IKEA's newest must-have kitchen buy, the TILLREDA multicooker (available now for £85) is just the thing you need to crack cooking perfectly fluffy rice at home.

With 14 presets, including slow cooker and baking modes, there is a huge amount of functionality packed into this compact little multicooker for its under £100 price tag. If you want to make your small kitchen more capable, you'll want to take a look at all of its functions. Here's what it can do.

The full list of functions is as follows: Manual mode, Keep warm, Slow cook, Rice, Fry/Sauté, Steam, Bake, Boil, Yoghurt, Soup, Stew, Porridge, Oatmeal, Bread rise.

So as well as the ability to use it as a 'chuck all of the ingredients in and set it off' cooker, you can also use the inner pot as a stand-in hob spot and sear ingredients from the high heat. This is something I found immensely useful when I tested Ninja's PossibleCooker with a rice mode – which is by far the most impressive multi-mode cooker I've tried.

If you love simple all-in-one meals, then the ability to saute protein before you add the rest of your ingredients can elevate a recipe by many multitudes. It's also great if you have limited hob access or if your hob (like mine) emits less heat than you might like it to.

I've found lots of people turn to a multicooker like this one when they're without a kitchen for some period of time - say, undergoing a renovation – because it's the closest appliance to having a little mini kitchen wrapped up in one.

As far as the size of this appliance is concerned, it's small stature will be hugely popular with those with more cramped kitchens. At just 21.5cm tall, including for the profile of its slimline lid, this can be placed under a countertop and in even the tightest of corners to add a whole new dimension to your kitchen. For context, the Ninja PossibleCooker that I am a huge fan of is quite a bit taller at 28cm in height and has a bigger capacity more fit for a family.

With the mini size of this IKEA version combined with its varied function set, I reckon it's perfect for 1 to 2 people most of time.

Another benefit of this mini cooker is that it comes with a steamer attachment that slots right into the main bowl so that you can get the most out of that steaming function.

The interface of the TILLREDA looks simple too. It features a small LED screen upon which you can dial through all of the different modes, set your timer and temperature of your cooking program.

This multicooker is brand new on IKEA's website, so there aren't any user reviews from the UK available yet to judge it on. I'm hoping we can get our hands on it to put it through our stringent testing process to see how it performs. But from a first look, it seems like an excellent buy if you're short on space but want to max out on cooking functionality.

If there’s one thing that all this hot weather calls for, it’s a delicious tub of homemade ice cream. And no, you don’t need the Ninja Creami (£169.99, Argos) to do this, as Aldi has just dropped a similar alternative for just £69.99.

Over the past few years, the best ice-creams have become the ‘it’ appliance of any kitchen, even overtaking air fryers in terms of viral popularity. But they can be expensive appliances – until now, at least.

Landing in stores on 16 July, the Aldi Premium Ice Cream Maker is dropping as part of the supermarket’s latest Modern Kitchen range. Here’s everything we know about this star buy so far.

Having been writing about Aldi for a few years now, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t waiting for Aldi to drop an ice-cream maker. Yes, there may have been an Aldi ice cream maker to hit the shelves before, but I’ve been on the lookout a slightly fancier gadget.

And my prayers have been answered, as their new premium ice cream maker is a dead ringer for the Ninja Creami.

More than £100 cheaper than the Ninja Creami Deluxe (£249.99, Ninja), the Aldi Premium Ice Cream Maker allows you to create delicious homemade ice cream, sorbet, milkshake and even frozen cocktails. It’s easy to operate with a self-cleaning function, has an adjustable blade and dishwasher-safe accessories, making clean-up an equally easy job.

There’s not much detail on how the machine operates, however it does look as though it will be easy to use via a simple dial, and we predict that, like the Creami, you’ll need to freeze your ice-cream mixture first. With a Ninja Creami, this is around 24 hours, so bear in mind that you might need to account for some freezing time when preparing your frozen treats.

'Of all of the Ninja Creami rivals that have been released recently, including the cleverly designed NutriBullet Chill and Russell Hobbs' version, this ice cream maker from Aldi is by far the cheapest,’ says Molly Cleary, Kitchen Appliances Editor at Ideal Home.

‘At £69.99, if it works well, it's a total bargain. It has the same 'slot in and mix' design of the Creami and looks like it's aiming for similar functionality with the ability to whip up ice cream, milkshakes, sorbets and other sweet treats. After testing the Ninja Creami Deluxe, I can safely say that this type of appliance is one you'll have a lot of fun with, and though I haven't got my hands on Aldi's version yet, I'm sure it's about to be a hit with those looking to spend a little less!'

Due to the fact that it is under £70, I’m inclined to believe that it won’t be quite as good as the original. However, if you want to try an ice cream maker or have a tighter budget, it’s a good starting point and worth a try.

However, we do think this ice cream maker will sell out like soft serve on a hot day. So, if you can’t track one down, here are a few more affordable options you can shop online.

With 2026 on track for a scorcher of a summer, what better way to cool down than with a delicious, homemade ice cream?

This week it feels like everyone is trying to get ahead and rectify any mistakes they made during the last heatwave. And for me, that means ensuring I have a much better supply of ice than I did during the hottest days of the year last week – especially given that at every supermarket I went to I was greeted by totally bare freezer shelves.

To solve the problem, I must admit I've been eyeing an ice maker (like this one from Amazon for £62.99) that can sit on my kitchen countertop during the hottest days. As I'm not blessed with a freezer with ice-making facilities (or a very big freezer at all!), I think I'm going to have to outsource this need to a standalone appliance like I have with one of the best ice cream makers. Here's why.

Of course, I was desperate for more ice during the heatwave in order to keep my water and other drinks cool in order to rehydrate. But there are lots of other reasons, many of them owing to the hacks I've learnt from my Ideal Home colleagues, for me needing large quantities of ice in the hot weather.

The most pressing of which was so I could enact the cooling hack our News Writer Kezia put me onto last year: placing a bowl of ice in front of my fan in order to mimic the effects of an air conditioner. It's a way to use a fan that actually lowers the temperature of a room and it was a true godsend for my sleep last week when paired with my Dyson fan.

When I do invest in an ice maker I'll also be picking up this £6 fan attachment that we wrote about last week to DIY the air conditioning effect even further. If you own a fan and not an AC, it's an essential! It'll certainly be an upgrade for me from placing my ice in a bowl on a stool.

While an ice maker, much like the Ninja Slushi (which has also been running non-stop in my flat this summer), is hardly a kitchen essential, it can make those unbearably hot days a little more livable – at least, that's according to the reviews these Amazon buys have racked up. I reckon every little helps for when we're faced with the next hot spell!

Ninja's shiny new automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine is now available in an array of new colours so that you can personalise this appliance to your existing kitchen scheme.

Now available for £899.99 from the Ninja website, the AutoBarista Pro (which I'm currently testing out) has proved very popular with both fans of this ever-expanding kitchen brand and coffee lovers alike. And I expect this best bean-to-cup coffee machine in these new shades won't be around for long before they sell out either. Here's a look at the new colours: Midnight Blue, Oat Milk, Mocha and Vista Green.

I really like all of these colourways and think they are preferable to the standard stainless steel version, which is the one I currently have in my kitchen for testing. I find that the metal is prone to holding onto marks and fingerprints, and is more difficult to match into an existing kitchen colour scheme.

I'm not just looking into a crystal ball when I predict these shades will be popular, either. One of the colours, Mocha, is already sold out. It's a super delicate neutral shade that would look lovely in a black or white kitchen, so it's no surprise it's already been snapped up.

If I was choosing, I wouldn't be able to resist this machine in Vista Green as I've always loved the idea of a coffee machine in an eye-catching colour. I have long pined after the De'Longhi Rivelia, which is one of the best coffee machines out there, in Jade Green. It's an exclusive shade that you can buy directly from De'Longhi's website for £699.99.

With these new shades, Ninja has really gone all out to colour drench the entire machine, with even the all-important milk jug and bean hopper covers available in the pastel shade of your choice. This is something we've seen with other Ninja colour releases recently too, including with David Beckham's special Cotswolds-inspired machine.

In terms of performance, I've been nothing but impressed with the AutoBarista so far. The choice to keep the automatic milk frothing jug over a system that uses tubes and internal systems is a good one for me and means I have the chance to practice my latte art. The hands-free nature of the coffee making process for black drinks has been a huge help for me on busy mornings too.

My full review of this ultra-capable machine is coming very soon but in the meantime I'd seriously recommend you check out the new range of colours available if you've been waiting to make a coffee investment for your kitchen!

Convenience is a given with automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines but the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra, which is one of the most premium appliances of its type you can buy, elevates the user experience to the next level.

With a huge price tag over £1000, this is no budget bean-to-cup coffee machine, but it is unbelievably impressive. Here's what I've loved about testing it.

In a nutshell

The Eletta Ultra is (somehow) a step up from the already hugely impressive Eletta Explore, which our expert home economist Helen McCue awarded 5 stars to in her review.

Its top line selling points include a huge drinks menu, two milk carafes (one for hot drinks, one for iced), a large touch screen and personalised coffee profiles with the machine suggesting a drink based on your previous choices.

Its upgraded from the Ultra with its new quieter tech, faster heat-up times and dedicated storage slots and user features.

After using it every day for months now, I can see why those looking to spend an awful lot on a coffee machine would be bowled over by this pick from De'Longhi. I can no longer imagine my mornings without – it's a total breeze to use. The things I don't love about it are minimal, but if I was to spend my money on it I would be looking for another finish. The stainless steel is a little bit of a fingerprint magnet to me.

Unboxing, setting up and first impressions

This isn't the kind of coffee machine that's going to neatly fit under your kitchen cupboards in a corner. It's big, bulky and also quite long (at 45cm). But given what it can do, this may be a small price to pay if you have the space to give over to it.

There's no need to build this machine out of the box – you pretty much can plug it in and go, which is what you'd expect at this premium price point. To get it going, you'll need to run the usual programs which walk you through water hardness and inserting the water filter and run a rinse cycle but this is all very easily done thanks to the hugely intuitive touch screens.

Another stand out thing with this machine is the use of an app to get into the technical settings. You can do this with the help of the materials that come with the machine and then get into the weeds of the coffee making process, if that's your cup of tea.

If you'd rather manually adjust the machine, then there's a dial situated within the bean hopper that you can tweak to get the taste you want.

I can't think of another coffee machine I've tried that has a more enticing user interface. The huge touch screen, which extends across the top of the machine, is in full colour. It also pings you for all sorts of reasons, such as reminding you to clean the milk carafe or add more beans, all of which are very helpful for making a better cup of a coffee.

The user profiles are a stroke of genius too. It's not just that you can set up the machine to remember your favourite drinks, but the tech will also recommend you drinks depending on your previous habits. So if you're prone to an iced coffee in the afternoons, the machine will be one step ahead of you in the process.

Even if you don't download the app, there are plenty of tweaks you can make on the interface of the machine itself. You can change the strength, length and milk quantity of any given drinks as well as how icy you want your cold versions. You can also tweak the level of froth on your drinks by turning the dial on either milk carafe.

The one niggle I have with the user-facing part of this machine is that the coffee spout doesn't quite go high enough for my liking. I have a specific set of glasses I'd like to use for iced coffee that don't fit, so I have to do a bit of pouring over if I want to use them. If you have large travel cups I imagine you'll run into the same problem.

Overall, this machine is astonishingly sleek. It has built-in storage for accessories for ground coffee in the top, as well as a slot for the hot water spout and the water tank fits so effectively on one side that you'd barely notice it was there. I also like how there's an opening at the front of the tank so that you can pour water straight in from your filter jug.

What is it like to use?

As with all of the processes on this app, starting it up is guided by the intuitive touchscreen. You'll be directed to add water, after which the screen will tell you it's warming through. This takes 30-45 seconds, in my experience, and is relatively quiet compared to the other bean-to-cup models I've tried. Obviously it does emit some noise, but nothing too overwhelming.

I would advise that you don't pop your clean cup under the spout straight away as the machine turns on as you'll end up with the rinsing liquid in there. If you can, the best thing to do is have a catch cup under the spouts at all times when you're not making a fresh cup.

Hot drinks

All in all, there are 23 hot drinks to take your pick from with this machine. It's fun to get a taste of all of them when you first get hold of the machine, but I imagine you'll settle on your favourites day to day.

In my household, Americanos are the black coffee drink of choice. I've really enjoyed how seamless making this drink is with this machine, especially when compared to a semi-manual machine on a busy morning. Just one touch of a button and your perfectly hot Americano is ready to go. When I'm making these for my partner to take on his commute, the 'To-Go' setting is also really useful, as it makes a longer version for a carry cup.

The other drinks on heavy rotation with this machine are the caffe lattes and the cappuccinos. This is where the hot milk carafe comes in, which you simply fill and attach to the front of the machine. On the top of it there's a dial with three froth settings. For the caffe latte, it's the medium level of froth while the cappuccino ramps things up with more foam.

I have quite large mugs, so I sometimes top up the cappuccino even further by using the hot milk setting on the menu. This can be done in under 30 seconds as it's very easy to go from one drink to the next. This is also a total godsend when hosting as you're trying to get everyone a drink in their hands. I also like how the temperature of the drinks is hot but not so hot that the cups you give out aren't immeadiately drinkable.

If I'm being picky, I am slightly icked out by the floppy tube you need to insert into the hot drinks carafe. I think I'm particularly sensitive about cleanliness so I am always giving all of the parts of the milk system a deeper clean than they probably need, but the built-in rinse does help to soothe my worries about milk build-up.

Cold drinks

It's been hot already this summer, so I've made good use of the iced drinks options on this machine. In order to make iced milky drinks you need to attach the cold carafe, which again is very easily done. You'll then be asked exactly how cold you want your drink and be directed to add a specific number of ice cubes to your glass.

All of the iced options I've tried have been delectable, but my favourite has to be the iced cappuccino which is delectably foamy. It's

The drinks are very smooth and stay cold well, so you won't be needing to add more iced cubes after the brew process is complete. And the cold frothed foam is such a welcome change to just adding cold milk to a shot of coffee – especially considering that is often what you get in coffee shops with iced drinks! I much prefer using this machine over getting an iced coffee out for this reason.

What's it like to clean?

A lot of people are put off buying a bean-to-cup machine because of the excess cleaning. But if you're paying the big bucks for this machine the good news is that most of those cleaning processes are automated. And even the parts that are not automatically carried out, like the rinse process, are easy to manage thanks to the on-screen prompts.

The cleaning feature I found most useful was the rinse feature on those milk carafes, which cleans the lines without emptying the container of its spare milk. As with all machines, you'll need to remember to empty the grounds container and drip tray but you'll be reminded of this by the features on the machine.

How does it compare to similar coffee machines?

There are so many bestselling De'Longhi coffee machines to compare this product to, but the two I think are most valuable are the Rivelia and the Explore.

