UPDATE --------------- Got a Good one finally!
Since my last post I've owned a couple of Cappo makers and now I've settled on this one:
Saeco Via Venezia Espresso Machine - Bed Bath & Beyond
Cons:
*Hard to get the filter out of the portafilter to clean each time
*Warming plate doesn't get very hot
*No indication of how much to make (Not newbie friendly)
Pros:
*Makes Damn fine espresso with lotsa crema
*Easy to clean overall
*Has great frother and other extras like the heating plate and 2 ways to fill water tank
*Can take ground bean OR ESE Pods, most flexible system ever.
*Solid steel construction, could hit it with my car and still make good espresso afterwards
*Heats up in seconds... Off to fully brewed in under a minute!
*Huge water tank holds all week's water in one fill.
*Dead simple to use with 3 buttons and a knob for steam/hot water. (Although you still have to perform a type of art to know how much water to put through your grinds each time, but many spresso machines are like this.)
I'm enjoying some seriously tasty 'spresso with thick crema on top as we speak... And it was pretty easy to do, too. I haven't had it long enough to say how hard the weekly or descaling cleanings go, but after a few days I've decided the per-use cleaning is the easiest I've seen yet, so with that in mind plus all that thick red crema, yeah buddy, it's a keeper.
Interestingly, I tried one of these things just before it:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A8C0XW/sr=1-1-fkmr0/ref=pop?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&sr=1-1-fkmr0"]Gaggia Mukka Pot at Amazon[/ame]
And at first I thought: "Holy Shit, Magically yummy Cappo in one step!"
But after about 10 of them, I thought: "Holy Shit... Where's the Foam???"
It pretty much just gradually stopped making the froth. It became a latte maker, and that was with me spending 10-15 Minutes scrubbing all of the internal surfaces out (And there were TONS of them, all kinds of hidden chambers in this thing...) after each and every use!
I turned it back in and noticed BBBY stopped carrying them... I doubt anyone has gotten one to work for more than a week or two.
Now I'm Burr Grinder shopping, looking at this one because it's solid, adjustable, and cheap with lots of good reviews:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DBM-8-Supreme-Automatic-CCM-16PC1/dp/B00018RRRK/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1321409983&sr=1-4"]Cuisinart DBM-8 $50 Burr Grinder at Amazon[/ame]
Thoughts?