Beautiful machine, expensive, but you won't regret having it

I know one other person who owns this, and we both love it. Every espresso fan is envious, not only of the design, but the ease of use.

Once you discover that there are good ESE pods out there (by Illy, Lavazza, Torrefazione), and how easy they are to use and clean up after (clean up? there is no clean up), you'll be making espressos all the time.

The design is just stunning, and it comes in a great assortment of colors. I ended up with a chrome one.

The rail to hold cups on top is really a nice touch, although it doesn't get *that* warm. I always squirt a little hot water into the cup with the foam attachment to pre-warm the cup, and that works fine.

The foam attachment is good - better than most espresso machines, but not as good as some dedicated foamers (and I've seen comparable or better foam from those Latte Whip devices, which are a great cheap alternative). And since it has one boiler, you can't foam and drip at the same time, but only really really fancy machines have double boilers.

The price is hefty - but it's not something you have buyer's remorse about. I actually got mine for a little over half of retail by buying it refurbished via a distributor on ebay, who deals directly with the Francis Francis people. (espressoguy100) - he's very helpful and honest, if you want a good deal.

Other people complain about filling the water reservior - but it's not really a big deal, if you only make one or two a day, it will last over a week.

The one negative thing I've seen with mine is that it's started dripping - hopefully a new rubber ring will fix that (I don't think other people report that problem).