Krups XP2070 Coffee and Espresso Machine w/ Decalcifier

Comment: We purchased this maker as I was initally drawn to the programmable feature for the coffee and the dual function appeared useful.

First the good points: Excellent expresso, good crema.

The bad points: If I had realised the huffing and puffing and hissing in order to heat up/cool down for the milk frother, I would not have picked this model. A simple knob to turn steam off/on would have suited me. This fills the drip tray up really quickly. Once you have frothed once, you then have to wait for a cool/heat cycle with hissing and spitting before frothing again. Really annoying.

The Steam nozzle - This has a little silver tube running up the length, which comes off for cleaning. At the bottom the tube opens out into the steam stream. Its function appears then to draw cool milk / milk froth down into the steam for frothing. Why then is there an insert in the top piece of rubber to stop this? I removed the insert and restored the function of this, but even better is to remove the silver tube altogether and carefully position the wand at the surface of the milk to produce the required air/milk mix. I checked at the John Lewis with a display model and it also had the blocking piece of plastic. Hmmm.

We have used the filter coffee side of the machine twice in a year. Again, bad decision at buy time and a waste (for us). Others may prefer filter (I know my US office has a pot on all day).

I have come to learn to live with the foibles of this machine, but I wouldn't buy another. The Expresso on a good day is pretty damn perfect, but we heat milk in the microwave now to save all the hissing spitting puffing grunting steam facility.

I should have gone for the Gaggia!

Comment: I had originally written a really scathing review, but I've decided to reconsider. I had two problems, the second one just after the warranty ran out. This made me feel really miffed and sour on the product. However, when I called Krups, they were actually really responsible and offered to service my machine for free given that Id only had my replacement for 6 months.

Pro:
a good price for the machine
makes good coffee
makes good espresso

Cons:
Even if you use filtered water, you must periodically descale
The steamer nozzle occasionally pops off and scares the heck out of you and makes a mess.
The steamer has no pause feature, so if you stop the steam, you have to wait for it to recharge.

Notes and work arounds:
The nozzle coming off is really annoying, but keeping the nozzle clean and free from internal buildup really helps this. I use a square toothpick occasionally to make sure the steamway is unobstructed.

There's no pause, but if you're frothing two glasses of milk, you can switch glasses without catastrophe with just a little practice

I'm sure that there are better machines out there, but this was my first espresso machine that occasionally brews a pot of coffee and it pretty consistently delivers good results

I now give it 3.5 stars

Comment: The Krups XP 2070 has been in use at my household for about a month now, with no problems to speak of. We use the espresso machine with cappucino attachment almost daily, and each time it has been very good. A notice I would give to the espresso enthusiast looking to buy would be the need for a different tamper than the one provided. The provided tamper is plastic, and can be wobbly, but I am very satisfied with the product.