I think the Rivelia (which our reviewer fell in love with way back in 2024) is an incredible machine for its price tag and will suit most people well, as long as they're not desperate for those extra iced settings. If you want to save hundreds and still bag an amazing bean-to-cup machine, I urge you to check it out.

Because the Explore came out a few years ago now, it's a little less expensive than the Ultra but offers lots of the same amazing features. It's worth weighing up the differences before you splash the cash.

Should you buy the De'Longhi Eletta Explore?

De'Longhi's offering of automatic bean-to-cup machines are unrivalled in terms of their convenience and the Ultra might just be the pinnacle of that. It's so easy to use and with it, you can whip up delicious drinks that are fine tuned just right with the help of the in-built technology. It's a huge amount to pay for anything, granted, but if you can afford its price tag you won't regret it.

Russell Hobbs is quite a beloved British kitchen appliance brand, but I wouldn’t say it’s one that’s made much of a mark on the coffee machine scene. However, the Russell Hobbs Café Genie is an interesting new launch that could compete for a spot on our list of best coffee machines.

Its RRP of £229.99 puts it firmly at the more affordable end of the scale, and yet, some of the features listed, like a touchscreen menu of drinks, are usually seen in pricier models. So I was keen to put it to the test, to see whether the features on offer could deliver.

In a nutshell

The Russell Hobbs Café Genie has a lot going for it. It’s a manual espresso machine that also offers the convenience of pods, as well as automatic milk steaming. The paired back menu of seven drinks is accessed via the straightforward touchscreen control panel and it’s very simple to use.

Milk is automatically steamed and textured, but no matter which drink you select, it’ll always be bubbly, so if you’re looking for glossy microfoams, you’ll need to look elsewhere. Similarly, while espresso is adequate, it doesn’t produce the well rounded flavour or robust crema that espresso aficionados will be seeking.

That said, this is a good value machine that makes drinks fast and packs in convenient features for busy people. So if you’re not a coffee snob and you want an easy-to-use machine for drinkable milky coffees, it’s a great option.

Who tested this coffee machine?

Unboxing the product

The first thing I noticed when I removed it from the box is that it’s quite a plasticky appliance. The portafilter doesn’t have much weight to it, and the tamper is very basic. However, other features like the intuitive touchscreen make up for some of the cheaper elements. And at this pricepoint, you really shouldn’t expect all the bells and whistles.

The colour is subtle and will suit plenty of kitchen styles. I like that when it’s switched off, the touchscreen is black and there’s no cluttered control panel, so it does look quite neat and streamlined. The on/off switch is tucked away at the side of the machine.

The included accessories are simple and easy to get to grips with. There’s nothing complicated or overwhelming, which is good, because the instruction manual is pretty basic.

If you’re buying this to use the Nespresso pod capabilities, make sure you stock up before it arrives because you don’t get any trial samples included in the box.

Impact on a kitchen worktop

The height of the coffee machine makes it ideal for sliding underneath wall mounted kitchen cupboards. However, when considering where you’ll put it, it’s worth noting that the water tank is at the back. It has to be lifted upwards to be removed, so you’ll need space to do that.

Alternatively, you could add water through the top opening using a jug if you have the space under your cabinets to get to it with a jug of water.

The footprint isn’t too big and when you slide it to the back of the worktop, it feels tucked back and leaves plenty of usable space in front. It’s certainly not one of the coffee machines that feels imposing on the kitchen worktop.

First impressions

Setting up was very straightforward. The manual offers up a list of all the parts that you should wash before using. And once these are all clean, dried, and correctly positioned back on the machine, you simply need to dispense water without any coffee grounds, to get the machine primed and ready to go.

I hit the double espresso button about five times, to make sure I’d run plenty of hot water through the system before using it for the first time. This ensures any dust from manufacturing is washed through.

Unlike some other coffee machines, this one doesn’t come with a water filter, nor is there an option to install one. The instructions state that a clean/ descale cycle will be prompted after 200 uses.

If you live in a hard water area, you may want to use water from a water filter jug, to reduce the build up of scale and help prolong the life of the machine.

The milk dispenser has a handy clean function that’ll run water through the milk nozzle to clean it, which means you can pop it in the fridge between uses.

On the whole, the touchscreen interface is very straightforward, displaying all the available drinks, for quick and easy selection. However, for any other menu functions, you ‘ll need to keep the manual to hand, as you’ll be required to press and hold various buttons or combinations of buttons.

That said, there’s no adjustment for things like temperature, strength, or volume of milky drinks. The main thing that can be adjusted is the volume of espresso dispensed.

It’s fast to heat up when first switched on. If you switch it on without the milk container in place, it’ll only warm up to dispense espresso, and that takes on average 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, if the milk container is in position when you switch it on, the process of heating up takes about 60 seconds. And then it allows you to select milky coffees from the menu.

The ‘Morning Rush’ test

I timed myself making two milky coffees back-to-back using ground coffee. I timed the whole process, from turning on the machine, to having two cappuccinos ready. It took four minutes 20 seconds.

Adding coffee grounds, tamping them down as well as removing the used grounds before making the second cup, took a big chunk of the time. So out of interest, I also timed the same process using Nespresso pods. This time it took three minutes and 10 seconds.

User experience

For me, one of the biggest surprises with this coffee machine was how fast it makes drinks (if you don’t include the time it takes to add the coffee grounds or top up the milk dispenser). From selecting a drink on the menu, to the drink being served and ready to go, is under a minute for almost all drinks on the menu.

The fastest milky drink was a cortado which was ready in just 30 seconds. While the slowest was a latte, which still only took 60 seconds. But it’s worth noting that a lot of the drinks on the menu are quite short coffees.

Thankfully, for lovers of longer, milkier coffees, the latte it dispenses is a decent mug full. And while you can adjust the volume of espresso that’s automatically dispensed, there’s no option to tweak the milk volumes in the various drink recipes.

Milk can be dispensed independent of coffee by pressing and holding the latte button. This is handy if you want to top up a drink with extra milk or create your own drink altogether.

The issue I had when dispensing milk, was that just before milk starts to come out, a quick blast of water comes out of the portafilter area, which, if there’s no portafilter in position, can mean you get bits of stray coffee grounds in your cup. But if you leave the portafilter in position it's not an issue.

Drink temperatures vary depending on the drink. A double espresso comes out at roughly 75C and the frothed milk is around 53C. So it follows that the temperature of milky drinks depends on the ratio of milk to coffee.

A drink with very little milk, like a macchiato, was quite hot, mine averaged 75C. Whereas a milky latte was one of the coolest drinks, measuring around 58C. And it’s worth noting that there are no settings you can adjust to change these temperatures.

The milk dispenser sits quite low, meaning it won’t reach into taller cups. A standard mug is about the tallest cup you can dispense milk into. Most travel cups and taller glasses are too tall.

The vibration of the machine during brewing has a tendency to move some cups, so I did have to pay attention, particularly when using lighter and smaller cups.

Some coffee machines I review seem to magically go through water at a rate that far surpasses the number of coffees you’re making. So I really liked the fact that the water tank wasn’t always running low. Water seemed to last a reasonable amount of time. On the flip side, filling it up is quick and easy.

I expected the machine to switch itself off after a certain period of time, but instead it goes into a low power mode, where the touchscreen display is dimmed. When it’s in this mode, you have to press one of the coffee buttons to wake it up. To switch it off properly, you’ll need to press the on/off button at the side.

How noisy is it?

At around 66dB, pouring an espresso is pretty quiet and unlikely to annoy anyone. The milk steamer is the louder process. This hit a maximum of 85dB on my noise meter, but averaged 74dB.

So while milk steaming is louder than extracting the espresso, it’s still not what you would call noisy. Plus when you take into account that all drinks are ready in 60 seconds or less, any noise created is only for a very short time and won’t be an issue for most households.

What's the coffee like?

During the review I used Exhale Organic Dark(ish) Roast whole beans. This is my regular brand of coffee and the tasting notes, according to the brand, are caramel, stone fruits, red grapes and cola. It’s said to be ideal for espresso and gives a chocolatey, nutty flavour.

I used a separate grinder to grind my coffee beans as needed. The espresso from this machine was drinkable and pleasant, though a tad more bitter and less fruity than it is when I use my usual Sage coffee machine.

The espresso crema was often a bit bubbly rather than thick and silky. I’d say the flavour will satisfy people looking for a decent espresso, but who aren’t reaching for perfection. And if you’re primarily having it in milky coffees, the nuances become less noticeable anyway.

Since there’s also a portafilter designed for Nespresso pods, I made coffee using pods as well. I’m not a huge fan of the flavour of Nespresso pod coffee. But what I would say is that the Nespresso portafilter is a great additional feature that does a good job of extracting the espresso. It's perfect if you’re time poor and want the option to make pod coffee on those busier weekday mornings.

Thermal stability

To check the thermal stability of the coffee machine, I made five single espressos back-to-back. The idea is to check whether the drinks get progressively hotter and if so, by how much.

The first one was 72C, the fifth one was, impressively, only a little warmer at 74.5C. So it wasn’t a massive jump in temperature, which was a good result.

The ‘Wet Paint’ test

When assessing a coffee machine’s ability to steam milk, we’re looking at whether it can produce the silky microfoam that’s perfect for latte art. This is often described as looking like wet paint.

This automatic milk frother makes bubbly milk rather than a thick glossy microfoam. And that’s the case whether you’re making a cappuccino, latte, or flat white. And there’s no ability to adjust the foam level.

What's it like to clean?

The matte plastic finish of the coffee machine doesn’t show fingerprints or small water stains, so on the whole, it stays looking quite clean and you can get away with a quick daily wipe after use.

The drip tray is very small, but I didn’t find this to be an issue. It rarely needed emptying as, unlike some other coffee machines that funnel water from internal components into the drip tray, this one is purely there to catch any drips from the portafilter or cup.

I like having the option to rinse through the milk spout after use. Simply by twisting the control dial into clean mode and selecting clean on the touchscreen, it’ll automatically rinse out the milk spout so that you can pop the milk tank back into the fridge without any gunky milk building up and causing blockages.

I was slightly frustrated that when removing coffee grounds from the portafilter, it wasn’t possible to dislodge a fully formed puck of coffee straight into my food waste caddy. When I did try this, the whole metal filter basket would fall out. So instead, I had to scrape the coffee grounds out with a spoon after each use.

The drip tray and the filter baskets can go in the dishwasher, but everything else has to be washed by hand.

Descaling

A full descale cycle takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. Thankfully it’s not a very hands-on process. Other than filling the water tank with water and descaler at the start, all you need to do is stay close in case your waste water vessel gets too full and needs emptying.

Then halfway through, you have to reset everything, this time with plain water in the water tank. And start it again, to complete the process a second time but without the descaler. All-in-all it’s simple and automated, but not super quick.

The machine should prompt you to run one of these cycles every 200 uses. So how frequently you need to do it really does depend on how much you use the coffee machine.

How does it compare to similar machines?

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Desea is an Ideal Home favourite that’s similarly priced. It’s a sturdy pod machine with a built-in milk frother. And it’s a great alternative option if you don’t intend to use ground coffee. There’s no preset drinks menu, but it’s easy to create your favourite drink nevertheless.

If you like the idea of a more hands-on approach, the Sage Bambino is an excellent beginner espresso machine. It’ll set you back an additional £100, but is capable of delivering a well-rounded tasty espresso, and you get to froth your own milk and create your coffee just how you like it.

Should you buy the Russell Hobbs Café Genie Espresso Machine?

I think at this price point, the Cafe Genie really sets itself apart with features like the automatic milk steaming and touchscreen drinks menu, as well as the option to switch between ground coffee and pods. It nicely straddles the line between espresso machines, pod machines, and automatic coffee machines.

The compromises are that there aren’t many adjustable settings. Milk is bubbly and frothy, it can’t create barista quality microfoams, but that’s the case with the majority of automatic milk frothers.

While it doesn’t produce the best quality espresso I’ve ever had, it’s decent enough to please most people. In conclusion, if you’re looking for a reasonably priced coffee machine that packs in the features, it’s absolutely worth considering this one.

Small appliances, like kettles and toasters, always seem like quick need-not-want purchases, but why is this the case when they live on our worktops year round?

It pays off to spend some time researching the best kettles and the best toasters that will make those small daily habits run seamlessly, and choosing the right colour for a kettle and toaster comes into that decision.

But what colour should you go for? From classic stainless steel options to retro-inspired pastel hues, these are the shades people always run to for their small appliances, with the latest kitchen trends in mind.

Over the last few years, we've seen more and more colours appear within kitchen appliances. It signifies a larger shift in our homes as we embrace playful colour expression even more, and enjoy the wellbeing benefits that a colourful home provides.

While our cabinets and walls got the memo a while ago, it naturally took a little longer for appliances to catch up. Large appliances, like our ovens, fridges and microwaves are typically in stainless steel, so small appliances followed suit.

'Stainless steel is a consistent, timeless seller in kettles and toasters as it is most compatible with a lot of kitchens,' explains Saul Davies, Buying Director at Salter. However, as appliances themselves got more ambitious (from slushie machines to air fryers), so did the colours of them.

When it comes to kettle and toaster colours, pastel shades have reigned supreme as the alternative option to stainless steel.

'Creams or warm neutrals still perform well as they tend to soften kitchens and are not harsh against fixtures such as brass, silver or gold. We are seeing a demand in pastel or brighter, bolder colours which are mainly shopped by style-led consumers. Our Retro is range we have seen huge success with pink being one of our best-selling colours,' Saul adds.

Cream, pale blue, pink and green shades have been the classic choice for a kettle and toaster, and particularly suit heritage Shaker kitchens where you want to avoid too much stainless steel.

However, in 2026, neutral hues that offer something different to white and cream are rising in popularity.

Softer neutrals, such as beige and earthy green hues, offer a new perspective on kettle and toaster shades. If cream feels too stark for your kitchen, a more subdued shade might be best.

'Sage and olive green is our fastest growing colour and is highly popular over the last 12 months. It is seen to the consumer as a new neutral addition that adds colour without being too risky,' explains Saul.

This is also reflected in Smeg's new matte Moonlight collection - a matte, beige version of their famous retro kettle style that has a much more contemporary look.

'Inspired by the growing popularity of softer, nature-led palettes, the shade brings warmth and tranquillity to the kitchen while complementing the brand's iconic design,' says Niamh Griffiths, senior marketing executive (SDA) at Smeg.

'The muted neutral tone reflects a broader interiors shift towards calm, wellness-inspired spaces and understated luxury, making it an ideal choice for consumers looking to create a kitchen that feels both timeless and contemporary,' she adds.

In 2026, sleek stainless steel kettles are remaining a popular and timeless choice, but as we look towards colour to shape our interiors, reflecting these careful choices in our small appliances is just as important.

Shop kettles and toasters

In 2026, sleek stainless steel kettles are remaining a popular and timeless choice, but as we look towards colour to shape our interiors, reflecting these careful choices in our small appliances is just as important.

