Verdict
If you love coffee then you are going to love the KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine. It offers plenty of customisation to make you feel that “you” made the coffee whilst honing in on you barista skills. The coffee tastes the best when it is freshly ground by the machine, and then brewed to a temperature of your choosing.
If you prefer to use pre-ground coffee, I found that it doesn’t pack the same taste punch when compared to the cafetiere. And whilst the machine is “Quiet Mark” certified, I found it louder than expected.
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Makes great tasting fresh coffee
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Removable bean hopper
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Easy to clean
Key Features
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Removable bean hopper
You can empty and swap beans, or buy mulitple hoppers to switch between.
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Integrated grinder
Grind beans fresh to make your drinks
Introduction
Compact yet bold, the KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine will level up your barista skills to brew and create anything from espressos to Americanos, lattes, and more.
This coffee machine has features that’ll make it a valuable addition to your morning arsenal: the burr grinder will grind your favourite beans to a coarseness of your choosing; a steam wand will help to perfect your latte art; and the hot water spout will top up your Lungo (or make a cup of tea if you prefer.
It comes with everything to get you started. This includes a 355ml milk pitcher, tamper, single-wall filters for 1 & 2 shots, double-wall filters for 1 & 2 shots, removable bean hopper, portafilter, water filter, brush and priming pump.
I found that it takes 30-minutes (give or take) to set up everything, and the first coffee you make won’t be the quickest. Worth the £699 price? I find out.
Design and Features
- Available in three colours
- Clear control panel
- Removable bean hopper
The KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine is a compact and metal clad. Measuring 395 x 338 x 281mm it takes up little space on the kitchen worktop and will only make a statement if you want it to. I tested it in cast-iron black to match my other small appliances, but it’s also available in stainless steel and porcelain white.
To the front of the machine is a control panel. This has a knob, slider and various buttons. Turn the knob to select the coffee dose and grind amount; slide the slider to adjust the grind size and press the “grind start” button in the middle of the knob to grind coffee. You can then select “Espresso” mode to brew a coffee.
Next to the “Espresso” mode button is “steam” mode and “hot water” mode. Underneath and to the side of these three buttons you can also personalise temperature and dose.
The pressure gauge displays an espresso range for making an ideal espresso. And the Portafilter can sit in a holder under the grinder or be locked into the group head when brewing.
A hot water spout and steam wand is also on hand to further personlaise your favourite coffee drinks; Fill the milk pitcher to the bottom of the pouring spout to froth or heat milk and toggle to “hot water” mode to release hot water into a mug.
There’s enough space for all three filter baskets to be stowed underneath the machine, behind the drip tray. This drip tray is removable for emptying and washing.
Around the back of this espresso machine is a removable 2.5L water tank with a water filter, which allows you to make up to 33 espresso shots in a single fill, or create taller drinks without refilling very often. Personally, I can not handle more than two shots of espresso in the morning, so this size of water tank is unnecessarily large for my household. Emptying and refilling it every day is, in principle, totally fine, but again, the size of it is a bit too big for my kitchen sink to comfortably contain the water quantities being poured into it.
Sitting on top is a removable, 225g bean hopper which will hold your average-sized bag of coffee beans. Twist and lift this to remove. I can see that this will be helpful when switching between beans. Alternatively, you can buy more KitchenAid bean hoppers (£45 from Amazon) to keep the beans fresh and always have an alternative bean on stand-by. The burr grinder will then quickly grind down the beans to a grind size of your choosing.
Top tip: When the machine is not in use I found it easier to position the Portafilter in the holder so it’s ready to go for your next caffine fix.
Performance
- Makes delicious espresso
- Steam wand takes some getting used to
- Easy to keep clean
Unwrapping the KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine was simple, but there was a lot of plastic. It took almost 30 minutes to unwrap everything, hand wash the Portafilter, filters and drip tray, insert the water filter, set the water hardness level and read through the Quick Start Guide.
I love an oat milk latte in the morning, so it felt appropriate for this to be the first drink I make with the machine. I chose a single wall, single shot filter and inserted this into the Portafilter.
Going by the pressure gauge, the pressure when brewing my first couple of espressos was outside of the ideal range. I was also met by some resistance when inserting the Portafilter. This resulted in over extraction.
I decreased the dosage of beans ground and made sure that when I tampered the coffee grounds it was to a line marked in the basket. This made it a lot easier to secure the Portafilter into the group head.
In turn, there was no longer over extraction. The coffee made was rich in crema, and deep in taste.
For each coffee I made I steamed and/or frothed milk: oat and dairy. This really is an art. I struggled to get the milk warm enough and/or frothy enough. The noise when frothing or heating can be piercing, and the jug gets really hot. I found that there is a lag time of 10 seconds between grinding beans and activating “steam mode” too.
The KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine is Quiet Mark certified. This means that this appliance was tested for sound performance to ensure that it operates under a decibel threshold. And yet I found it loud. When grinding beans I recorded a noise level of 76dB, and when I was was warming/frothing milk I recorded a noise level range of 72dB to 93dB depending on how much milk I had in the jug and the positioning of the steam wand. These levels are equivalent to loud singing or inside a car.
Regular cleaning is a must (for me, anyway). The filters will need emptying in between mugs of coffee; steam wand will need a wipe after every use; and the drip tray will need emptying and washing in soapy water every other day. The machine will also need to be descaled at least whenever the Clean Cycle Light button is blinking, which will be determined by the hardness of water in your region.
KitchenAid also recommend replacing the water filter every 50L of water (or six weeks). I’ve found replacement water filters available to buy from Amazon (£29 for a pack of 12).
Final Thoughts
Whilst it takes some getting used to, the KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine will make you a delicious mug of freshly ground coffee. I like that I can adjust the grind size and dose amount, and that I have a choice of four filters.
The steam wand is good for frothing or steaming milk and whilst I do find it loud and not as easy as it looks to use, I am optimistic that I’ll soon perfect the art.
Worth £699? If you like to drink coffee and want customisation on an espresso machine, then I’m certain that you won’t be disappointed. However, if you want a machine that takes care of the grind and brew at the touch of a button, then a fully automatic machine – like the KitchenAid KF8 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine – would be the better option, or something else on the list of best coffee machines.
Should you buy it?
You want a customizable coffee
Grind beans to the perfect size and dose, and brew to your preferred temperature
You want the machine to do it all
Customisation is the key, so if that’s not for you then opt for a fully automatic machine
How We Test
We test every coffee machine thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our only coffee machine for one week
- Tested all functions
FAQs
You can take the hopper (and beans) off, and then empty them out to swap for a different type of bean. Or you can buy spare hoppers and swap beans on the fly more easily.
Test Data
Full Specs
| KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine Review | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | – |
| Size (Dimensions) | 335 x 281 x 395 MM |
| Weight | 10.7 KG |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| First Reviewed Date | 21/04/2026 |
| Coffee Machine Type | Manual |
| Integrated grinder | Yes |
| Number of boilers | 1 |
| Milk frothing | Steam wand |
| Water capacity | 2.5 litres |
