Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55015 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Kenwood
• Model: ES550

Manufacturer's Description
With more high street coffee shops opening and our desire of all things stylish and continental, Kenwood have bought out the Café Retro Espresso Machine, which looks stunning is cream. This both looks stunning and makes a very good cup of coffee. You simply put your ground beans in the brew handle, take one of your cups from the cup warmer/holder (on top of the product) and flick a switch to begin. Turn it off when you have enough espresso coffee. If you decide you would like a Latte, simply add warm milk, and if you feel like a Cappuccino you can use the milk frother on the side of the machine. There is also a different brew handle which can take selected coffee 'Pods'

Customer Reviews

Super looking machine and excellent coffee
Well I bought this after staying at a friends house. They had the "Francis Francis X1" machine, which looked good and made great coffee's too. Not wanting to pay the £300 or so for the same but wanting a very similar looking product I found this wonderful Kenwood equivalent. Intially I saw the Stainless steel version but on further browsing found they offer the Cafe Retro in red or cream( same colour as my friends Francis Francis maker)as well.

Not having used one of these before I found it very easy to use, although it takes a few attempts to get familiar with it and hone your methods. Either using the pods or ground coffee gives excellent results. The milk frother/ steamer is fantastic and really makes the coffee. The little toggle switches, temperature gauge and indicator lights all make towards this product being a classic looking machine and making the coffee is even more fun!

Highly enjoyable and fantastic coffee maker, what more can I say, top marks Kenwood and the best price at Amazon!!!

Good deal
This is a good deal. I've had Krups, Gaggia and Dualit espresso machines before and this compares well with them, and is a lot cheaper. It's solidly made and looks good. It does take a bit longer to get up to the required heat for steaming than some other models, which is why I give it four rather than five stars, but capuccino ought to be part of a leisurely period of the day so this isn't a big problem.

A real Gem ++++++
I did my homework and after reading many reviews (good & bad) for every single coffee machine going - I plumped for this one and boy, I am glad. Previously I had a Philips Senseo which was OK but the coffee was luke warm and since Costa Coffee has only just found its way to the nearest town, I really wanted a good machine. There's a saying you get what you pay for and this is so true. OK, so the machine costs around £100 but it really is worth every penny. The first coffee tastes great and then once you get to know how to use the machine and you get used to it, the coffee just gets better & better. I also invested in a coffee grinder and a big cup & saucer from my Costa Coffee shop. I would highly recommend this machine to anyone. I know people say that the cup warmer is not great but hey, think about it, for health & safety reasons it can't be that hot. Yes the top gets warm but not that warm. It does not detract from the coffee the machine makes and you should not let this sway your decision as to whether or not to buy the machine. If you don't want to spend anything in the region of £300 on a Gaggia or Francis Francis X1 then this is definitely the one for you.
The machine looks great in any kitchen and will certainly have your friends green with envy.