Ninja's most stylish colourway, Stone Gold, is having a serious moment right now with the extension of the sellout colour across a huge range of bestselling products. From the Swirl to compact, small-kitchen friendly best Ninja air fryers, the kitchen giant has really outdone itself with this effortlessly luxurious shade.

First released this time last year, this gorgeous neutral shade went seriously viral on TikTok. I was watching out for more stock of the Ninja Dual Zone in this exact colour for months and months until it finally reappeared in October.

If you were one of the lucky few who picked up that stylish colour way back then, or if you just love the look of the range now, then you can finally shop Ninja's other bestsellers in it too, including brand new products thanks to these exclusives that debuted just for Amazon Prime Day. Here's a look at what's available.

Since working on Ideal Home, I've seen Ninja release many special-edition colours to coincide with Prime Day and Black Friday. The most memorable include the range with copper accents which is now a permanent fixture on Amazon due to its popularity.

There's even more colour choice on offer for Ninja's most fun kitchen buys – notably the Slushi and the Creami, which got a pastel make over last year as well as two-tone options inspired by frozen drinks and desserts.

It's not clear yet whether this beige colour will become a permanent addition to Ninja's colourway line up or whether it's only available during Amazon's sales events so if this is the shade for you, I'd recommend snapping it up fast!

If you're planning on entertaining in the summer heat, then you might be wondering how you can incorporate some kind of cooling drink or dessert into your hosting plans. Right now at Costco, you can buy two Ninja bestsellers that would make it a lot easier: the Slushi (for £219.99, down from £299.99) and the Creami Swirl & Scoop (also £219.99, down from £349.99).

I've reviewed both of these viral buys, and I can confirm that they add such a fun element to having people over for drinks or dinner, with the chance for your guests to pour their own frozen drinks or create their own sweet treats for dessert.

Here's how you can get your hands on these products for these super low prices, as well as alternative places to shop if you don't want to sign up for a Costco membership.

I've seen plenty of Costco deals floating around online but I've never had one make me want to invest in a membership as much as these super-low Ninja prices. So I did some investigating into how you can acquire a membership and the requirements you need to meet.

There are two tiers to Costco membership that allows you in shop in their warehouses: Gold Star and Business. To qualify, you have to follow a pretty stringent list of requirements, which you can view on the Costco website.

If you, like me, don't qualify under any of these terms, then all is not lost. You can still purchase an all-online membership for £42 a year for which there is no entry requirements. It does mean you won't be able to see the inside of an actual Costco store, however (another dream dashed for me).

But you will be able to take advantage of these sensational Ninja prices and shop a huge variety of other Costco products across the year, too.

If you'd rather not add another subscription onto your plate, then that's understandable. Right now, there's a host of places you can find top-rated Ninja products on sale thanks to Amazon Prime Day, which is running until midnight on the 26th of June, as well as counter sales from rival retailers slashing their prices.

I'd strongly recommend checking out the sales ongoing at Ninja itself, as well as John Lewis and Currys.

The Slushi and the Swirl are easily the two most fun appliances I've ever tested and they will provide endless summer entertainment if you decide to install one in your home.

And Costco membership or not, now's a great time to shop for something that can help you through the heatwave whilst also providing joy on the weekends!

The ability to make frozen sweet treats at home, either for pudding or to wow your guests, is something that really comes into its own in the summer months.

A question that I've been discussing a lot with friends and family who are looking to purchase something similar is whether they should opt for one of Ninja's bestselling viral best ice cream makers or an appliance that can whip up slushies and soft serve instead.

The two leading examples of this are the Ninja Swirl and the Cuisinart Frost Fusion – both of which I've used extensively at home. Here's what each of these machines can achieve and which one you should opt for to get the most for your money.

1. Functionality and preparation

It's really important to look at the different settings on offer with whichever sweet treat maker has caught your eye. The original Ninja Creami has less going for it than the Deluxe version which in turn is not quite as capable as the newer Swirl. But the kicker with all of them? Your ice cream or soft serve mix will always require pre-freezing.

Ninja doesn't have an ice-cream maker (yet) that doesn't require you to prepare materials in advance. It does have the Slushi, but that's drinks-limited.

The Cuisinart Frost Fusion is a hugely popular alternative that can whip up frozen desserts on the same day – in our tests we found it could take as little as 30 minutes. Below I've outlined the exact functionality differences between these bestsellers as well as the crucial pre-freezing times required.

There's plenty to weigh up with these speficiations laid out. The Cuisinart is the best option if you want to skip the faff of pre-freezing but the results won't be as firm as you can expect with Ninja's ice-cream alternatives – obviously the day spent in the freezer will do a lot to help your ingredients.

2. Fun factor

If you're considering buying one of these ice-cream makers, chances are you'll want to use it to impress your guests this summer. And while all of them have fun factor, some have more interactive features than others.

As someone who has tested all of the appliances listed above, the Swirl and the Cuisinart Frost Fusion are the most entertaining thanks to their soft serve dispensers if you want ice cream. Or if you're more interested in frozen drinks, the Slushi is far and away the machine you want.

If you've ever paid a visit to Pizza Hut's Ice Cream Factory, you'll know the thrill of trying to master the flow of ice cream and with these two, you can try that at home. Just bear in mind it does take a bit of practice!

The Cuisinart has the fun of dispensing soft serve with the benefit of doubling up as a slushie machine too, so it's arguably the better all-rounder. But for me, you can't beat Ninja when it comes to quality.

3. Price

These appliances are of course not an essential addition to a kitchen, but they're worth their weight in gold on a hot weekend if you're entertaining. My Slushi machine was hardly out of use last summer.

All of them are pretty pricey, but the best value option is Cuisinart's Frost Fusion considering how many functions it has. Ninja's offerings are pricier, yes, but the have the better quality overall and I can see all of the ones I've tested going the distance in my kitchen.

Sales periods help to bring the price of these machines down significantly. Right now, Amazon Prime Day sales offer a good summer window to snag a discount and Black Friday will be an even better time, as these appliances will be less in demand.

This year's summer Amazon Prime Day event (running from the 23rd to 26th of June) is in full swing, and if you want to shop in the savviest way possible, there's a new price-checking tool you need to know about.

For years, one of my top tips as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, who has been working Prime Days as a deal hunter for over five years now, was to use a price checking tool such as CamelCamelCamel to check that you're not being hoodwinked over a 'deal'. Often brands will artificially inflate the price of a product prior to a sales event to then bring it down to its normal RRP to create the illusion of a great deal.

Here's how using this new in-built price checking tool can prevent you from getting a bad deal on one of the best air fryers or coffee machines and help you find a worthwhile one instead.

You can find this new price-checking tool, which was officially rolled out in the UK in May 2026, next to where you see the price of the item you're looking for on Amazon. When you click onto it to see the price history, a pop-up window opens with Rufus, the platform's in-built AI tool.

Within the Rufus pop-up you can see a range of information on the product's price, as well as how it relates to the given RRP. Though this is useful information, I would also suggest going one step further and check Amazon's given RRP against what's listed on the brand page.

When shopping one of the best Ninja air fryers, for example, I would always suggest cross referencing with the brand's own site for a better understanding of prices.

While the tool defaults to a one-month view, it has 6-month and 12-month scope available too which will ultimately be even more useful for assessing how good the discount really is. If the price of the item currently is nowhere near what the lowest price over the last year has been, it's likely that there's been price-inflating taking place.

I check prices on products that I've reviewed every day to see if there's a deal worth writing about, so I have quite a good sense of the general price of different bestsellers, like Ninja's Foodi Max Dual Zone air fryer.

As I write this, the day before Prime Day begins, it's currently sitting at £129.99 via Amazon, which gives you £20 off the usual RRP. But if you click into the year view of the price history, you'll see that in November (during Black Friday), there was a much bigger price drop with the air fryer for sale for under £100. That means that it may well be worth waiting on this one rather than pouncing right now.

In all likelihood, the best deals of this summer will drop during Prime Day itself and during counter-sales run by the likes of AO, Currys and John Lewis. Below you can find the kitchen appliances I think you should bookmark if you're in the market to upgrade your hosting and entertaining game.

Whatever you end up perusing this Prime Day, remember that doing your due diligence will help no end to help you bag an actually good deal. Happy bargain hunting!

If you’re reading this, then lusting after KitchenAid appliances is something we probably have in common: gorgeous looks and great design are a win-win for any style-conscious kitchen. Naturally, KitchenAid’s first foray into the world of bean-to-cup coffee machines was no exception – the £1,500 KitchenAid KF8 won our admiration (and a four and half star review) back in 2025.

Now, in 2026, the brand has now unveiled the more affordable members of its automatic bean-to-cup family. And in this review we’re going to be looking at the most upmarket model in the new trio, the £899 KF4.

In a nutshell

The big news here for many buyers is that KitchenAid has shrunk the size of these machines down – it claims that they’re 25% smaller than the previous models. In practice, the machines are roughly 6.5cm slimmer, so far easier to squeeze on a busy countertop. In truth, I haven’t seen any fully automatic bean-to-cup machines which are quite so slender.

The new range includes the £699 KF2, £749 KF3 and the £899 KF4 which I have for review here. Naturally, the KF4 is the most feature packed of the group. It doubles the KF3’s two user profiles to four. It adds five extra drink recipes. It also includes a rather more elegant plastic milk carafe in the box: by contrast, the KF3 simply dangles a tube into your preferred milk receptacle while the KF2 makes do with a manual steam wand.

Who tested this machine?

Unboxing

The KF4 comes clad in several separate protective panels of moulded wood pulp. Sensibly, KitchenAid wraps the whole package in a polypropylene sling with handles, so you can just lift the entire machine out of the box easily without worrying about dropping it.

As usual, several little strips of blue adhesive tape hold the various parts in place during transit, and protective transparent plastic sheets are adhered to the touchscreen and between the water tank and the machine’s rear to prevent scratching. Some of the packaging – the wood pulp, for instance – is recyclable with home recycling, but the plastic sheets and tape may need to be taken to a specific plastic bag recycling collection depending on your local area’s recycling facilities.

Open up the KF4’s box, and the user manual and quick start guide are placed just inside the box’s top flap, directly on top of the machine. Alongside, there’s a QR code offering to help you ‘Get Started’. Point your phone at the code and you’re transported to KitchenAid’s website where a very basic tutorial helps you to get familiarised with the machine. If you’re the kind of person who likes to familiarise yourself with the user manual before rifling through the packaging, it’s a good way to start.

The instructions could be better, however. The website instructions feel like a bit of an afterthought; the thick user manual is actually just a few pages of text instructions repeated in a multitude of languages – hardly what I’d call an Owner’s Manual – and the quick start guide is nothing more than an annotated diagram of the machine and its touchscreen interface. It would have made far more sense to combine the information from both into one concise pamphlet.

Thankfully, the touchscreen also does its bit to lead users through the set up process. It, too, could be more detailed – it’s not as clear as the full colour animations on Sage’s machines, for example – but it’s informative enough to get most buyers started. There’s definitely room for improvement here, though. Oddly, there’s no mention of using the water hardness tester at all, and the little on-screen diagrams are too small to be really helpful.

Impact on a kitchen worktop

This is where KitchenAid’s new models will win a lot of friends. At 36cm tall, it’s a tiny bit shorter than many of the bean-to-cup machines I’ve seen recently, and this is because of the integrated bean hopper – it doesn’t protrude from the top like some rivals.

At 19cm wide, however, it’s dramatically thinner than any machine I’ve reviewed in recent memory. The De’Longhi Rivelia (which we've reviewed) is the closest model I can think of, but that’s 24.5cm wide due to its side-mounted water tank. If you’ve been wishing you could accommodate a fully automatic model but just didn’t have the space, it’s a major selling point.

The downside of the KF4’s design, as you may have gleaned already, is that the water tank is positioned at the rear. Bean-to-cup machines often opt for side mounted water tanks that either slide forwards for easy removal, or unclip to the side. The KF4’s needs to be lifted up by about a centimetre and removed to the rear – you’ll need to leave room around it to make for easy refilling. You can open the lid (which isn’t removable) and just pour water in, but you may not want to risk this if you have mains sockets behind the machine. And if there are cupboards above, you’ll struggle.

First impressions

The KF4 feels well built. Like most bean-to-cup machines, it’s predominantly plastic, but those plastics feel solid and all the attachments feel robust enough to instil confidence. There isn’t the thin, hollow feeling which I’ve noticed on some sub-£1,000 machines.

It’s all been sensibly designed, too. The spouts slide up and down smoothly and provide up to 14cm of cup clearance. The drip tray slides out to reveal the grounds bin, and this separates into multiple parts for easy cleaning. The 1.8-litre water tank slots firmly onto the rear. The 250g bean hopper is hidden neatly under the top panel – the centre of this pulls away to reveal the bean hopper and the single dose chute. The rubber seal on the underside of the removable panel helps keep your coffee beans fresh, too, which is a nice touch.

A single water filter is provided in the box, and this screws into place in the tank. Replacements cost a fairly steep £15 each on KitchenAid’s website, but were just under £10 at the time of writing. However, don’t make my mistake of initially trying to install the water filter by hand: the narrow tank makes this nigh-on impossible. KitchenAid supply a coffee scoop in the box, and the odd-looking attachment at the other end is designed to fit over the top of the water filter and screw it into place.

The milk carafe design simply connects via a tube. One added benefit is that if you can’t find the carafe – or it breaks – you can just jam the tube directly into a milk bottle or jug. As long as the tube is intact, and it’s submerged in milk, it’ll work just fine.

The only issue with the carafe is the loose lid. I’d have liked to see the lid actually click into place – or secure in place with a rubber seal and interference fit. Make the mistake of grabbing it by the lid and it just comes off without any effort. Try carrying it by the lid and you’ll get a nasty surprise. It’s a poor design choice.

User experience

Hit the power button on the machine’s right hand side and the machine thrums into action. After the initial setup process has directed you to rinse the water tank and install the water filter, the machine pulls through four shots of coffee to prime and clean the machine. These need to be poured down the sink, so my advice is to use some old beans you have lying around rather than wasting good coffee.

Once the machine is warmed up and ready to go, you can swipe to scroll through the machine’s various recipes. Tapping an icon reveals a settings menu which provides options to adjust drink temperature, coffee and milk volumes and drink strength. Some drinks recipes give you the option to pour two drinks simultaneously: pop two cups under the spouts and the machine will pour two shots back to back and add milk to each.

There are four user profiles, too. These allow you to save specific drinks recipes to your user page. Tap the touch sensitive user button on the front panel and you can access your saved drinks without scrolling through the main menu at all.

Noise test

The KF4’s Quiet Mark certification is more than justified. It’s still noisy compared to the quiet splutter of a filter coffee machine, granted, but the loudest sound emanating from the KF4 was an average of 63dBA during grinding. Brewing was remarkably quiet at 50dbA and steaming was mostly around 55dBA apart from a brief splutter of 63dBA as the machine started to slurp milk.

For reference, this is a little bit quieter overall than the De’Longhi Rivelia and Philips LatteGo 5500, and only a tad louder than the two Jura models – the C8 and J10 – which passed through my test kitchen in recent months. If silence (or at least relative quietness) is golden in your kitchen, then the KF4 puts in a good show.

Coffee quality

The KF4 pours great coffee from the first prod of its touchscreen. I tried all of the major drinks from espresso to macchiato and latte to flat white, and they were all consistently well extracted. The over-ice drinks – the iced coffee and iced espresso – are brewed cooler (around 55c) and it’s left to you to add your own ice.

By default, it’ll pour a 40ml espresso while most of the longer milk-based coffee recipes seem to target a small cup size of around 120ml, so bear in mind that you’ll need to up the volumes to fill larger cups or mugs.

The milk frothing works well. It doesn’t create the thick, silken gloss of a carefully wielded manual steam wand, but it’s very good. The froth has a tight, creamy texture, and it’s much thicker and more long-lasting than the light, bubbly froth which you’ll get from some mid-range models, such as the Philips LatteGo 5500.

It’s a shame that the froth levels aren’t adjustable – for recipes such as the macchiato, where you just want a dollop of froth popped on top, it doesn’t quite fit the bill. What it can do, however, is create a flat warm milk or a frothed milk (and both of these hot milk options are on the menu for the non-coffee drinkers in the audience). For recipes such as the cappuccino, the KF4 uses its frothy setting; for a flat white, it pours plain steamed milk, so there’s only a thin layer of froth on top.

For those who want to dial in every coffee to perfection, there’s a good amount of adjustability. You can adjust the various options for each drink and save those settings to your user profile.

One interesting addition is the Body setting. This speeds or slows the extraction time, and you can use this in tandem with the dosage and volume settings to tweak the flavour of beans to your preferences. It works really well, too. There was the slightest hint of bitterness to the espresso with the strength set to maximum – dialling it down to the light body setting gave both a juicier, more fruity shot and dialled back the bitterness nicely.

There are only 5 settings for the grinder (the dial is hidden behind the KF4’s side panel), but it didn’t really need any adjusting for my medium roast beans. And in any case, the lack of extreme adjustments means that users are less likely to create undrinkably bitter or sour shots. I’d personally prefer more adjustability for dialling in different coffees, but most people probably won’t be too bothered. Rivals such as the De’Longhi Rivelia offer 13 steps of grind adjustment which gives a little more latitude for fine tuning.

Temperature consistency is good. The first drinks out of the machine were very slightly cooler than subsequent ones, but that’s not unusual as any coffee machine takes a little time for all the parts to warm up. In fact, the temperature stability is better controlled than some bean-to-cup machines I’ve tested recently. The first drinks came through around 68C and subsequent cups settled between 70c and 72c depending on the recipe and the ratio of milk to coffee. As the machine heats milk to around 65c – the perfect temperature to prevent scorching the milk – it’s the volume of hot coffee added which bumps temperatures up to and beyond 70C.

If you are in a rush, then you can get a couple of coffees poured in under five minutes. Once you’ve waited for the initial rinse, each milk-based drink at default size (40ml coffee, 80ml milk) takes around a minute and a half. You can tap the main drinks icon to pour two simultaneously though. Pop a couple of cups side by side, and it’ll brew two shots back to back and then add milk to both cups. This takes just under 3 minutes for the standard sized cappuccinos and flat whites.

What's it like to clean?

The KF4 rinses and warms up automatically the first time you turn it on, and this takes just under a minute and a half. Turn it on again a little later – while the machine is still warm – and it’ll prompt you to rinse but not force you to do so. A word to the wise: this can’t always be skipped. Ignore the prompts to clean the machine or milk system and you may find you’re forced to do both in succession next time you turn it on.

The milk carafe cleaning is elegant. Simply disconnect the tube from the carafe and plug it into a hole in the drip tray. This then blasts out any residue in the milk system for around a minute, while you simply have to clean the carafe in the sink with a bit of warm soapy water. Unlike rival designs which use more complex carafe designs, such as De’Longhi’s LatteCrema system, there are precious few nooks and crannies for milk residue to get stuck in.

Drips do tend to accumulate on the metal drip tray, but there’s nothing you can’t clean up with a damp cloth.

In terms of internal cleaning, KitchenAid recommends using a cleaning tablet after every 200 cups of coffee. Two are supplied in the box, and the KF4 will prompt you to carry out the process when it’s needed – or you can manually trigger it in the settings menu.

The water filter is designed to be replaced every 2 months or after every 50 litres of water used. Descaling is required in anything from 6 weeks to 2 months depending on water hardness. If you replace the filter regularly – or just use filtered water from a jug – descaling shouldn’t be required as often.

Bear in mind, however, that the initial setup process seems to bypass the water hardness testing if you opt to install the supplied water filter. This means that the machine is set to the worst case Very High water hardness setting which will prompt more regular cleaning and descaling. My advice would be to manually carry out the water hardness test and input the relevant information for your area – there’s a tester in the box, so you may as well use it.

How does it compare to competitors?

At this kind of price point, I normally have two recommendations – the Jura C8 or the De’Longhi Rivelia. Both retail for around £650 at the time of writing. For faff-free simplicity, I’m a big fan of the Jura. It makes good coffee and the milk steaming is very good, too. It’s not for everyone, though, as it lacks a lot of features compared to either the KitchenAid KF4 or the De’Longhi Rivelia. The C8 only has a handful of recipes, no hot water dispensing and while it makes good coffee, it lacks the adjustability to eke as much flavour from as wide a range of coffees as the Rivelia.

And this is where the KitchenAid KF4 comes in. In short, I think it’s markedly better than the Jura C8 and marginally a better all-rounder than the Rivelia. Given that it costs £899, that’s probably to be expected. In terms of coffee quality, both the KitchenAid and De’Longhi machines are capable of making a very mean espresso and an excellent milk-based coffee. Where the KF4 marches ahead, however, is looks and convenience: the slender footprint, simple carafe design and better touchscreen and controls all lean in favour of the KF4.

Should you buy the KitchenAid KF4?

I had high hopes for the KitchenAid KF4, so it’s impressive to see it deliver the goods in such confident fashion. The narrow footprint is perfect for smaller kitchens, and the fact that it’s relatively quiet, highly adjustable and makes such consistently tasty coffee is enough to convince me that it’s worth the relatively high asking price. There are cheaper rivals out there if you can accommodate a larger machine, but if you want great coffee without the bulk, it’s a great buy.

Smeg's retro kettle and toaster have become something of a homeware icon. You'll find Smeg's instantly recognisable small appliances on the worktops of the most stylish of kitchens, and we've even given the kettle one of the best kettle top spots - it's a beautiful design that is just as easy to use.

And while the current colours of Smeg's small appliances are timeless, a new trend-focused tone has entered the scene and with it comes a fresh perspective. The retro style has always leaned more traditional, but Smeg's new Moonlight collection has a contemporary look to blend into sleek, minimalist kitchens.

Moonlight, the new matte colourway from Smeg, is 'designed to bring softness, warmth and balance into the home,' says the brand. It reflects a growing trend towards neutral shades, away from classic white or cream, and calmer palettes in our homes.

Typically, small appliances put practicality first. Often in stainless steel or black plastic, aesthetics weren't high on the agenda. Smeg started to change this with their retro kettle and toaster which came in a variety of vintage-themed colours, from cream to pink and blue.

While this has allowed us to be playful with appliances and use them to add to an overall kitchen colour scheme, the statement shades didn't offer much scope for people who favour a more understated design.

The texture also differs from the classic shiny small appliances from Smeg - it has a smooth matte finish which is perfect for hiding fingerprints and allowing your small appliances to sit subtly in the background of your kitchen.

'Smeg's kettle and toaster range is already the height of refined luxury, but this new sophisticated neutral shade is tailor-made for anyone who wants to add a warm colour to their kitchen without committing to a bold colour,' explains Molly Cleary, Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor.

'The matte finish is not only bang-on-trend but has the benefit of being easier to keep looking clean too. As someone with a white Smeg toaster, I can tell you it needs a lot of maintenance to keep looking fresh. I'm very tempted to invest in a kettle in Moonlight and make them mix and match instead for those reasons!' she adds.

If you love the shape and overall design of the Smeg appliances but haven't found a colour to suit your kitchen then the Moonlight collection is one to try - particularly if you want a fuss-free option that escapes fingerprints.

Shop the Moonlight collection

If you're a Smeg fan like we are on the Ideal Home team, these discontinued Smeg appliances straight from their HQ will inspire your dream retro kitchen.

Haven’t you heard? Lidl is launching a £14.99 ice cream maker, and it’s arriving right on time for the latest bout of hot weather set to hit the UK.

The best ice cream makers enable you to whip up delicious, cooling and even healthy ice-creams and sorbets from the comfort of your own kitchen. Back in December, a new generation of ice cream makers sparked by the now cult Ninja Creami and Slushi's popularity led kitchen experts to agree that ice cream makers were the ‘it’ appliance set to take over from air fryers.

While some ice-cream makers such as the Cuisinart Frost Fusion offer no pre-freezing, they are fairly pricey appliances. Even the Ninja Creami which requires you to freeze the ingredients 24 hours before will set you back £170 at Ninja. What Lidl is offering is an affordable introduction to the world of ice cream makers. Here’s everything you need to know.

At first glance, the Lidl Silvercrest Ice Cream Maker looks very similar to Lakeland’s digital ice cream maker, which is also one of the most affordable models on the market at £44.99. Landing in stores on Sunday (21 June) is arriving bang on time for the latest heatwave.

The Silvercrest Ice Cream Maker is a small, compact appliance, meaning it will not dominate space on your kitchen worktop. This is ideal for small kitchens, where space is limited, and chunkier appliances such as the cult Ninja Creami take up too much space.

The ice cream maker can make up to one litre of ice cream or sorbet, and comes with a small booklet of recipe suggestions to get you started. To use, simply pre-freeze the bowl, then add your desired ingredients through the opening in the lid. This can even be done when the machine is in use.

The beater and lid can be washed in the dishwasher, making clean up easy, and the ice cream container has practical handles for ease of use. Lidl has not listed the machine’s dimensions. Lakeland’s digital ice cream maker also has a one-litre capacity, and our review found the container took up a larger chunk of their freezer drawer, so you should bear this in mind.

To use the ice cream maker, you will need to pre-freeze the included bowl. Again, Lidl hasn’t stated online how long this process will take, but for similar models, this is around 12-hours.

While I haven’t tested Lidl’s ice-cream maker, based on the price, we can expect it to be a fairly basic model. However, I don't think this is a bad thing for those who want to try out an ice cream maker without spending a fortune.

If you are looking for a superior ice cream maker that has multiple functions here are three more models we’ve tried and tested.

An ice cream maker is a perfect summer appliance, helping to keep you cool and offer a sweet treat, too. Would you try Lidl’s or have you got your sights set on a higher-end appliance?

Nutribullet just unveiled its first ever ice cream maker and it looks to be the ideal solution for those battling for space in small kitchens. Yep the shiny, new Nutribullet Chill, which is available to preorder now via the brand's website for £199.99, is the perfect compromise if you're looking for a sweet treat maker that won't overrun your worktops.

Its design upends what we've seen from the most popular ice cream makers of the last few years, including the Ninja Creami (which we've reviewed), by adopting build that's more like a Nutribullet blender than anything else.

This not only makes the Chill look streamlined and ready to pop into a cupboard when not in use, but also solves what I'd argue is the most pressing problem that Ninja Creami fans have: it's not an easy machine to clean. Here's how the Nutribullet Chill aims to solve that.

This ice cream maker, like most out there, requires pre-freezing. That means you'll need to prep your ingredients in the included tubs the night before you want to make ice cream and then freeze them. Most ice cream makers of this type require 24 hours of waiting time unless you want to opt for something like the Cuisinart Frost Fusion, which we recently reviewed, and allows you to make soft serve in under 30 minutes.

Like the ever-popular Ninja Creami, the Chill also uses a rotating blade to cut through your mix and creamify it in order to create a dessert-like consistency. The big difference with the Chill, however, is that the blade is stored within a countertop-friendly base.

This is very good news for those looking to save space in their kitchen. The Ninja Creami is, whilst incredibly impressive in its performance, a very difficult appliance to store on a kitchen countertop as it's very tall. At almost 43 centimetres in height, it didn't fit under my kitchen cupboards. Compare that to the base of the Chill, which is 27cm tall (without the tub attached) and you can see which would be best if you're short on worktop space.

Another issue that long-time fans of the Creami often have is that the blade can be hard to clean, as it's contained within the upper unit of the appliance. Nutribullet aim to solve this with the Chill by making the blade element totally removable and dishwasher-safe. The parts pop out the top of the base in order to be cleaned, as you can see below.

With purchase of the Chill, you'll receive the appliance itself alongside two 450g tubs and matching lids for whipping up whatever kind of sweet treat you like. As with the Creami, a big part of the allure with this machine is that you have complete control over your ice cream ingredients – a must if you have dietary requirements or you want to make healthier family-friendly puddings.

If I'm being fussy, I would say that I'd love this new Nutribullet to also feature a Slush mode – but appliances that can make ice cream and slush are rarer to find. If that's exactly what you're looking for you might want to hold out until the release of the much anticipated Dualit Ice Cream Maker instead.

With more hot weather on the way, I can guarantee you that a frozen-treat maker like this will fast become your favourite kitchen appliance if you choose to take the plunge. You'll get more use out of yours than you'd think!

Alternatives

Ninja's shiny new coffee machine, the AutoBarista Pro, was only released at the end of last month but I've already spotted a version that's cheaper by £100 and available to buy now (via Ninja for £799.99).

This pared-back version of Ninja's super-automatic bean to cup coffee machine has a few differences from the original which I wrote about in detail in my preview. But there's one that'll disappoint decaf fans in particular: the two bean-hopper system (which is one of my favourite features of the £899.99 machine) is missing, as well as a few different drinks and milk frothing options.

Here's a look at the key differences so you can work out which one best suits your morning brew routine.

With an £100 price difference, I predict that there will be plenty of people interested in the standard version of the AutoBarista over the professional, but it's worth weighing up whether the features you lose are ones you might want in the future.

Let's start with what I see as the most important difference: the lack of interchangeable bean hopper system with the standard version.

The ability to swap between different types of coffee, including to decaf beans in the afternoon, is something that you can usually only get with much more expensive machines. It's excellent for making the most of your coffee machine without over-caffeinating or for those with partners or family members that have different coffee tastes. With two hoppers you could have one darker and one lighter roast on the go at the same time for those who want to switch between the two.

