Ok, in my original assessment of the Krups XP4050 I was a little harsh, but honest. I wanted to follow up a bit and say that the XP4050 has really surprised me quite a bit with its performance over the past month or two. When I first purchased the XP4050, the store manager at Williams Sonoma was less than enthusiastic about this espresso machine to say the least. But, since I had some credit there and the next model up was twice as much, I picked it up for a test drive. My first observation was that the XP4050 smelled terrible…like burning plastic. That fact is something that brings me to smell the water that I run through the machine each time I use it to warm things up. That smell has come and gone and while there is still some faint odor of hot somethingorother (I just made that word), it is not something that would keep me from recommending the XP4050 to someone who loves Espresso and/or Cappuccino.

I have made a minimum of two, double espressos/cappuccinos, a day with the XP4050 since I brought it home and I have tried a number of different blends and roasts. This little machine is definitely worth the money and I would have paid money for it if I had to. So, if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive espresso machine, I would consider the Krups XP4050 as a good entry-level machine. Just know that the first two weeks will involve a smell that is tough to get past. This however, really did not affect the espresso that came out of the machine.