Delonghi PrimaDonna Class ECAM 550.85. MS Coffee machine. The fully automatic coffee machine De’Longhi "PrimaDonna Class ECAM 550.85. Easy maintenance allows you to enjoy coffee quickly and easily.
Very high quality build with stainless steel or real chromed metal on all exterior surfaces. Great intuitive setup. Machine is smart in that it senses status of parts and settings, such a water fullness, milk frother setting - clean versus froth. Easy cleaning immediately after frothing milk. Oh, and the coffee tastes great. I love cappuccino, and this makes it perfectly and effortlessly.
Great "fancy coffee", wish it made more "regular coffee"
Ok, this is probably the nicest "fancy coffee" maker you can buy. If you're looking for just a good cup of coffee, it makes a great cup of coffee - BUT it won't fill your cup all the way. The way to get the biggest "regular" cup of coffee is to go to the "Extra Long" cup setting, then press the silver "Long" button. That gives you close or right at 250ml. Measure it out in a measuring cup and then pour it into a regular cup and you'll see what I mean. Even using the programmable setting, you can't pour more than 250ml.
My wife is the coffee drinker. I wanted the hot chocolate, which you can NOT find in other machines. We used 1% milk and made the hot chocolate. It did not increase the volume or thicken or froth or anything that I was hoping for, but the hot chocolate was fast. You can probably get just as good by making it in a coffee cup and then heating it in the microwave. Same thing. Maybe better results with whole milk? However, DeLonghi recommended the skim or low fat for the frothing.
Outside of that, I'm fairly certain there's no better machine out there. It's quiet with the ceramic grinder and the visual screen is great. NOTE that this machine is NOT offered by DeLonghi on their website to US buyers. However, after talking to a service rep on the phone, they had one in their office and said it was better than any offered on their website - so BUY IT if you find it!