Krups XP604050 Combi Espresso Machine and 10-Cup Coffee Maker

The Krups XP604050 Combi Espresso Machine and 10-Cup Coffee Maker turns a small amount of counter space into a full service coffee café! Drip-brew pots of coffee for the mug-of-java drinkers in your family, or make exquisite espresso, cappuccino and latte drinks for the connoisseur. This feature rich appliance is like the minivan of coffee making appliances. Compact, affordable, easy to keep clean and configurable the Krups XP604050 satisfies the needs of a busy household. The brew-pause feature lets the grab-and-go coffee drinker pour off a serving before the full pot is finished brewing. A semi-automatic brew-group and portafilter allow the barista to fashion espresso from finely ground coffee or ESE pods and the steam wand whips cold-milk into silky micro-foam froth.

All this and it looks great too! German functional engineering is wrapped in a Swiss designed stainless steel jacket with a pass-through center that gives you access from the front of the machine to the espresso and steam water-reservoir mounted at the rear! Brilliant! You can clearly see the water level of the rear reservoir, but if you get distracted and don't see that it is nearly empty the machine will sense the critically low level and shut off the espresso pump and steam heater. The control buttons and status lights are clearly marked and organized on the right hand support tower just below the big twisty-knob on the right side of the front fascia that has selections for pending, hot-water or steam, while a highly visible water gauge for the drip-brewing reservoir occupies the left tower. The top of the machine is a stainless cup-warming grid, half of which is also a swing-up trap door for access to the drip-brewing filter basket and drip-brewing water-reservoir. (That's right; there are two water-reservoirs!). Energy consumption is reduced and safe operation considered by two important automatic functions: stand-by and automatic stop. When the machine has not been used for 30 minutes the thermo-block heater for the espresso, hot-water and steam functions shuts off and the temperature-ready light dims. The automatic-stop function cuts power to the carafe warming plate after 2 hours and the filter coffee light goes flashing.