A customer of ours called us asking to bring a Mazzer Mini electronic grinder over to try out on her Kitchen Aid espresso machine. Until then she had always bought pre-ground coffee, but had heard that buying a grinder and using freshly roasted whole beans would take her espresso to the next level. Privately we thought a Mini Mazzer electronic was a bit of a mismatch with the espresso machine, as we had heard of mixed ownership experiences.
Whilst I am not in favour of unnecessary equipment and gadgets we most definitely took some pocket digital scales with us. After the usual fiddling that goes with dialling in a grinder we found ourselves astounded with the quality of the espresso, considering it is by no means the most expensive domestic espresso machine available. While it was possible to choke the pump you really had to load it up before it happened, unlike so many domestic espresso machines where the pump simply doesn't have enough grunt to make a thick, dense espresso. The pump on this machine has some shove for a domestic machine.
Unable to contain my surprise I started asking about the machine, how long she had owned it for, what problems she had experienced with it, etc. Well the response was surprising, and I don't doubt true, as I subsequently went online to places like Amazon and read the customer reviews there too and they were consistent with what our customer said.
That is, the Kitchen Aid makes wonderful espresso, but all other aspects of the machine are fair to middling. It's such an anomaly in the domestic espresso machine market, as almost without exception domestic espresso machines look very nice and so on, but simply don't have the grunt to make great espresso.
The Kitchen Aid machine is the opposite, something of an Alfa Romeo in the espresso machine world, where the engine is wonderful and all the other elements that make up the car are considered ornamental and not to be relied upon. As an Alfisiti I hasten to add that the current crop of Alfas are just as reliable as anything else, but their cars from the '70s and '80s are the ones I have in mind.
So the list of things that can and does fail is too numerous to list it seems, and you can check this for yourself on the Amazon customer reviews as I have already mentioned, including, but not limited to the gauges steaming up and the powder coating simply refusing to stay stuck to the body of the machine. But there is a silver lining to this curious story. According to our customer, at least from the kitchen ware shop she purchased her machine from, once her machine was out of the warranty period they allowed her to buy a new machine for GBP50, an offer which I think she has taken up four times and is now on her sixth Kitchen Aid espresso machine in total!
A quite incredible story I think you'll agree, but one which we thought was worth telling in case you are reading this and also have a Kitchen Aid espresso machine. It seems as though if you are willing to expend another GBP50 on a brand you may no longer think as highly of as you once did, then you could land yourself a new machine and be back in espresso production. If the espresso from your Kitchen Aid espresso machine is anything like as good as what we tasted I would put up with the malfunctioning pressure gauges and the scars on the chassis where the powdering coating has long since departed and just get on with enjoying the taste of the espresso.
To all the owners of Kitchen Aid espresso machines; cheers!
ps - i should add, the Kitchen Aid is a twin boiler machine, so it is worth considering, especially as it is now very reasonably priced. just bear in mind our observations above.
pps - the machine is made by Gaggia we understand & no we would not recommend the Kitchen Aid grinder that pairs with this espresso machine as we have used it ourselves and it jams easily and it is no easy task to unjam.