La Pavoni BEG

Advantages: Absolutely fantastic coffee is possible (better than any chain store).
Disadvantages: Quite difficult to master, and not especially forgiving.

...When a company sells a product that hasn't changed for nearly a century, and still commands one of the highest prices on the market, there is a reason. In the case of the Professional, a very good reason. La Pavoni have built their reputation on the performance of their lever driven espresso machines, which haven't changed significantly since their introduction in 1961. The Professional is the big brother to the Europiccola, and your extra £200 doubles the capacity of the boiler and adds an arguably unnecessary pressure guide to the sight level on the side of the boiler. The name Professional is somewhat misleading, as the machine is designed and intended for the domestic market. The Professional's baby brother, the Europiccola is more widely available and as it is often seen second-hand is almost certainly a better buy than... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Robust engineering, excellent performance, beautiful styling
Disadvantages: Heavy, hard to keep clean, very expensive

...Have you ever wondered why coffee in the coffee shop is better than coffee at home? Coffee shops use freshly ground and roasted coffee, and machines that can extract the full flavour from that coffee. If you want to replicate this quality of coffee at home, you need a machine that's up to the task. La Pavoni produced the Europiccola in 1961 and, some tweaking aside, they haven't changed the design significantly since then. The machine consists of a boiling chamber sitting on a base, with a glass level on one side and some curvaceous pipe-work on the other side. It truly is a thing of beauty, available (in ascending order of price) in chrome and black, straight chrome, chrome with wooden trim, gold, or gold with wooden trim. Go to www.lapavoni.com (domestic line, lever machines) to convince yourself that this is no ordinary machine... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lets you have that 5 a day in a drink, without the preservatives
Disadvantages: Cleaning like every appliance

...Jack La Lanne’s Power Juicer I have to say has really made a difference within our family, with me and two young children who dislike fruit and vegetables this has been a great way to get us taking all those natural ingredients, vital vitamins and that 5 a day thing that the government keep going on about. The battle is won when the children get to pick and choose what they want to put in the juicer, which half the battle this way they take ownership rather than you trying to tell them that it is good for them, as they put the fruit or vegetables in and push down on the plunger the juice comes out before their vary eyes and I mean there is loads of it and very little in the pulp, in fact it is almost bone dry and the pulp can be used to make very tasty muffins, try it. You can change the colour and taste of the drink just by adding... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful