Kogan Automatic Espresso KGNCMAVAA

Great machine – We're definitely not coffee experts, but this delivers exactly what I'd expect for an espresso machine, and without the financial outlay that so many other units require. Originally the capsule unit was going to be our choice, but it seems extremely wasteful, and without an experience of espresso machines we had heard that they were difficult to… Read more

clean, maintain etc.

Well, we've had this unit for over 18 months now, pumping out at least 4 coffees a day, without an issue on the mechanics. The water tank seems good, and despite other reviews, does not require a refill when 25% has been used. The consistency of the coffee has been the tricky part, with the milk frother requiring attention over months, but it's doing a great job so a bit hard to complain when you only have to monitor it rarely.

Great aspects

Very easy to use

Very good value for money

Not so great aspects

Sometimes the LCD gets confused and thinks we have touched the wrong selection

The dreg tray can overflow without a real alert, which can clog the area for the bin Inexpensive and reliable The control LCD can select the wrong item

Good Value, Coffee Is Top Notch – The coffee is excellent This product is easy to use and good value. I get good milk froth and some of the best coffee I have had. Great tasting coffee, affordable and reliable Screen has frozen a couple of time, turning off and on does the trick.

Great machine. Some small issues but what do you want for sub $500 coffee machine – Have had experence with another top brand from Italy for many years, costing more that 2k. and really enjoyed coffee from the Italian machine. All the reveiws I have read have not been too positive for the Kogan. However my wife and I can not complain so far. There are some small issues with which we can live with. Some reviewers said that… Read more

the coffee in the dregs drawer was commming out as sloppy mud. Well my machine did that to start off with. To solve this I just simply increased the coffee grind mass to 11g (whilst the coffee is being ground press the bean icon and then press increase) Coffee pucks in the dregs drawer every coffee we make.

Dregs drawer could have been a little bigger, however we do not have that many coffees during the day. (about 10 a day between us and visiters max)

Power supply has a low audiable hum, no biggy though.

Cup warmer is always on when the machine is on/standby. off when you turn the machine off. As we do not really use a cup warmer. You can not turn this feature off in the menu system.

Even with these small issues I still give this machine 5 stars, as the issues are minor and can be solved/lived with.

Lets face it this machine is less than 500 bucks. An Italian brand machine would cost close to, or over than 2k. Cheap, if it last a year I am still 1500 infornt compared to a more expresive machine costing 2k. Compact size compared to more expensive machines

Twist the milk frother knob to produce a much hotter and frothier cappuccino!! – For the money this machine is very good and actually makes a very good coffee. I use Vittoria beans and set it up on the strongest setting which is still a little weak so I usually add 2 shots to a mug. But for an espresso shot its very good with a nice thick crème on top. Make sure you use filtered water if you can. It tastes better and is… Read more ·  2

better for the machine. As per other reviews the water tank is a little small and it is annoying filling it up all the time but water is not meant to be left in there for a long period of time and this is for home use only. If you’re a business and this machine is to be used constantly all day don’t even bother. This is a great machine for home use for 6-12 max coffees per day.

I had a problem with the milk frothier. As per other reviews it wasn’t coming out hot enough and provided a luke warm coffee which was very frustrating. I contacted Kogan and they were willing to send a courier free of charge to pick it up and return it fixed which was good but said if there was no problem with it then I would have to pay for the courier costs. I was hesitant at proceeding with this so I didn’t bother.

I actually played around with the hot water function and realised that the water coming out was very hot so it wasn’t the machine. The problem was the actual milk frothier piece. There is a knob that you twist to position for the milk to come through. When you twist it, it opens a valve to let the milk run through which sends down steam to heat it. The problem is that the hole is too big and the milk flows through it too fast and it doesn’t have enough time to heat the milk and therefore it comes out warmish. So to fix the problem, look at the hole and twist the knob so it is a quarter open. This makes the milk flow very slowly and heats the milk up very hot. It takes a lot longer to come through but you get a hot cuppa and more froth.

There are little annoying problems like the annoying beeping (you can turn the beeping off which is recommended), small dreg draw (but who wants to leave smelly dregs in there for long anyway), and very rarely the screen blanks out (this is fixed by turning the machine off at the power point).

I would definitely recommend this product even if you’re not on a tight budget. It produces a very good espresso coffee and when you add the hot milk a very good cappuccino although not café good and its much cheaper to run than a pod machine which is much more expensive to run over a long period of time due to the pods and tastes much much better than the pods. Thanks Kogan very happy!! Good coffee! Easy to use once you get the hang of it and easy to clean. Not much! As long as you twist the knob on the milk frother to only open it by a quarter you will get hot milk. If you leave it to the position stated by Kogan you will get cold milk.

Great value for money – Have had this machine for about 2 months now and it is fantastic for the money. It is used around 10 times a day at least and makes a great coffee every time. Easy to change coffee strength and even the temperature to suit personal taste. Milk froth is fine, and the hot water option means you can even make a cup of tea without getting the kettle… Read more ·  2

out. Kids love the hot milk/froth option for hot chocolate. Was particularly impressed when researching machine to see that Kogan offer a back to base warranty and the courier back and forth if needed is paid for by them - so good in these days of 'get it back to us and we will fix it' especially for something quite heavy like this machine. Value for money, nice looking machine, does everything without the need for any other appliances/gadgets The only fault I have found is that sometimes the LCD display locks up, but powering off and then on again clears this and it doesnt happen often.

OK but possible grinder issue and slushy dredge – I've had this machine for a few months now and it makes decent coffee but I have one issue. I think its the grinder. It doesn't put much coffee into each shot even when set to maximum setting. This shows up as slop being put into the dredge draw instead of solid pucks. If I use pre-ground coffee, solid pucks come out as I'd expect. With the sloppy… Read more

dredge, it runs down the side of the dredge draw and causes the machine to give a "dredge draw full" warning too often (sometimes after just 2 coffees).