The other reason that the standard machine is more affordable is because it has a slightly diminished menu of drinks. There are 10 options available when brewing coffee: Espresso, Americano, Cappuccino, Flat White, Latte, Filter Coffee, Cold Brew, Cold-Pressed, Over Ice, and Hot Water.

You'll find those same drinks with the pro version alongside three more for your money: Cortado, Café Crema, and Lungo. And the ability to pull two shots of espresso at the same time – great for busy mornings if there's two of you using the same machine.

The automatic milk frother, which I think is the best feature on Ninja's Luxe Café machine too after trying it, is slightly altered in terms of programs between these two machines. While the standard machine offers 4 presets (Steamed Milk, Thin Froth, Thick Froth, and Cold Foam), the pro version has the same and more with the addition of Extra-Thick Froth too.

For the £100 price difference, it's definitely worth thinking about whether these differences would have an impact on the drinks you'd be making every day. If you'd be sticking to a flat white for most of the time, then you could save yourself a substantial chunk off your shiny new machine.

Or if this impressively kitted out new machine is out of the bounds of what you're looking to spend, then I've included some alternative highly-rated options below that you can consider instead.

Ninja has unveiled a brand new bean-to-cup coffee machine with a pricetag under £500 for the first time: the Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine (available for £499.99 via Ninja now).

This is the latest machine to join the ranks of Ninja's excellently regarded bean-to-cup coffee machine range. First came the sellout success of the Ninja Luxe Café (which I awarded five stars to in my review), followed by the even more capable Luxe Café Pro series.

Then, just last month, there was the hugely popular drop of the brand's first super-automatic machine – the Ninja AutoBarista Pro – which I've been trying (and loving in my kitchen).

Despite all of that success, there's undoubtedly been a gap in Ninja's range ready to be filled by a more affordable option. That's where this much more compact and affordable machine is bound to be a total winner. Here's how it compares to the rest of the sellout machines.

It may have 'mini' in the name but how compact is it really for small kitchens? The short answer is that it's 30% smaller than the Ninja Luxe Café Pro, which is certainly a bulky machine, and measures up at 34.11cm high, 30.91cm wide and 26cm in length.

Situated next to the Luxe Café in the promotional images, it's clear to see that this should be the Ninja coffee machine of choice for anyone who has been put off from the range thus far because of the bulky machine sizes.

Whilst having a much smaller footprint (and price tag), it seems there's been no skimping on quality features with the Mini from a first glance. Its control panel looks extremely in-depth despite its smaller size and the machine still boasts the Barista Assist Technology that I loved in my reviews of the OG Luxe Café. With this tech even beginners will find it exceptionally easy to get into pulling espresso shots that are finely tuned to their coffee tastes.

And crucially, this machine is still kitted out with an automatic milk frother too for the price, which makes it a brilliant buy for its price tag. As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, I trawl through press releases about new coffee machines everyday and it is very rare to get all of the features built into this machine for a sub £500 sum.

As a latte lover, the automatic milk frother is my favourite thing about every Ninja coffee machine I've tried – it makes wowing your guests with latte art or a perfect flat white so easy. And vegans haven't been left out of the equation either as this Mini machine is equipped for plant milk too. In my experience I've found steaming oat milk with the Luxe Café as seamless as with dairy.

Given the breadth of features packed into this slimmed down machine for under £500, I predict that this is going to be Ninja's most popular coffee offering for a long while. So if you like the look of this compact coffee maker, I'd snap it up fast!

Glass air fryers are the newest kitchen appliance on the block and if you're short on space, you'll want to know all about them. Not only do these smaller versions of the best air fryers have the benefit of being non-toxic, but some also give flexibility to those who want to cook and store foods in the same container to save space and time.

If you're a meal prep obsessive, then you've probably heard about the Ninja Crispi already – which I awarded five stars to in my review – but if you've found it a little out of your price range, with an RRP of £149.99, then I have good news for you.

There is a range of glass air fryers hitting the market right now, all with modular designs. Here's how they work and three reasons why you might want to take part in this new batch cooking trend.

1. The benefits of glass for cooking

The Ninja Crispi was a viral hit when it launched thanks to the fact that its glass material makes for perfect social media clips (like this one via Ninja's Instagram).

Whether you want to watch a block of cheese melt in quick time or see what it looks like when a frozen croissant springs into life, the 360 vantage of the Crispi certainly makes for an interactive cooking experience. But when I tried it, I found there's plenty of practical reasons for opting for glass over the usual air fryer basket when it comes to cooking too.

If you, like me, hate getting to the end of a work day and being stuck for what to make for dinner, then meal prep is the answer. The fact that you can cook meals in the Crispi and then pop them straight in the fridge is a winner for this, especially in the larger 5.7 litre size as it allows for more than one portion.

The 'take the shelf out' hack that I learned from Jamie Oliver is perfect for this too. You can cook an entire lasagne, pasta bake or a batch of brownies directly into the glass and then store your leftovers without any dish transferring.

If you like the sound of that effort-free cooking but you're on a budget then Salter's new Crisp & Go, which is strikingly similar to the Crispi, is a lot more affordable and so far has only gleaned 5 star reviews, both via Amazon and Salter's website.

I got a first look at it recently at Salter's unveiling of it and I was impressed by its size and versatility, though the control panel is not quite as sleek as Ninja's. For the price however, I think it's going to be a hit.

2. Ease of cleaning

If you're the designated washing-upper or dishwasher-loader in your house, then glass has many benefits over your usual air fryer basket, too. In my testing, I've found it's a much easier surface to keep from getting grimy long-term, and day-to-day is much easier to wash by hand too. I've also become obsessed with using Fairy's Skip the Soak Spray (£3.86 at Amazon), too, which easily lifts anything that might be troublesome off the glass surface.

All of the portable, glass air fryers featured above have dishwasher-safe glass containers, which is a real treat. Compared to how gross air fryer baskets can get after a long time (even with frequent cleaning), switching to glass has been a revelation in terms of cleanliness for me.

3. Ease of storage

There's always a debate as to whether an air fryer deserves a place on a kitchen worktop. While I think an air fryer is arguably the most useful kitchen appliance out there, I understand people's desire to find ways to hide their air fryer.

With these modular glass air fryers the ability to stack and store the parts is built in. When not in use the smaller container can slot into the larger one and the air fryer lid can be stored alongside it. It's small enough that it'll fit into a compartment of standard kitchen cupboards with ease.

While this air fryer is marketed as portable, I personally don't think it's the kind of thing you'll want to carry around in your bag with you. But I do think it's the air fryer to opt for if hiding it for most of the time is high on your priority list.

So if you want something that's tailor-made for making lunches and dinners for the week ahead easier as well as an appliance that's easy to stash away, I think one of these glass buys will do a wonderful job.

For great coffee at home, you can’t go wrong with a good quality espresso machine. In fact, I owned, and loved the Sage Bambino for over three years. It’s a great compact espresso machine that still has a place on our list of the best coffee machines.

The Bambino Plus (£399.95 via Sage) is only slightly more expensive and marginally bigger than the Bambino, but the additional functionality it offers in terms of automatic milk texturing, is a potential game changer. Steaming and texturing milk is an artform and can be tricky to master, so I’m excited to see what this automatic wand can produce.

In a nutshell

For only £70 more than the entry level Sage Bambino, the Sage Bambino Plus offers quite a transformational upgrade in its automatic steam wand. In my opinion, this additional feature is worth the bump up in price, but it’s not flawless.

While I managed to create perfect espressos with a rich crema and tasty fruity flavour, I found the steam wand to be a bit hit and miss. The crux of it is that if you don’t add in an extra purge step, it can scald the milk. That said, during my tests, when purged first, it achieved great textured milk with zero effort on my part, and I soon came to rely on it.

So, in short, if you’re not super confident at steaming milk, but you want a manual espresso machine, then the Bambino Plus is the answer. But if you’re happy to steam milk yourself, then save £70 and go for the Sage Bambino.

Who tested this coffee machine?

Unboxing the product

When I removed the Bambino Plus from its box I was instantly struck by two things; it’s very lightweight and very shiny. The backplate that sits behind the drip tray is mirrored and I’m not sure how practical this is going to be to keep clean.

It appears to be well built and looks premium, but I expected it to have a weighty quality that’s lacking. Nevertheless, it comes with everything I need to get going, other than coffee.

The portafilter isn’t quite as premium as the one that comes with pricier Sage coffee machines, however it’s perfectly well made and fit for purpose. It comes with four filter baskets designed for single and double espresso shots depending on whether you’re using pre-ground or freshly ground coffee.

There’s a premium tamper that’s used for compressing the coffee into the portafilter, and this feels a good weight. The stainless steel milk jug is a typical size, though the max fill marker that’s embossed into the side is barely half way up the jug. What’s more, you can’t see the max and min markers easily on the inside of the jug, which might prove to be tricky when filling.

Impact on a kitchen worktop

Compared to so many coffee machines I’ve reviewed, this one is neat and pretty compact. It won’t dominate your kitchen and is suitable for smaller spaces.

The water tank sits at the back of the coffee machine, it’s easy to access and remove, or you can fill it by lifting the lid on top. But if you set the machine up beneath wall hung kitchen cupboards, it might be a bit awkward to get to.

First impressions

The physical instruction manual is brief, although it does include a QR code linking to a longer manual. For setup, you’re advised to download the free app BILT. It’s definitely worth it for the 3D interactive step-by-step set up guide which gives you all the info you need to get started. It's delivered via short, easy to watch video clips with audio descriptions.

In the app there are additional helpful guides on things like milk texturing, care and cleaning, and programming shot volumes. After watching all of these, I was armed with all the information I needed.

There’s a water filter included in the box to get you started and in hard water areas, this will definitely help to protect the machine from limescale. It is easy to install in the water tank, though it only lasts for three months. Replacements are costly at £14.95 each, which soon starts to add up.

This machine won’t automatically perform rinses, but it does advise you to do this manually by pressing the one cup button. This runs hot water through the group head and portafilter before and after use.

My main takeaway after getting it set up and familiarising myself with the control panel and accessories, is that it’s very straightforward to use. The paired back controls are very simple to understand.

If I'm being critical though, I’d love an on/off button. It automatically goes into standby after 30 minutes, but if you want to enter standby faster, you have to manually press two buttons in combination, and it took me a while to remember which two buttons.

And similarly, other processes like adjusting shot volumes or running a descale cycle are performed using various button combinations. This means you have to keep referring back to the BILT app or manual when you want to perform these additional tasks.

The ‘Morning Rush’ test

When the coffee machine is first switched on, it’s ready to use in seconds. I timed myself making two milky coffees in the morning to see how long the whole process was from start to end.

This included adding coffee to the portafilter, tamping it down, and pouring a double espresso. I did this twice and then filled the milk jug to its maximum level and set it to automatically texture the milk to the medium foam level and medium temperature.

By the time the two drinks were poured, the whole process had taken six minutes. Personally I have the time in my mornings and enjoy the ritual of making coffee, so I don’t think this is too long. But if your mornings are very rushed and you have very little time, you may need to consider a more hands-off automatic coffee machine.

Similarly, it’s worth noting that if you make very milky lattes, you may have to steam two jugs of milk to get enough for both drinks, which will add to the time.

User experience

It can take a while to get used to some of the processes involved in using a manual espresso machine. Tamping the coffee grounds with the right amount of pressure takes practice, but I love the tamper that’s provided, it feels really good quality and works effectively.

Sage also provides a clever Razor tool, which is especially useful if you’re new to manual espresso machines. It allows you to trim coffee from the top of the portafilter, this ensures it’s not over-filled, which in turn helps you to learn how much coffee is needed.

On the whole, making an espresso in this machine is a simple process, but there’s one part that I found annoying. Twisting the portafilter into position, and also removing it again, are both actions that require a bit of force.

Unfortunately, the machine isn’t weighty enough to withstand the force without being pushed across the worktop. So you have to stabilise it with one hand/ arm, while positioning the portafilter with the other. It can be awkward.

The double shot espresso is a bit smaller than I would like, but that's not an issue as it can be programmed it to deliver the exact volume you prefer. Alternatively you can dispense hot water from the steam wand to top up an espresso into a longer drink.

When I first got my hands on this machine, I didn’t think it was capable of dispensing hot water as there’s no obvious button to do so. But upon scanning the QR code in the manual and accessing the more comprehensive manual online, I discovered how to do it.

It is, unfortunately, another button combo to remember. With the steam wand tilted up, you have to press the 1 cup and foam buttons simultaneously and then hot water is dispensed. I dispensed a cup full and took the temperature. It was 71C, which is fine for topping up coffee or making the odd fruit tea.

The automatic milk steamer does the job, it's super simple to use and easy to toggle between the three foam levels. The highest foam setting delivers a spoonable cappuccino style foam, whereas you get more of a microfoam on the middle and lower foam settings.

My biggest issue with the automatic steaming is that it often made the milk too hot. Even on the lowest temperature setting, milk could reach temperatures in excess of 80C, which is far too hot and will scald the milk, affecting the taste.

I did eventually discover that if I purged the steam wand for a few seconds before use, by pressing the steam button and allowing water/ steam to escape, it was then less likely to scald the milk. After a purge, milk steamed on the lowest temperature setting, came out at 58-66C, which is much better.

Milk temperatures weren’t as consistent as I would like and seemed to be impacted by the foam level selected as well as the amount of milk in the jug. That said, when it was producing milk at the correct temperature, I very much enjoyed this hands-off automatic function. And I can see how this feature will be really handy if you’re busy, or if you hate steaming your own milk.

When filling the milk jug to the max line, you can add about 250ml milk which is just enough for two smaller drinks. If you prefer a longer milky drink, you won’t be able to make two at once. You ‘ll need to steam a second jug of milk.

Don’t be tempted to go over the max line though. I steamed the maximum amount of milk on the maximum foam level and the foam rose to the top of the jug. Any more and it would have spilled out over the top. However, I should say that I also found it very hard to see the max and min lines on the inside of the jug, which is frustrating.

Due to the occasional high temperatures achieved by the automatic steamer, I was thankful that I could also use the milk wand for manual steaming. I was able to texture the milk without scalding it when I did it manually. However it still heats the milk very fast and I still had to purge it first for best results. And if I’m honest, I did default to the automatic milk steamer on most uses.

Noise test

When brewing an espresso, the coffee machine registered a pretty quiet 59dB on my noise meter. It's the milk steaming that’s the noisiest part of the process. The automatic milk steaming averaged 69dB but peaked at 84dB for a few short seconds. On the whole, I wouldn’t class this as a loud coffee machine.

Coffee quality

During the review I used Exhale Organic Dark(ish) Roast whole beans. This is my regular brand of coffee and the tasting notes, according to the brand, are caramel, stone fruits, red grapes and cola. It’s said to be ideal for espresso and gives a chocolatey, nutty flavour.

I used a separate grinder to grind my coffee beans as needed, so I used the single wall basket in the portafilter as this is designed for coffee that’s freshly ground. Although I did also try out the double wall baskets with some pre-ground coffee I had in the cupboard.

