This machine offers exceptional brew variability and is extremely reliable.  It is well-designed and constructed, and easy to use - intuitive.  If you use good coffee and good water, this machine will deliver a good cup, just the way you like it.

I would replace the heating element and standard carafe with a thermal carafe, because of the tendency of warming plates to burn the coffee.

It surprised me with its construction quality and well-thought out design.  It allows me to easily 'tune' my brew by varying grind, water volume and number of cups per pot.   It can double as an alarm clock you actually want to hear, if your bedroom is close enough to the kitchen and you program it for auto grind/brew.  Grinding is exceptional.  Swiss Burr blades with variable grind control assure consistently predictable levels of coarseness or fineness, to taste.  I was amused by the accompanying instructional video, which I watched after I figured out how to use the machine on my own.  (The video did inform me on a few features I had overlooked.)

I wasn't looking for a coffee-maker when I found this machine and had not heard of Capresso.  I found it in a discount home-goods store at a really good price.  Its unique qualities made it stand out against the more pedestrian machines on display.