Sue, I have a rule not to eat at the computer anymore, just can't seem to control myself. Sharon aka Scotty hmmm...maybe my unexplained weight gain this winter because most all of my eating is done in front of the computer, or else the TV. Even when BF is down on the weekends, we always sit in the living room and the TV is usually on though sometimes muted. My GW seed 'stuff' is all over the dining table and I have been putting off attending to it all. I lost/misplaces a prized pack of seeds I had told some I would share, and I fear going through the rubble on the table for fear I won't find them there....sigh Sue...eating as she types

ESPRESSO TRUTH #1: The espresso made by a trained barista on a well-maintained, high quality (and unavoidably expensive) machine, using high-quality recently roasted beans ground with a quality burr grinder, can't really be duplicated any other way. ESPRESSO TRUTH #2: 99% of the espresso sold in this country at coffeeshops, caffes and restaurants comes no where near meeting this standard. It is (usually) not bad, but it certainly isn't the best possible...at best a B+, rather than an A+. The vast majority of it is produced (a) on a superautomatic machine, (b) using pre-ground beans from a can, (c) on a machine that hasn't been properly cleaned or maintained, and/or (d) by someone who really doesn't know what they are doing. ESPRESSO TRUTH #3: The huge majority of the people in the world don't even notice the difference. If this wasn't true, every Starbucks (and most other coffeeshops) in the country would shut down tomorrow for lack of business. I am a heretic about this. I love coffee, including espresso, but if I want a really, really great espresso I go to one of the few places around I really trust and pay an expert to make it. At home, I use a Nespresso capsule machine. Super-easy and quick to use, affordable (machines starting at around $250, pods at 55 cents a shot), no mess cleanup and no messy grinding, better quality result than any cheap "real" espresso maker I have ever used, and at least equal to the espresso served at any chain coffee place. If you live near a Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma, I encourage you to go try a sample - I suggest the "Arpeggio" pods (purple) in particular. As a bonus, you can also use the same machine with "Lungo" pods to make a very decent cup of "regular" coffee, and you can also easily make single servings of decaf when the need arises.

I'm an espresso/caffe lover and I have often thought about buying an espresso machine for the very reason you are considering one, I spend a fair amount of change on my cappuccino/latte habit. So far I have made do with switching over to french roast and other darker types of coffee. Contrary to how it might seem intuitively, darker roasts actually have less acid and less caffeine, which for me is a good thing. I've also spent a fair amount of time researching on all the variables of good coffee, because I am a science weenie. As you are probably aware, a great machine is only part of the equation for great coffee based drinks, the beans, roasting, grinding and water all come in to play as well. Given that, here is what I have learned, thanks to Dcarch explaining it to me. I'm not sure if this is true with espresso machines, but it is true with coffee brewing machines so I think it is probably true by extension. What you pay for in a more expensive machine is the innards (not sure I know what they all are, but the heating element and the part that transfers the electric current into heat energy). In a cheaper model, they will wear out relatively quickly and soon your machine will not be brewing the coffee at the optimum temperature and you will gradually start getting cooler and cooler coffee. That's why folks initially might love their cheap coffee machine and wonder what all the fuss is about it not making good coffee when it makes perfectly good coffee for them. But come back to them in a couple of years and ask them. Many of the cheap ones just downright break after a couple of years. The irony of the middle level priced ones is you are probably paying for cheap innards with nicer outer features. But do you really need the more expensive machine, that's hard to say. How much will you use it and how do you feel about it having a limited useful life. That's why folks dole out more money for the Breville coffee machines, at least at one time, they had more robust heating elements. Not sure this is even true anymore. I know a lot of people would say to avoid this issue just use a moka, where you can heat the water on your stove. I know for me that would be a sure fire way to burn myself or damage some part of my kitchen! Another solution is to get something inexpensive, see how you like having it and using it, and if it works for you, graduate to something better. On the flip side, I'll bet there are tons of good machines out there "used" because a lot of folks probably buy something higher end and then realize they don't use it or need to devote the counter space to it. I ended up quite happy with getting myself an instant hot water pot and using a french press or pour over coffee filter, because I have a tiny, tiny kitchen and I don't regret not having one of these coffee makers taking up counter space. If I ever do decide to venture into caffe at home (I guess I can't dare call it espresso) I will probably go with a moka to start. I don't know if I will ever have the money to be in the dilemma you're in, I would like to dream that someday I will have a kitchen with a little breakfast bar and my cool espresso machine standing nearby!