Customer service was good. When I mentioned this on the first day, they got me to return it and I got a new one sent out straight away. However the 2nd one is the same (in fact it's even a bit more slushy than the original one). Has anyone else have the same issue?

They also asked me to try different beans and I've done that but the result is the same.

Others have complained about the milk frother, but I find it's pretty good. Easy to use, Easy clean. Coffee is OK Ginder & Slushy dredge

Great machine ....but !!! – Hi just purchased this machine - brilliant coffee, quick setup great taste etc etc......except for one thing if somebody using this same model can help me. I have read and re-read the instructions but for the life of me cannot get the frother to work ??? I get steam a lot of it. I have used the "tube" supplied for frothing milk, but nothing happens, just steam ! Please help either Kogan team or Kogan users. regards Greg  Show 2 replies

Great coffee easy to use! – I purchased this machine a few months ago second hand but in near new condition, the previous owner had only used it a few times and then decided to sell. This machine makes great coffee and is pretty easy to use, no mess no fuss. Previously I had a manual machine and was a major hassle to clean and make a few cups of coffee. This auto machine… Read more

is a breeze! Simply fill your water and coffee beans start it up, press your choice of one shot or two and off it goes. The machine beeps when something news a change like the used beans, water or if it requires fresh beans.

The machine also has temperature adjustments on the go with a maximum temperature of 90 degrees. It also has adjustments on the go for the amount water in each shot. You can set this between the traditional 30ml shot up to 60ml per shot, using the double shot option you get 120ml of coffee per cup.

The only downfall in my opinion is the milk frothing section. It froths the milk no problems but the froth is not what i'm used to with the manual machines. It is more hot frothy milk rather than a smooth silky creamy consistency. After doing a barista course you get a bit too fussy when coffee is concerned. This machine makes great coffee but the milk frothing is not that great. If they could improve this then this machine would be a 10/10.

I will add that this machine makes great tasting coffee. The coffee quality on this machine is fantastic and I'm pretty fussy when tasting coffee. I have tried a few different types of beans from the expensive bean to some of the cheaper ones in woolies and all coffee from this machine tasted pretty good.

Overall this is a great coffee machine, easy to use and very easy to keep clean. Makes cups of coffee at a press of a button. Easy to get to all the bits you need to change and clean. Water tank and fresh bean container are big enough for home or small office use and very easy to top up when needed. The price of this machine is pretty good compared to some of the other auto machines out there, a friend of mine spent over $1400 and the Kogan matches it bean for bean. Just checked and it is under $400 at the moment! Bargain!!!

I would recommend this machine that's for sure! Price, great coffee, easy to use and keep clean. Milk frothing not the best

Great Machine, Garbage Milk Frother – At first it looks a bit big but considering it's a grinder, knock box, and coffee machine in one it actually saves a lot of space. I went and bought a milk frother from David Jones because, like other reviews, this one isn't that great. That being said mine still works with only the occasional screen glitch as per the other reviews. So considering… Read more ·  1

the price it's definitely better than any other coffee machine on the market. With the Kogan and my milk frother I press two buttons and have a perfect cup of coffee with no mess and no fuss. After having this machine for twelve months it's so good and easy I can't see myself ever going back to the old espresso machines. Clean and easy. Milk frother is ok, but not perfect. I want a perfect cup.

Bad all round - don't believe the spin elsewhere - no redeeming features! – Where do I start? The grinder setting can only be adjusted while the unit is grinding, otherwise "damage to the unit will occur", as the manual states. There are only three settings on the grinder and no description of what is fine or coarse - which is irrelevant really because all of the above fails to provide an acceptable standard of espresso. … Read more

I've read other reviews of this product claiming the grinder is poor, not grinding enough coffee and resulting in wet-pucks in the dreg bin. That is exactly my experience too. Using beans is just about pointless as it results in a low-pressure draw, failing to get any of the good oils out of the beans - ie the whole point of having an espresso machine.

Almost the entire unit is made from plastic, even things like the warming tray. It is designed to look good in photos and it achieves this, but otherwise feels cheap when using it.

The adjustments to the espresso can only be done while the espresso is being poured. So, the strength, amount of espresso and aforementioned grind setting have to be adjusted fairly quickly. Note, it doesn't make much sense to adjust from strong to weak coffee while the thing is in the process of making a strong coffee, as by the time you have made the adjustment theoretically you will end up with a strong-ish coffee anyway (that is - if it could actually make a decent strong coffee).

The water container is dreadful, it holds less than 2L, but asks for a refill at about the 1.5L mark, so you will be constantly filling the stupid thing. Likewise the drip tray, which seems to cop a disproportionate amount of back-fill, shows its tacky little red indicator after making only a small number of coffees.

Out of the box it makes endless beeping noises and wont do anything unless a component is addressed. For instance, with the water unit, it "could" easily complete the current espresso and then beep to be filled, but no - it just stops and beeps, asking to be refilled, even though there is more than a litre of water in it staring at you. Once you top it up, the espresso will continue, through grounds that have been sitting for a few minutes. It's almost as if the people who designed this unit have no knowledge of what a good espresso is? Surely not!

It does make an acceptable espresso when using powdered coffee - but as far as this little black duck is concerned, that completely defies the logic in having an automatic espresso machine at all.

I haven't gotten to the hot water and milk frothing component, but from what I have now read elsewhere, these are equally as poorly designed.

I guess the old adage "you get what you pay for" really kicks in with this poor excuse for a coffee machine. I'd say I didn't even get that! Avoid like the plague - this piece of junk should not be allowed for general sale. The price - but you get what you pay for... if that. Just about everything. This is junk.