qualin Senior Member Joined: 30 Jun 2012 Posts: 464 Location: Calgary, AB Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto 3 Grinder: Mazzer Mini Elect. Type A Vac Pot: Looking to buy Drip: Manual Roaster: Considering?
Posted Fri Sep 14, 2012, 6:32pm Subject: Can I make this work?
OK, as all of you know, I've been saving my pennies for a much nicer machine than what I have now. (My friends think I'm nuts.)
However, I think I've run into a little snag.. I'm pretty determined to get a La Spaziale Mini Vivaldi II, but I think I'm facing a bit of a reality check. I'd like to know what all of you think, maybe I should be considering a different machine due to space constraints?
My wife is as much a tea geek as I'm a coffee geek, so right now she uses our K-Cup machine to get hot water. (It's perfect for this because of its really small tank, but would be better if we used only one machine for this.)
My wife has agreed to let me have a dedicated portion of the kitchen for my coffee station, but she doesn't want the kitchen turned into a coffee bar. (Drat.) She's already kind of irked that we have two coffee machines in the kitchen.
For those who haven't read my previous threads, I typically make myself a Cappuccino in the morning and a short Americano or a double espresso in the evenings. (Or vice versa depending on how dry my mouth is.) My wife usually drinks two or three 8 oz mugs of herbal tea in the evenings.
Here's a picture of my current set up right now. I can use the space above the machine to hold all of the various things, like steaming pitchers, etc, etc. Right now, it's nearly "Dead" space, used to store some teas and various accessories.
In theory, this spot is a lever machine lovers dream, but I'm not interested in going that route. (Maybe a few years from now.)
qualin Senior Member Joined: 30 Jun 2012 Posts: 464 Location: Calgary, AB Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto 3 Grinder: Mazzer Mini Elect. Type A Vac Pot: Looking to buy Drip: Manual Roaster: Considering?
Posted Fri Sep 14, 2012, 6:36pm Subject: Re: Can I make this work?
.... and here's the problem.....
My biggest concern is the edge of the sink might get in the way.
I left 1" of clearance on the back of the machine, but maybe it isn't enough. Perhaps the machine could be retrofitted with a flush AC plug? I also left about 0.5 inches of clearance on the left hand side, perhaps it would have to be flush...
Getting it plumbed would be a piece of cake. Drill a hole in the sink, put a rubber grommet in the hole then call a plumber to put in the T, water softener system and the open trap.
qualin Senior Member Joined: 30 Jun 2012 Posts: 464 Location: Calgary, AB Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto 3 Grinder: Mazzer Mini Elect. Type A Vac Pot: Looking to buy Drip: Manual Roaster: Considering?
Posted Fri Sep 14, 2012, 6:50pm Subject: Re: Can I make this work?
Since I'm about a 30 minute drive away from a local Expobar dealer, I kind of wondered what putting in something like an Expobar Lever or Expobar Brewtus 4-R would look like...
My wife personally thinks that the exposed E61 grouphead looks really ugly. I personally like the looks of the La Spaziale myself. I kind of figure if I'm going to drop $2-$2.5k on a machine, it should be a DB.
Oh BTW, in all of these diagrams, I did extensive research into the dimensions of the machines...
Before anyone says anything, the Rocky will eventually get replaced with a Baratza Vario-W or a Macap M4D, I'm just putting it in there as a comparison.. I'll most likely be buying machine and grinder as a set, rather than one at a time.
qualin Senior Member Joined: 30 Jun 2012 Posts: 464 Location: Calgary, AB Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto 3 Grinder: Mazzer Mini Elect. Type A Vac Pot: Looking to buy Drip: Manual Roaster: Considering?
Posted Fri Sep 14, 2012, 6:58pm Subject: Re: Can I make this work?