We're done! Okay, nothing is ever really done. I have some machine modifications planned. The pretty Italian espresso ware and coffeegeek paraphernalia are yet to come. And the Italian decor remains to be gathered. But the modifications will be hidden or well-integrated, all the paraphenalia must live tucked away behind doors, and SWMBO is probably not going to permit too much Italian schtick on the walls. So the look of the northwest corner of my dining room - sorry, her dining room - is about like it's going to be. Elektra #1, what we're calling La Macchina now, lives on a 42" sideboard from the "Historic Charleston" collection by Baker Furniture. I couldn't believe I found this piece, which fits the spot perfectly, matches the existing sideboard, and is allegedly from a old Portland hotel (I have my doubts), so quickly and so cheaply. Facebook Marketplace, folks: its a real competitor to Craigslist. The piece is sturdy, but long legged furniture still wobbles when used as a workstation for a 150 lb machine. So I built a sturdy wood shelf, 6" deep, and screwed it to the wall. The rear legs of the machine rest on the shelf and the front legs on the sideboard. It hardly moves now. Future project: paint the shelf white, bolt the sideboard to the shelf, and leash the machine to the shelf. That will be for even more rigidity and also as an earthquake precaution. I brought a 240v 30A circuit, a 120v 15A circuit, a 3/8" o.d. polyethylene water supply line, and a 1/2" o.d. poly drain line, up through the built-in cabinet to the left of the machine. Yes, I (carefully) cut holes in the century-old cabinet, but you can't see them unless you look inside or are standing in the corner of the room, where the machine lives. The 240v line powers Elektra #1, is wired through a timer, and currently the machine is automatically switched off at night and on at 4 am. During the day, it heats the house :-) The 120v line runs the grinder. The water supply line goes through a pressure regulator and a water filter, in the basement, before coming up into the cabinet. We have extremely soft water in Portland so no water softener is needed. The pressure regulator is meant to lower line pressure to 2-3 bar (30-45 psi). Future project: add a pressure gauge so I can set the regulator accurately. The drain line goes out the bottom of the bumpout where the cabinet lives, and waters a soon-to-be very energetic rosemary plant. Hopefully rosemary likes acidic soil. I had a problem with the drain line icing up, but a change to its routing has solved that. The Elektra itself is slated for some future projects: PID temperature control, grouphead temperature gauges, LED "barista lights", replace the missing hot water valve, preinfusion switch. There is some polishing to be done, and we still have not decided whether to install the side panels. A new coffeegeek friend will help me replace and align the Elektra grinder burrs. Future project: add a darkroom timer so I can push a button to automatically grind the desired amount of coffee. All the "stuff", like knockbox, tamping pad, scale, bar towels, etc are hidden away in the sideboard's cabinets and drawer. When I use the machine, a bar towel is placed over the sideboard's front edge to protect the wood. For now, I'm talking a break on the Future Projects and trying to learn how to use all this hardware. There is a steep learning curve. I can't properly steam milk yet. My bottomless portafilter pours look horrid a third of the time. I'm sticking to darker roasts for now; light roasts proved beyond me. But I can usually produce a drinkable cappucino, and SWMBO has become accustomed to, and indeed insistent upon, a daily morning cappa - which she takes in bed - as well as on-call cappas upon demand. All in all, she has generally acceded to the large metal thing in her dining room and is planning to make us sets of espresso, cappucino, and latte cups. When she does that, I'll know La Macchina is really part of the family.