I found the espresso had a rich and thick crema on top, and it lasted well. I enjoyed the espresso flavour too, it was fruity and had a nutty marzipan backnote. It was neither bitter, nor was it flavourless and watery, which is a good sign. On the whole, I was very happy with both the flavour and the quality of the espresso.

Thermal stability

I made five single espressos in quick succession to check how the temperature of the coffees changed. The first one started at 60C and each one was marginally hotter than the last. The final espresso was 68C. On that basis, and for consistent coffee, I’d suggest it’s best suited to smaller households where it’ll usually be required to make a couple of coffees at a time.

The ‘Wet Paint’ test

After much experimentation I found the automatic milk steamer could produce a lovely glossy microfoam, perfect for latte art. It had to be on the lowest temperature and middle foam setting (provided it’s been purged before use). The higher foam setting is a bit more bubbly, though ideal for a cappuccino.

Manual milk texturing is an option, but once I’d got the hang of purging it first, the microfoam delivered by the auto steaming function, far exceeded the quality of what I could produce when manually steaming.

What's it like to clean?

The exterior of the steam wand will need a good wipe down with a damp cloth after use. It automatically purges with water, dispensing water into the drip tray to ensure there’s no milk residue left on the inside. The steam purge can be messy and I found I needed to wipe over the drip tray afterwards.

I was able to tap out the coffee grounds in a nicely compacted puck. Giving the portafilter a quick rinse is the only other daily cleaning task. However the stainless steel sides and shiny mirrored back of the machine marked easily, so I found myself giving it all a daily wipe and buff to keep it looking as good as new.

The drip tray is very small, and this soon becomes noticeable if you make a lot of milky drinks, due to the automatic steam purge. A red float in the drip tray pops up to tell you it needs emptying, and I could only make 3-4 milky coffees before it needed to be emptied.

What's it like to descale?

The machine alerts you when descaling is due. It does this by flashing the one cup, two and steam buttons in sequence. You’ll need to use a Sage descaling product for the process and it has to be done when the machine is completely cool.

I followed the directions in the BILT app and found descaling very easy. For the most part it’s an automatic process, you just have to stay nearby to empty the waste water container and refill the water tank as needed. The whole process took around eight and a half minutes.

The other cleaning process required is a flushing cycle to clean the grouphead. This is a quicker clean that requires you to insert the rubber cleaning disc into the portafilter, followed by a Sage cleaning tablet.

Again, the machine alerts you to do it with a sequence of flashing lights after every 200 cups. It’s another automatic cleaning cycle and took me just six minutes. Waste water is supposed to be collected in the drip tray, but some leaked out onto the worktop during the clean, so I’d sit it on a teatowel next time.

How does it compare to competitors?

I’ve already made comparisons to the brand's entry level espresso machine, the Sage Bambino. It’s more compact and will save you £70, as long as you’re willing to steam your own milk.

It must be said though, the Bambino Plus isn’t cheap and if you shop around, you could bag a Ninja Luxe Cafe for around £70 more. This is an Ideal Home favourite that also offers automatic milk steaming. Crucially though, the Ninja has a built-in bean grinder and offers more adjustable settings and features. So if your budget can be stretched, it’s worth considering.

Should you buy the Sage the Bambino Plus?

Having previously owned the Sage Bambino I was pleasantly surprised by how much of an upgrade this model feels like, especially given the comparative difference in price. And if it’s a toss up between the two, the decision will come down to whether or not you’ll use the auto milk steaming.

If you’ve already got some barista skills, you may not need to pay the extra for the auto steaming function. That said, I’m used to steaming my own milk, but I soon got used to letting the Bambino Plus take care of it for me.

While it’s one of Sage’s cheaper espresso machines, this is still pricey compared to other brands. That said, it delivers a great espresso, and the automatic milk texturing is an elevated feature that you won’t find on many other machines. If you’re not confident at texturing milk, you’ll adore having perfectly steamed and frothed milk without any faff.

Ninja's bestselling coffee machine range is expanding. That's good news both for those who want to shop the brand's shiny, new AutoBarista Pro and for anyone who's been waiting for the price of Ninja's first-ever coffee machine, the Luxe Café, to drop significantly.

The Luxe Café is now available for £447 down from its RRP of £549.99 via Ninja. There's no mistaking that the Luxe Café is still a seriously pricey home investment, but considering it's also the best coffee machine I've ever tried in terms of value, this deal makes it even more of a star buy.

I awarded five stars to the Luxe Café in my review of it when it was released in 2024, though I wasn't the biggest fan of the stainless steel exterior, which can mark easily and be a pain to keep pristine. If you feel the same way, the good news is that this deal also extends to the matte black version, which is also down to £447 via Amazon.

There are so many things packed into this machine that you usually only see in products with much higher pricetags but my favourite by far is the automatic milk frothing wand.

If you love a frothy coffee in the morning, then this hands-free feature is going to get a lot of use in your home with the ability to whip up milk into foam suitable for lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites and more. It can also double up as a milk frother for hot chocolates and even has a cold mode for those hot summer days when only an iced coffee will do the job.

If you're just starting out on your journey as a home barista then learning how to steam milk can be daunting, but the automatic element of Ninja's frother takes that steep learning curve away. Plus, the frother is so good that it can create a genuine microfoam that you can use to practice your latte art skills, too.

The automatic grind size suggestions, which appear on the left hand side of the machine's screen, also go a long way if you're a beginner just getting into coffee at home. The set-up process for the machine is very helpful for getting to grips with all of the different elements.

If I was going to snap up the Luxe Café as part of this deal I would definitely pick the matte black option over the stainless steel. I love the subtle finish, which has a lot in common with David Beckham's swish new version too.

Summer is on the way and I’m already scrolling through ice cream recipes for fresh inspiration. I reviewed the Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Professional two years ago and despite not really having room for it (read more on that below), there’s no way I’m letting it go. Because I still think it’s one of the best ice cream makers you can buy.

While I use it year round, it definitely comes into its own in summer. From tasty healthier frozen yogurts, to indulgent ice creams that impress my guests, it’s the appliance I didn’t realise I needed. But as a fan of ice cream, there are so many fun flavours to try, I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of it.

In the last two years, I haven’t discovered anything new about the machine itself. It has continued to perform as it did from the get-go. But here are the four main reasons why it’s still in my life and won’t be going anywhere.

1. I can make ice cream on a whim

So many other ice cream appliances require forethought and planning. Often you need to freeze a bowl 24 hours before you plan to make the ice cream. So there’s little room for ice cream spontaneity - unless you leave the bowl in your freezer permanently, and who has freezer space for that?

This Cuisinart version freezes as it churns, there’s no pre-freezing required. So if I wake up in the morning and it feels like an ice cream day, I can create homemade ice cream that’s ready to eat by lunchtime. For this reason I get far more use out of it than I would if I had to freeze a bowl in advance.

2. It helps me avoid nasty ultra-processed ice creams

In an ideal world, I try to avoid ultra-processed foods that contain lots of chemical additives. And when you read the list of unpronounceable additives on the label of many (not all) shop bought ice creams, they fall firmly into the category of foods I’d prefer to avoid.

Having my own ice cream maker means I am in control of the quality of the ingredients I use. I can make stunning flavours with wholesome ingredients that have some nourishing qualities and nutritional value.

Furthermore, the flavour of ice cream made with real ingredients like real strawberries simply can’t be beaten by a synthetic flavour or additive. And I get to have fun trying new or unique flavours that you can’t buy in the shops. I stir pureed raspberries through peach frozen yogurt and not only does it look incredible, but it’s an amazing healthy treat.

3. I can make multiple batches back to back

This was something I noted in the original review, and it’s still true now. If I’ve got the ice cream maker out and it’s on my worktop, I usually enjoy making up a couple of different flavours, or sometimes an ice cream and a sorbet. Being able to make more than one batch in a day is absolutely one of the reasons I continue to love this machine.

After the first batch, I just have to wash the bowl and paddle, then I can immediately set it going again to create another flavour. Whereas the ice cream makers that utilise a pre-frozen bowl can usually only be used for one batch, then the bowl has to spend a few hours back in the freezer before you can make more.

4. It’s great for impressing friends and family

When I proudly offer up homemade ice cream to friends, I’m secretly hoping they don’t realise just how little effort I’ve had to put in. This ice cream maker is incredibly easy to use, so it almost feels like cheating when I take the credit for being a domestic goddess. Having said that, there’s something about home made ice cream that never fails to impress.

My guests always assume I’ve gone to lots of effort to produce this wonderful treat, when in reality, I’ve usually only spent a few minutes preparing the mixture before letting the ice cream maker do all the work.

I recently tried a new recipe for salted caramel ice cream, it was a bit more effort than usual so my friends were even more impressed when I told them I made the salted caramel myself, and needless to say, it went down a treat! But my absolute best ever result is a coffee ice cream I made recently, I can’t get enough of it.

The downsides?

The biggest downside for me is that I don’t have space for it. Honestly. I’m not joking, I store it in our garden office. My kitchen only has space for the everyday essentials, and this isn’t one of them. It’s bulky and only used occasionally, so I have to store it elsewhere and bring it into the house as and when I need it.

However, my lack of space hasn’t put me off keeping it. I could have kept hold of a smaller one, with a freezable bowl, but I really wanted this one, because I knew I would use it more than one that required pre-freezing a bowl - and I was right.

Oh, and before you assume I have loads of random, lesser used appliances stored in the garden office, I don’t. This is the only one. I even cleared a special space for it so that it would be easily accessible!

Making great coffee at home doesn't need to be expensive or cost you the entire width of your kitchen worktop. That's proven by the rise in popularity of coffee drippers, which allow you to make 'pour-over' coffee at home without having to turn on an appliance.

I think a good quality coffee dripper probably works as a no-tech alternative to one of the best coffee machines, offering you a more analogue, mindful brewing method on days when you want simplicity over everything else. Affordable and fuss-free, a dripper is a fabulously chic buy for having a slow morning to yourself.

The mechanics of a dripper are simple. Place one over your mug, insert a paper filter and ground coffee. Then add a splash of hot water and wait 30 seconds for the 'bloom' of your coffee to occur before pouring over the rest in gentle circles to allow your coffee to percolate. It's a method that allows gravity to do all the legwork and leaves you with a smooth, black coffee at the end.

If you like the sound of that, then I think you'll love the drippers I've collated here, including my absolute favourite pick from Fable (for £34) – which inspired this feature.

With one of these drippers, you'll be hooked on making quality coffee at home – especially as they give you total control over the amount of water and speed at which you brew.

It might even be your gateway into getting really into speciality coffee and then investing in a high calibre set up including a gooseneck kettle, which are all the rage over in the US for pour-over coffee.

Whether you like the idea of a coffee dripper for convenience or for craft, these ones will set you on the right path to a much improved brew.

Ninja just dropped a brand new automatic coffee machine, the Ninja AutoBarista Pro Coffee Machine (available now for £899.99 via Ninja) and I predict that this is going to be as big a hit (if not a bigger one) than the brand's sellout Luxe Café machine.

In what seems to be a bid to capture the entire bean-to-cup coffee machine market, Ninja has unveiled an automatic model for the first time – a departure from the brand's existing range.

As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to receive and unbox this machine and so far, I've been absolutely wowed by the features packed in for the price tag. Here's everything that's new with this impressive new release as well as the difference between this and the Luxe Café and the Luxe Café Pro (both of which I awarded 5 stars to in my previous reviews).

1. It's packed full of automatic features

If you've considered buying the Luxe Café before (which is a semi-manual machine) but were put off by having to pull your own espresso shots, this the machine for you.

The AutoBarista Pro has a very capable touchscreen from which you can choose 13 different one-touch drinks. Whenever you want a coffee all you'll need to do is select your drink from the screen and pop milk into the jug to be frothed. From there, the machine will set the grind, brew and froth settings.

I think this more hands-off approach will be a huge hit with those looking for a bean-to-cup machine that's more like versions from competitors like De'Longhi and Philips. After recently testing out the De'Longhi Eletta Explore, I can totally see the appeal in these more laidback machines.

With the AutoBarista Pro once your coffee has brewed and your milk has frothed all there's left to do is pour it over your coffee, meaning there's still a chance to improve your latte art at home!

2. It features two interchangable bean hoppers

When I was unboxing this machine I was very excited and impressed by the swappable bean hoppers included in the box. The ability to swap out two different types of beans (perhaps to switch to decaf in the afternoons or to meet different coffee tastes in one household) is something usually reserved for much more expensive machines – if it's even included at all.

I think the fact that it's built-in to this machine is a huge plus. After a preliminary try, I found the process to unscrew the hopper very easy which will be encouraging for anyone looking for a double hopper system.

This is one feature I'm very excited to try out for decaf coffees in the afternoon!

3. Personalised user programs

Dedicated user profiles is something that I am always into when I test automatic bean-to-cup machines, as it makes rushing out of the door with a coffee so much easier when you have your preferences saved.

It's just one of the big upgrades with this machine as opposed to the more pared-back screen on the Luxe Café. When initially turning it on, I noticed it had a very swish opening sequence, with the coffee icons appearing one by one, as well as full colour on the screen.

The number of coffee profiles is limited to just 2, but I'm intrigued to get stuck in and see how easy they are to program and use day-to-day.

This is just a small snapshot of everything I've noticed so far as I unbox and get to grips with this machine – not even touching on the easy cleaning features (which sound so useful) as well as the huge range of drinks available including cold brew.

I'll be testing this machine as soon as I can to let you know exactly how it performs in my kitchen but I have to say, I'm thoroughly impressed from my first look.

Automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines are the at-home coffee appliance for people who want coffee shop style coffees without leaving the house. If you don’t want to learn any barista skills or mess around grinding coffee beans and steaming milk, automatic is the way to go.

When I reviewed the Philips 5500 Series LatteGo it was the top of the range Philips automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine at the time. And I was impressed with its large menu of 20 drinks. But that was until the Philips Café Aromis Series 8000 made its way onto the scene, offering over 50 drinks on the menu.

I think this bean-to-cup machine offers the widest menu of drinks I’ve ever seen and there are several drinks that I’ve never even heard of. I’ve had it in my kitchen for two weeks and still haven't gotten close to trying all the options.

In a nutshell

The newly launched Philips Café Aromis Series 8000 slides in right at the premium end of the brand's automatic bean-to-cup range. The next best in the lineup offers a drinks menu of 20 drinks, so this model really does knock it out of the park.

It should be noted though that this new, more premium model is also £200 more at £849, which is a pretty hefty jump in price. And at this high price point it’ll certainly be out of reach for many households.

Price to one side, it’s got a lot to offer. The colour touch screen makes it effortless to navigate through the coffee menus. And tweaking settings like temperature, volume and intensity is an absolute doddle. Plus, you can even control it from an app on your phone.