Since I have Visio open, I think that it's probably safe to say that a La Marzocco GS/3 won't fit... (I'm just kidding, but I had to find out anyway just out of curiosity.)
emradguy Senior Member Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 1,728 Location: Houston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto II Grinder: MacapM4T, Macap M4, OE Lido,... Drip: Espro press; Aeropress Roaster: internet
Posted Sat Sep 15, 2012, 7:28am Subject: Re: Can I make this work?
It looks like you are giving up your shot/drink prep space (based on your diagrams).
Which side of the machine has the steam wand? Typically, you need to swing it out to steam, so you might want to consider how much space you need next to the machine.
Regarding your wife's hot water...once you have a plumbed machine you won't need the k-cup. Of course, that means you'll be leaving your machine on more, but I don't consider that a problem.
Bgosselin Senior Member Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 51 Location: Canada,quebec Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Sep 15, 2012, 7:54am Subject: Re: Can I make this work?
qualin Said:
.... and here's the problem.....
My biggest concern is the edge of the sink might get in the way.
I left 1" of clearance on the back of the machine, but maybe it isn't enough. Perhaps the machine could be retrofitted with a flush AC plug? I also left about 0.5 inches of clearance on the left hand side, perhaps it would have to be flush...
Getting it plumbed would be a piece of cake. Drill a hole in the sink, put a rubber grommet in the hole then call a plumber to put in the T, water softener system and the open trap.
The mini-vivaldi is curve on the back so you don't need that much space. If your outlet is 8.5 inchs high you got 2 inchs of clearance?. The cord is big (20 amp compatible) and mean you probably need 2.5 inchs of clearance to make it fit. Having a smaller plug could help.
So 0.5 inch could do depending on your electical outlet location.
I think you sould but it flush on the left side. The Vivaldi is also curv on the side. So the widest is about 16 inchs in the middle, but the front is about 14.5 inchs.
Steam wand is on the left. So you have plenty of space there.
In my set up the grinder is 10 feet away and i never saw that as a problem. It also make the coffee section smaller when split in two.
sn_85 Senior Member Joined: 1 Dec 2011 Posts: 131 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Quick Mill Andreja Premium Grinder: Baratza Vario
Posted Sat Sep 15, 2012, 8:45am Subject: Re: Can I make this work?
You also mentioned you were determined to get the Mini Vivaldi II and then plumb. Note that you can't plumb the Mini Vivaldi, it doesn't have the hook ups for one and is only a resevoir machine. You'd have to get the regular Vivaldi II (non-Mini) which is a plumb-only machine.
Coffeenoobie Senior Member Joined: 11 Dec 2011 Posts: 2,320 Location: PNW Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: N S Oscar Grinder: Vario W
Posted Sat Sep 15, 2012, 9:10am Subject: Re: Can I make this work?
Get your wife an insinkerator as a peace offering. I thought they were silly but I worked at a place for a year with that on one side and hot water from the huge Bunn on the other. I really like how it stacked up against the water from the Bunn. I want one here now... and I really thought they were worthless before.
Coffeenoobie
Buying advice: GRINDER GRINDER GRINDER. Don't cheap out on the grinder. My coffee treasure map... Click Here (maps.google.com)
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
![qualin: Coffee_Setup.jpg](javascript:ImagePopup("/images/58584/Coffee_Setup.jpg", 400, 350, "qualin: Coffee_Setup.jpg");)
![qualin: Current-Layout.jpg](javascript:ImagePopup("/images/58589/Current-Layout.jpg", 800, 608, "qualin: Current-Layout.jpg");)
![qualin: Proposed-Layout.jpg](javascript:ImagePopup("/images/58586/Proposed-Layout.jpg", 800, 608, "qualin: Proposed-Layout.jpg");)
![qualin: Alternative-Coffee.jpg](javascript:ImagePopup("/images/58587/Alternative-Coffee.jpg", 800, 608, "qualin: Alternative-Coffee.jpg");)
![qualin: Dream-Machine.jpg](javascript:ImagePopup("/images/58588/Dream-Machine.jpg", 800, 608, "qualin: Dream-Machine.jpg");)
= No New Posts since last visit 