I thought I was spending more & getting quality...

I have had a number of coffee machines over the years inclduing 3 kenwood retro which all were good machines made good latte's espresso... but largely died after 18 or so months. So i thought i'll spend 3x as much for a better quality machine that will hopefully last x3 as long. I'm not sure I could argue this machine is even close to as good as the Kenwood. The bad points are numerous and to give you a few:

>The machine is ~ 8 months old i make 4-5 coffees per day and it now leaks like no ones business
>Rarely generates crema unlike the Kenwood
>Ever so slightly over fill the coffee grinds (its recessed so you can't help but get this wrong every now and then) and the machine sqirts grinds and water and you have to start again
>The height restricts the size of cup so much that it makes anything other than using an espresso cup virtually impractical (the kenwood would fit a mug)
>The water jug is very helpfully directly behind the machine so you have to pull the damn thing away from the wall to refill all of the time (minor niggle but again poor design for a machine that is most likely to be up against a wall)
>I am having to descale this machine every month or so again most of the machines I've had in the past have lasted more like 6 months before there was noticable reduction in pressure. After a month it barely works.
>The drip tray is dire, the lip on the metal grate is tiny so every time you touch it it slides out of place taking your cup with it :( again very poor design

As you can see I could list more but I sound like a sad sap who can't help complaining, I rarely feel it worth it but I felt i had to make an exception for this truly rubbish machine. Don't buy one save yourself.