The grinder is quiet and I enjoyed trying lots of different drinks. It’s brilliant for larger households with multiple coffee drinkers who can all save their preferences in a personal profile on the touchscreen.

The downsides for me are the milk texturing, which always produces frothed milk, even if the style of drink doesn’t require it. And I struggled to get a robust crema on an espresso. But these issues won’t bother everyone, so if you want a decent coffee and you’re not critical of the nuances, then this could be the machine for you.

Who tested this coffee machine?

Unboxing and setting up

The coffee machine was delivered in a pretty hefty outer box. After shuffling it inside, I removed the smaller main box, and its cut out handles in the sides meant it was much easier to lift into the kitchen.

Apart from a few plastic bags wrapped around some of the parts, the packaging was mostly cardboard, so easily recyclable. And the clever design of the inner cardboard cradle, allows you to lift the coffee machine out of the box, using integrated cut out handles.

Unboxing and setting up the coffee machine so that it was ready to use, took just 25 minutes. Once it’s plugged in, the colour touch screen walks you through the set up step-by-step, so you really can’t go wrong. The machine is chunky and it’s not designed for small kitchens where space is at a premium.

My first impression is that the control panel is very user friendly, which is going to make this machine super easy and intuitive to use. With so many drinks on offer, the drinks menu could be tricky to navigate, but thankfully it’s divided into sub sections; hot with milk, black coffee, cold coffee, cold with milk, and hot water.

When you click onto a specific drink, the screen displays the volume of coffee/ milk/ water. For me, being able to see the ratio of coffee to milk for example, helps when trying to understand all the different coffees on the menu, and work out which ones I’m keen to try.

Additionally, the coffee and milk volumes are also adjustable for each drink, via simple sliders within the settings. Plus there are seven adjustable coffee strength settings to choose from as well as three temperature settings. You can also select an extra shot in your drink. Then all of your choices can be saved to your personal profile for next time.

I also downloaded the app and connected the machine so that I’d have access to all the functions offered there too. You can set up eight different named profiles for different members of your household or your regular visitors. And each profile can save up to eight favourite drinks, including personalised settings for each of those drinks.

The main coffee dispenser slides up and down so that you can adjust it for the height of your cup. My 14.5cm travel cup just slides under it when it's pushed to the top. And when it’s all the way at the bottom of its range, there's about 8.5cm between the dispenser and drip tray, which is much better for espresso cups and other shorter cups like cappuccino cups.

The machine switches on and is ready to use in under 10 seconds, or if you select the option for a start-up rinse. It goes through an initial warm up and rinse and takes just over a minute. Personally, I prefer a rinse and proper warm up before brewing my first coffee, so am happy to wait.

Furthermore, I noticed that without the rinse and warm up phase, the first drink took 20-30 seconds longer to brew, essentially because it does still need to warm up.

Making coffee with the Philips Café Aromis Series 8000:

Since most coffees on the menu are espresso based, it’s crucial get this right when you're initially setting up and getting used to the machine. At first, the espresso started off quite weak, and lacking a proper crema on top. Initially I tried to adjust the strength settings in the menu, but it was clear that the grind size would also need adjusting.

Grind size is adjusted via a knob in the bean hopper. It’s recommended that the grind size is only adjusted one notch at a time, and you can only do it while the grinder is grinding.

It’s also recommended that after every adjustment, you brew 3-4 coffees before adjusting again. In the end it took me almost a week to get the grind size adjusted to the correct level, which was all the way at the very fine end of the dial.

It’s worth noting here that the noise from the bean grinder is one of the quietest I’ve come across, when compared to other automatic bean-to-cup machines I’ve reviewed. It registered 69dB on my noise meter.

The espresso tasted pleasant, fresh and fruity, and was very drinkable. Despite my adjustments though, I wasn’t able to create the rich, thick crema on top that I’m used to getting from my manual espresso machine.

The double espresso from this machine had an okay crema, but it disappeared long before I got to the end of the drink. With that in mind, if you’re an espresso lover chasing the perfect punchy espresso flavour, combined with a dense creamy crema, I would guide you more towards a barista style home espresso machine to tick all those boxes.

The espresso temperature on the default medium temperature setting was around 75C. This increased to 78C when I selected the high temperature option and dropped to 67-70C on the lowest temperature setting. So the temperature differences are minimal.

There are so many other black coffee options, whether you like a tall gluggable coffee, or a shorter, more intense caffeine hit, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for here. As well as a double espresso, I enjoyed the Caffe Crema, a very drinkable black coffee that’s flavourful and balanced but not too intense.

Other black coffee options include popular drinks like a Long Black, or Americano, as well as lesser known, very strong black coffees like the Red Eye and Black Eye. The beauty is, you get to try them all.

The menu for cold black coffee is similar, but notably there are cold brew coffees added to the lineup. The cold brew is slow to make, even a small 120ml size dripped through so slowly that it took over five minutes to pour the drink, whereas the same sized iced Americano was ready in one and a half minutes.

The process of making these two iced black coffees is clearly different and that’s evident in the taste too. The cold brew is stronger, and by comparison the iced Americano tasted watery. But again, with 11 cold black coffees on the menu, coupled with adjustable strength and volume, as well as the option to add an extra shot, it's easy to create a bespoke drink to suit your own taste.

I also like that a lot of drinks include the option to size up for a travel cup, simply by pressing the travel cup icon.

Hot milk drinks

Given the number of drinks on offer and all of the adjustable settings, I was surprised that the milk texture isn’t adjustable. The milk steaming and texturing process only delivers frothy, bubbly milk. The biggest issue with this is that you get the same amount, and texture of foam on a latte as you do on a cappuccino or even a flat white.

If you prefer drink options with less foam, or those that should have a very fine microfoam like a flat white, you might be disappointed with the quality of milk texturing and the lack of any optional adjustment.

On the whole I enjoyed the hot milk drinks, and with so many adjustable settings, I believe most people will be able to create their perfect milk to coffee ratio and get a coffee strength that hits the spot. For me the biggest sticking point is the milk texture - it simply won’t be able to win over people who dislike bubbly foam on the top of their milky coffee.

The position of the milk spout is ideal for taller cups. But when I was using a short cappuccino cup, I did have to keep a close eye on the cup as the milk began to pour. The milk flows from the high spout like a waterfall, so when using a short cup there is a danger of missing it if you don’t position it correctly.

Milky drink temperatures ranged from 56 - 66C depending on the temperature setting selected. But other factors like the coffee to milk ratios and the temperature of your cup, will also affect the temperature of the finished drink.

When selecting just hot milk froth without coffee, the temperature isn’t adjustable. You can select one of five different volumes between 40ml and 320ml. There’s not an option to adjust the foam level, you will always get frothy milk. I poured out 180ml for a chai latte. It took 53 seconds and was 60C.

Cold milk drinks

For cold milky drinks, you have to use the dedicated cold milk carafe. Additionally, the screen prompts you to add ice cubes to the glass before the drink starts pouring. You can add as much as you prefer, but ultimately, the more ice you use, the colder the drink, but the more danger it’ll get diluted if you drink it too slowly.

I measured the temperature of an Iced Galao, it was 11C when first poured over a handful of ice. The ice cubes quickly chill it further and after just a minute in the glass, it was already down to 8.5C and getting colder the longer I left it. It’s absolutely possible to enjoy proper iced coffees from this machine and it’ll really come into its own on hot summer days.

Like the hot milky drinks, the cold milk carafe is only capable of dispensing frothed milk. So again, when I did a side by side comparison, the iced latte had the same amount of foam sitting on top as the iced cappuccino.

I tried several iced milky coffees and they were all enjoyable. Ultimately apart from temperature, the cold drinks are just as customisable as the hot drinks, so you can tweak the strength as well as the coffee and milk volumes, to get your cooling iced coffee just how you like it.

It does also dispense cold frothed milk without coffee, which can be used to create other non-coffee drinks with syrups for children for example. There’s even a cold babyccino on the menu.

Hot water

When the milk carafe is removed, the spout doubles as a hot water dispenser. You can select 100-300ml when dispensing hot water. 300ml was about right for my favourite mug and it took about 90 seconds.

Hot water on the medium temperature setting was only 75C, so a bit cool for most types of tea. On the high temperature setting I was disappointed that it didn’t get much hotter, the water in the mug was almost 80C.

Most of us Brits wouldn’t consider ditching the trusty kettle and getting all of our hot water from a coffee machine, so with that in mind it’s a decent temperature to top up a coffee, or to make a fruit or herbal tea.

Using the App

I think the app is absolutely worth downloading and connecting to. It offers additional features and settings. But for me, I just don’t automatically reach for my phone when I want to make a coffee, so I rarely selected my coffee and started brewing via the app. Let’s not forget you still need to place a cup under the spout and attach the milk carafe, so it’s usually simpler to use the touchscreen.

What's it like to clean?

After pouring a milk based drink, it didn’t automatically prompt me to rinse the milk dispenser, which is unusual for an automatic coffee machine. Most other machines I’ve reviewed are quite insistent in prompting you to do this. So to rinse it, I had to go into the settings and select the milk carafe rinse, which is a bit more long winded.

On the plus side, the milk carafes are really quick and easy to rinse clean under the tap. I like that there are no fiddly tubes to clean out. They come apart easily into three pieces and are some of the easiest to clean that I've come across.

The coffee spouts are automatically rinsed when the machine switches off, so ideally you need to leave a cup or container under the spout, otherwise it makes a mess of the shiny metal drip tray area.

You can choose whether it also rinses during the start-up/ warm-up phase. I switched this on because I like it to get a rinse before it dispenses the first coffee of the day, but as I stated earlier, this does increase the initial start up time to just over a minute.

Other regular cleaning tasks include emptying out the grinds and the drip tray. And then there are the less frequent tasks like rinsing the brew unit or descaling the whole machine.

As with most functions on this machine, the clear on-screen instructions and prompts will guide you through these cleaning processes, so nothing is ever too tricky or confusing. I ran the descaling programme, it took 20 minutes from start to finish, but was very easy.

How does it compare to competitors?

The De’Longhi Rivelia is still one of my favourite automatic bean to cup machines. In contrast to this model, it offers a smaller footprint on your counter and a more paired back coffee menu. It makes a great coffee, is easy to use, and can also produce some cold coffee recipes. Its RRP is only £100 cheaper though.

The Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro is an Ideal Home favourite, and you should look in this direction if you want an all-singing all-dancing machine that’s a tad more affordable. The trade-off is that it's semi-automatic, meaning you have to get a bit more involved, but not quite to the level of a manual espresso machine.

Should you buy the Philips Café Aromis Series 8000?

If you’re a household of two adults who each drink the same coffee day in day out, then you really won’t get the most from this machine. It’s designed for coffee lovers who enjoy switching up drinks with the seasons, and for larger households where everyone's varied choices are catered for.

There’s a particular joy in scrolling through the menus and sampling different coffees. You won’t get the same feeling from an espresso machine or pod machine. And simplicity is one of its key strengths, it’s effortless to navigate the choices, create the various coffees, and customise settings.

That said, the price is a potential stumbling block and hardcore espresso lovers would do better with a more traditional style espresso machine. Meanwhile, if you’re particular about your milk froth and want the option of froth free milk or silky microfoams, this isn’t the machine for you.

Whether you subscribe to astrology or not, you'll likely know that your birth month has a colour associated with it. From January through to December, there's a birthstone, linked to a specific colour, that encapsulates the time of your birth and you can use it throughout your home to hyper-personalise your surroundings.

As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, I love applying my birth month colour to the small details in my coffee station to give it that personal touch – namely with my choice of mug.

If you too want to adorn your coffee machine with mugs that speak to your birth month, then I've rounded up 12 picks in the perfect shades for birthstones.

Of course, personalising your home with your birthstone colour doesn't have to stop in the kitchen – we've in fact got an entire guide to decorating with your tailor made shade.

And our Sleep Editor Amy has put together a wonderful selection of birth month bedding if you want to refresh your sheets and go bold with colour. I'm definitely going to be looking up my birth month colour palette for decorating inspiration!

The Smeg name has been synonymous with stylish kitchen appliances for many years now in the UK, but in Italy, the brand's heritage and influence stretch back much further.

That's something I learned first-hand last week on a trip to Smeg's incredibly impressive HQ, based in northern Italy, where I got access to a treasure trove of trademark pastel kitchen appliances.

As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor (and owner of a beloved Smeg toaster and kettle set), the part of the tour I most enjoyed was glimpsing all of the now-discontinued or limited edition pieces from Smeg's collection – many of which are now extremely rare.

As well as Smeg bean-to-cup machines and even air fryers in a palette of gorgeous colours, these were the Smeg appliances from the HQ that I was totally enchanted by on my trip – and I think you will be too!

1. A Barbie pink hidden dishwasher

I'm usually so busy reviewing small appliances that I don't have time to appreciate all of the wonderful large versions out there, but there was one thing on my tour of Smeg HQ that caught my eye immediately.

This Barbie pink waist-height appliance is masquerading as a fridge with its retro door, lettering and handle but behind the facade you'll find a compact washing machine and sink set up that would complete any quirky pink kitchen scheme.

If the Barbie dream house was fitted with a washing machine, this would most certainly be it.

First released in 2006, this washing machine has become a cult collector's item – and for good reason. If your home isn't big enough for a utility room, you have to get inventive with hiding your washing machine instead and this compact buy solves that problem in real style.

The inside of the outer door also has two hidden storage compartments, so there's even more of an incentive with this machine if you love things being neatly tucked away.

As Smeg moved away from large freestanding appliances to focus on built-in units and those kettles, toasters and coffee machines that we all know and love, they stopped making this popular pink machine. But luckily they kept the much-loved colourway, so if you do want to add a pop of pink these are the Smeg buys we've tried you can buy it in.

2. Smeg x Fiat 500 drinks fridge

Next up is a true centrepiece, one that you can find in Smeg's HQ in Italy and London, that I'm sure will make you do a double take. The Smeg x Fiat 500 Drinks Fridge features the front half of a 50s version of this classic Italian car.

But underneath the bonnet, rather than finding an engine, you'll find a swish mini fridge that is more than capable of holding enough drinks to throw a fabulous party.

This very pricey design collaboration between these two Italian powerhouses was never a mainstream commercial product sold to consumers, but it still holds a huge charm when you see it in person.

It's not just Smeg HQ where you can find one of these fridges, although they are exceptionally rare. So if you do spot one out in the wild, you can impressive everyone with your knowledge of this cult classic design piece.

3. Snoopy & Disney special editions

One corner of Smeg's Italian showroom is dedicated to the brand's best known creation: the iconic single door retro 50s style fridge. And while I was perusing all of the styles and colours, I noticed two very different versions.

The first was a fridge with Disney's very recognisable Mickey Mouse plastered across it, closely placed near another that featured character Snoopy, from the American cartoon strip Peanuts.

