Food Need recommendations for an espresso maker?

[Roo]

Mr Roo wants one and I'd like to buy him one for Father's Day.

The only prerequisite is that it not take up a lot of counter space...

We're in Seattle so there is an oversaturation of coffee-stuff so I need some help weeding the good stuff out from the crap...

TIA!

 

[pidgeon92]

I love my Rancilio Sylvia, and I have a Rocky grinder. The grinder is at least as important as the espresso maker. It's amazing how many different kinds of machines there are, and how differently they all function.

I bought mine from wholelattelove.com. They have lots of reviews, and their customer service is terrific. I also got a lot of information from the forums at CoffeeGeek.com:

http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums

I pored over this stuff for days and days before I made my choice. The only change I would have made would have been on the grinder, I would have bought the doserless Rocky vs. the doser Rocky. I didn't take the time to understand the difference.

 

[annanas]

i'm super lazy so i got a nespresso. no grinding required and no clean-up either!

this is the one i have..

the coffee is much better than you'd expect from espresso capsules, not to even begin talking about starbucks espresso