasing. I was hooked.
Three Month Followup
After general (and expensive) maintanence by one of Krups' service centers, the unit continues to perform well. Unit was gone for nearly a month with transit time back to the mid-west. I didn't realize how much better coffee from this unit was compared to brewed until I had wait for its repairs to be completed.
