The only thing it doesn't do is grind the beans for you

Author's Rating:

Pros: programmable, auto shut-off, 10-cup capacity, espresso machine with froth attachment, attractive

Cons: you must grind the coffee, or buy pre-ground

Author's Review
I received this as a gift seven years ago. It actually had more in a coffee maker than I ever thought I'd want or need. Over the past 7 years, I've learned to use and appreciate every one of its features.

First of all, I love the feature that lets you program the coffee maker to brew at whatever time you want it to. It has a clock on the front of the machine, and buttons to push to set it to begin at a certain time-similar to an alarm clock. This is a great feature if you have a baby who demands to be fed at the crack of dawn, because when you wake up, your coffee can be waiting for you.

Next, the coffee maker has an automatic shut-off feature. If you haven't taken the pot of coffee off the warmer plate in the last hour, the machine shuts itself off. Otherwise, you have eternally hot coffee.

The machine also has a nifty device that stops the freshly brewed coffee from dripping once the pot is removed from the warmer plate. I realize most coffee makers are probably advanced enough to include this feature today, so it's probably not terribly amazing. For those of us who are so impatient that we have to have that coffee as soon as there's enough in the pot to make one cup, it's a wonderful feature, and worthy of recognition.

The machine also has a wonderful espresso machine, with a steam-pressurized system, and a froth attachment on the side. On the espresso side, there's a dial with three settings: espresso, off, and steam. Once you've poured the water, and tightly closed the lid, you can turn the knob to the left for espresso, or to the right for steam. I admit I use the coffee more than the espresso, just because there's more effort involved in making the espresso (and the espresso can't be programmed for 6:00 a.m.).

A couple of other notable features are: capacity of coffee is 10 cups, cone-shaped reusable filter, and very attractive (stylish, black).