Great aesthetics, but barely fits under kitchen counters.
Negative Product Points
Filter bin occasionally fails to swing into position after grinding. Beans frequently fail to feed into grinder, resulting in a pot of warm water.
Detailed Commentary
The first few times I used this machine, it failed to brew anything but a pot of warm water. The problem is the finger guard, which is too low to allow the beans to feed into the grinder consistently. What usually happens is the first few beans within reach of the grinder are ground, but the process hollows out a 'cave' beneath the finger guard which prevents the rest of the beans from feeding.
After speaking to a customer service rep at Capresso, he was kind enough to send me a taller bean hopper to replace the standard one, the theory being that the finger guard was higher (it isn't) and the weight of the additional beans would cause them to flow into the grinder better. Didn't work. The machine also manages to spew ground coffee all over the counter top on a regular basis.
I finally solved the problem by taking a Dremel tool and cutting off the three pylons holding the finger guard and removing it completely. That solved the grinding problem.
Unfortunately, the very next morning, the filter bin failed to swing into position under the brew head after grinding and the coffee failed to brew. Thinking I had forgotten to push the timer button the previous night, I pushed the 'Coffee Now' button and the machine began grinding, filling the filter completely to the top with ground coffee.
This machine is a triumph of form over function. It looks very stylish, but is defeated by continuous operational glitches. The coffee it brews, while acceptable, but unexceptional. Tomorrow, I will return it to the dealer for a refund or exchange. No one should have to put up with this in a $300 machine.
Buying Experience
The dealer was a specialty kitchen shop in Bath, Maine. Very helpful, but tomorrow I'll find out if they accept the return of the machine. It's been almost a month since I bought it, but I spent the time trying to get it to work consistently.
