The selection isn't anything to write home about, and all the models in store are also sold on the John Lewis website, so unless you have the kind of problem I'm trying to solve (does the KF4 Swissgold filter fit in the machine???) then there is precious little point in going unless you derive a perverse satisfaction from clearing out the ruck of January sale shoppers in order to get to the product you want to look at.  I certainly don't.

Anyway, the John Lewis DCC1150JLU Coffee Maker for GBP59 (top image) accomodated the KF4, but it wasnt a perfect fit.  It was good enough to be operational (i.e. you could close the lid on the machine properly and nothing stood proud, and the coffee would have run through correctly, but it wasnt a millimetre perfect fit.  I didnt like the stainless steel flask, nor the styling of the machine in general.  These machines consist of very little.  We have already proven that a GBP14.99 machine, Sainsburys branded, had the temperature spot on.  All we need essentially is that machine, but with a slightly larger recess to accomodate the the KF4 Swissgold.  You can see the manufacturers desperately trying to add electronic gizmos (that cost almost nothing to add as a manufacturer) in order to drive the price up.

Both these machines are examples of that, although perhaps the second machine more than the first.  This machine is sold in John Lewis as the Prestige 50669 Deco Coffee Maker for GBP44.95, although this is difficult to see from the poor mobile phone image I have provided you with.  The KF4 Swissgold filter fits perfectly in this machine.  I would have bought it but for what I think is the chintzy styling, with its fake chrome (plastic), cheap feeling plastic handle on the pitcher, and flimsy feeling lid.  But, the KF4 Swissgold does fit absolutely perfectly, as though the manufacturer fashioned the KF4 themselves.  So, if you like the styling, buy this machine and you can rest assured that the KF4 will fit when you com to put it in.

What I discovered is that the Prestige Deco machine is rated as a 15 cup, 1.5 litre machine with an 1100W element.  This might be a clue I think.  I think we need to be looking for 15 cup machines, even though the KF4 Swissgold filter is sold as a 12 filter, I think the marketing men may have made the cups a little smaller while we weren't looking.  You might still find me chance an arm on an online purchase as going to the shops is such a ball-ache, and doubly so in January with the sales in full swing.

PS: The KF4 Swissgold coffee filter does not fit into the Kenwood kMix CM021 Filter Coffee Maker, nor the Cuisinart DGB900BCU Grind and Brew, nor the John Lewis DCC902JLU Filter Coffee Maker (which I suspect is the same Russell Hobbs machine that I bought, just rebadged)