So what's the story behind these cartoon-inspired fridges? The Disney collection came first, released in 2018, and saw the creation of 90 Mickey Mouse inspired fridges – one to celebrate every year since Mickey's inception. It was a huge hit with customers, and the extremely low number of fridges made mean this is a big time collector's item.

Following in the footsteps of Mickey's success, Snoopy's mini fridge was released in 2020 (and then re-released in 2022) and uses the backdrop of the Smeg fridge door as a cartoonist's easel. If you were to find either of these fridges in the wild these days, they would definitely fetch a pretty penny.

It wasn't just the archive that I got a glimpse of at Smeg's HQ – I was also wowed by the brand's new and wonderfully sleek Isola range, which features induction hobs and cooker hoods.

Combining old cult classics and new cutting edge appliances, it seems there's so much more from Smeg still to come and I for one can't wait to see what's next!

This week, the coveted Ninja Creami is landing in Lidl’s middle aisle, but before you rush off to your local store, I’ve found the summer must-have appliance cheaper at both Amazon and John Lewis.

Landing in stores on Sunday (24 May), Lidl will be stocking the much-loved Ninja Creami (which we've reviewed) for a limited time. And it couldn’t have come at a better time, as the UK expects a heat wave to hit over the weekend.

If you haven’t already discovered the joy of making your own ice cream at home, I’d say it’s time to get to know it. But as always, if you plan to head to Lidl, you'd better be quick, as when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Lidl is undoubtedly known for its middle-aisle bargains, which range from the weird to the wonderful and everything in between. Most recently, their chic Lidl sun lounger, which looks like it came straight from the grounds of a posh hotel, made a bid to be the best sun lounger you could buy this summer.

Now, the budget supermarket is welcoming The Ninja Creami, and it’s perfect if you’re looking to whip up healthier ice-creams this summer. The Ninja Creami was first reviewed by our Digital Editor,Rebecca Knight, back in 2023. Impressed, she even commented in the review that friends and family had to stage a ‘mini-intervention’ to stop her from raving about the appliance.

Producing creamy homemade ice-creams, sorbets, smoothie bowls and milkshakes, this sleek appliance went viral after its launch. It looks more like a blender compared to a traditional ice-cream maker and works completely differently, requiring you to freeze your mixture before churning. Plus, with an abundance of ‘healthy’ protein-packed recipes on social media, it became a quick favourite with the health-obsessed, too.

The Creami usually retails for around £199.99, and Lidl is selling it for £159. However, it's also on sale for even less than that right now at Amazon and John Lewis.

So, on this occasion, Lidl is to be beaten on price. Because of this, if you’re looking to snap up the Ninja Creami, I’d suggest buying now while it is on sale, as these are the best prices I can find.

Or, if you’d like something a little brighter, you should consider opting for the pastel Ninja Creami’s, which provide a sure way to add a splash of colour to your kitchen ideas. These Creamis are not on sale, costing £199.99 at Ninja. Right now, the stunning Spiced Lemon Meringue and Sugared Blueberry Apricot are available.

Alternatively, here are a few more affordable ice-cream makers.

In this instance, we say don’t head to Lidl - snap up the Ninja Creami while it is on sale at Amazon and John Lewis.

KitchenAid has unveiled a compact line of coffee machines, each of which is smaller and more affordable than the brand's first ever range.

Though the names might not be the most inspiring, I think there's plenty to get excited about with the KF2, KF3 and KF4 – all of which are fully-automatic bean-to-cup machines – ranging in price from £699 to £899.

While KitchenAid is a name we all know best in relation to the best stand mixers, the brand's first coffee machine collection, released in September 2024, was an immediate hit. Here at Ideal Home our expert reviewers tried the semi automatic machine and the ultra-expensive KF8 from the line to great acclaim. Here's what this new, more affordable range is offering up.

KitchenAid's coffee machine naming convention may be confusing but the bottom line with these machines is that there's something for a whole range of budgets.

If you've been dreaming of a KitchenAid machine thanks to those lush clean lines and hidden elements and you don't mind steaming your own milk (or learning how to) then you're in luck as the most affordable machine here is perfect for you. That's the KF2, which is also stunningly compact for small kitchens.

25% smaller than the original collection, these machines all measure up at 19.5W cm x 36H cm x 47D cm. At less than 20cm wide, this makes this a fabulous machine for slotting into tight spaces on a worktop. And as the KF2 doesn't have any external milk components, it works for cosy spaces even better.

The other big difference with the KF2 compared to the other machines in the series is that it has six presets where the KF3 and KF4 have 15 and 20 respectively. The KF2, which would be a good match for a black coffee drinker, can make the following drinks: Espresso, Americano, Coffee (Long), Lungo, Iced Espresso, and Iced Coffee.

If the allure of an automatic machine is that can make coffee and froth milk for you then you're looking at the KF3 and KF4, which come with the 'AutoMilk System'. Using a hose system to make frothy drinks at the touch of a button, this unlocks a whole other set of hands-free drinks from cappuccinos to flat whites.

The KF3 and KF4 also have the added benefit of iced, frothy drinks with the latter also featuring a larger touchscreen and three more hot drinks on offer: Cortado, Doppio, and Galao.

It's important to note that the KF3 model, the mid-range machine, only comes with KitchenAid's milk hose – not the carafe you get with the KF4. Plus, while the KF3 only has two user profiles the KF4 has double that – in case you wanted to use this as your family coffee machine.

If it's a coffee machine for a small space you're looking for then I think this KitchenAid version might be the best looking compact pick out there. Also announced for release this week was the very trendy Fellow Series One Espresso machine, if you're more of a coffee aficionado.

I'm hoping we can put both to the test sometime soon to see how the coffee fares, too!

Whether you're a seasoned camper or a good-weather hiker, a portable coffee brewer can go a long way to make your time in the great outdoors a little more enjoyable.

That's the idea behind OXO's new duo: the Manual Coffee Grinder (£38 at Amazon) and Rapid Brewer (£45, also at Amazon). Compact, lightweight and without fuss, this set should be able to help you make a quality cup of coffee without one of the best coffee machines, even when you're on the go.

I gave OXO's newest launchest to Ideal Home's resident walking and camping enthusiast editor Amy to test out for me to see if it can live up to the claim that it can help you make the 'perfect cup, anytime, anywhere, in 5 minutes or less'. Here's how she got on with it.

The brand most will associate with the portable coffee scene is Aeropress. We tried a whole host of them last year to see which came out on top with prices ranging from premium (around £150) to around the £30 mark.

OXO's new range is a similarly affordable one, with the set coming in under £85 and allowing you to grind and brew a coffee on the go.

There are plenty of use cases for one of these brewers including for camping, hiking and mobile homes. Or for if you just want a low-effort at-home brewing system without having to invest in a coffee machine. For our tester Amy, the quality of the coffee she could make when out and about was important.

'The one (extremely privileged) downside of having a top-notch coffee machine at home, is that as soon as I leave my own home - and if I’m not anywhere near a barista coffee shop - the coffee quality plummets,' says Amy.

'The OXO rapid brewer changes all that as it allows me to make my own fresh coffee anywhere, and thanks to the grinder,' she continues 'I can even grind fresh beans without even needing to be anywhere near an electrical socket.'

For Amy, this compact duo is therefore perfect for camping. As for how each is to use, Amy says that 'the grinder takes a little elbow grease to turn the handle and manually grind your beans, but, in my opinion, that effort just makes the final result taste better'.

The rapid brewer element, which has a capacity of 160ml, was also a hit with Amy.

'The rapid brewer can be used with hot or cold water, which is perfect if you don’t have the means to heat water. Plus a cold brew only takes five minutes of waiting before you can untwist the manual pump and extract your fresh coffee.'

It's a thumbs-up from Amy for this affordable duo then, but she's not the only one who can see the bright side of this portable coffee maker. From 971 reviews, at the time of writing, this OXO brewer has a 4.5/5 score with many commenting on its portability and quality.

One reviewer said that it's an 'amazing way to make great tasting coffee reliably and easily'. You can't say fairer than that!

This week has seen a whole host of new coffee launches, from Fellow's new espresso machine to KitchenAid's new slimline range, so if you're on the hunt for a better coffee set up then there's plenty to choose from.

Deep and rich colours such as burgundy reds, soft beiges and even moody purples have become a big breakout kitchen colour trend this year, and KitchenAid has jumped on the bandwagon with the colours of its new upgraded Artisan Plus Tilt-Head 4.7L Stand Mixer.

The new addition to KitchenAid's line-up of the best stand mixers has an RRP of £699, and is available in five new gorgeous colours: Sun Dried Tomato, Oat, Mint Julep, Wild Blueberry and Iron Ore. It also comes in the classic shades: Porcelain White, Juniper, Medallion Silver, Feather Pink, Cast Iron Black and Pebbled Palm.

But the colours aren't the only update. The new design also boasts extra handy features to make it easier to bake your favourite treats, including an interior bowl light, which means you'll always easily be able to see the ingredients in your bowl, down to the very bottom, no matter whether you're mixing at 9 AM or 9 PM.

I swear by my stand mixer (a Kenwood). It's one of those appliances that's a bit like Marmite — you either use it loads, and couldn't live without yours, or it sits in a cupboard getting dusty until it's someone's birthday. Mine is used once a week, so I'm firmly in the camp that a good stand mixer, like the KitchenAid Artisan, is worth the investment.

An integrated bowl light might not sound like a major development, but my Kenwood stand mixer has an integrated light, and I can vouch for its convenience when checking that your ingredients are properly mixed. Gone are the days of having to use my phone flashlight to peer into the bowl.

The new Kitchenaid Artisan Plus also offers 2 speed control modes and 11 preset speeds, all of which are easy to navigate. It offers a 1⁄2 fold speed to gently incorporate your ingredients once first added to the bowl, which makes for less mess on your worktops.

Paired with a 4.7L bowl with a precision-welded handle, each of these stand mixers comes with stainless steel accessories — a dough hook, a wire whisk, plus a double flex-edge beater with silicone edges and a flat beater. Yes, these are all dishwasher-safe (including the bowl) and better yet: they're all rust-resistant, too.

We're big KitchenAid fans here at Ideal Home, having rated the classic KitchenAid Artisan Mixer a 4.5/5 star rating in our review.

It's safe to say that a KitchenAid is a great way to add a pop of colour to your kitchen worktops — albeit an expensive one. If you can afford to treat yourself to one of these new designs, then why not? Right now, I need to stick with my trusty Kenwood Stand Mixer, which is admittedly an incredible piece of kit, but it's not the most aesthetically pleasing appliance around.

Did any of these fancy colourways convince you to upgrade?

From pier-dwelling sea lions to self-driving taxis, there are plenty of things native to San Francisco that you just can't get in London – but there’s about to be one less, thanks to the UK launch of Fellow's Series 1 espresso machine.

Now available from Harrods for £1,299, this striking coffee machine is absolutely beloved across the pond after dropping last year. It's made by prestige coffee brand Fellow, which is on a mission to deliver professional-grade coffee for home brewers.

I'm fresh from a trip to the Bay Area, where I saw first-hand the California café culture that Fellow embodies, and I have to say I'm excited about the launch of this machine that will no doubt be vying for the title of best coffee machine out there.

Whether you're a coffee nerd or a total novice, there's plenty to get stuck into with this incredibly impressive machine.

If you love the sleek minimalistic look of this machine but aren't clued up on the coffee side the first thing to know is that this is an espresso maker, but it is not an all-in-one bean-to-cup coffee machine as you might find from Sage or Ninja.

This separation of the grinder is very much by design, as real coffee aficionados believe that heat from the boiler of espresso machines can negatively affect the freshness of coffee beans, preferring a separate set-up for both.

That means you'll need a separate grinder for your at-home coffee set up if you want the freshest cup possible. In our extensive search for the best coffee grinder, Fellow's Ode (£245 at Coffee Friend) came out exceptionally well after testing.

One of the USPs of this machine is its Boosted Boiler System, which 'uses three independent heating elements to maintain temperature stability within a single degree' and can heat the machine to an optimal temperature in just two minutes. So if you're more of a rush-around in the mornings than you'd like to be, you can use this machine in a hurry.

Though designed for coffee enthusiasts, there's also plenty of helpful tech built-in to this machine if you love how it'll look in your kitchen but lack the barista know-how straight off the bat. Within its digital system it has a guided mode that can direct you as to how to pull your perfect espresso shot as well as a way of giving feedback to users on how to improve their coffee.

Getting the perfect texture and temperature can be the thing that stands between at-home beginner baristas and the perfect latte and luckily, milk frothing is another base covered with this machine.

It has an automated, temperature-sensing Smart Steam Wand built-in. This will stop working once your milk has reached its optimal temperature, so that you can use the microfoam for your latte art.

If space is at a premium in your kitchen, there's the benefit of this machine fitting neatly underneath standard kitchen cupboards too. It's short and deep as opposed to tall and bulky like other bean-to-cup machines can be, with customisable elements and colours also available.

If you're a coffee connoisseur, then Fellow's range of café-worthy products are absolutely worth your attention – our in-house coffee expert absolutely loved the brand's filter coffee machine Aiden when he tried it too.

Or if you love the look of this machine but feel less enthused about the price tag, here's a look at similar design-led alternatives with a similar feel.

Though I'm missing San Francisco's coffee scene already, this week sees the arrival of two exciting things: KitchenAid's new coffee machine and the London Coffee Festival coming into town – I can't wait to see the gems and new launches on show there.

Dualit just became the latest homeware brand to release an ice cream maker with a difference – with it there are no requirements for pre-freezing and you can use it to whip up slushies as adeptly as a gelato.

This shiny new machine, which comes from the heritage British brand known for its appliances 'created for a lifetime of use', will be available to buy from the 1st of June for £349.99 (via Dualit).

Having tried many of the best ice cream makers in the last few years, as well as a whole host of slushie machines, including the Ninja Slushi, I've noticed one thing about the slew of new ice cream makers on the scene: they're perfect for impatient people.

Where previously you'd need to pre-freeze your ice cream ingredients for a period of time (sometimes up to 24 hours), Dualit's new machine allows you to complete the entire process in under 30 minutes.

Dualit is arguably best known for its toaster and kettle sets – after trying dozens, I awarded the brand the accolade of the best matching set in our buying guide – but this expansion into ice cream makers is indicative of the growing popularity of at-home entertaining appliances.

And this ice cream makers USP, the fact that it involves no preparation time, is a huge bonus to anyone looking to spruce up their next dinner party or BBQ. As the cost of dining and drinking out steadily rises, there seems to be a growing appetite for appliances that can allow you to make treats at home.

The Dualit Ice Cream Maker features the following modes: Ice Cream, Gelato and Sorbet, Frozen Yoghurt, Slushies, Cooling mode and Manual stirring.

The option to manually stir the ice cream is said by Dualit to be to 'allow users to refine texture and consistency depending on the recipe'. There's also an interlock lid, which allows you to add in all sorts of additional ingredients including chocolate chips, fruit or nuts – all while the machine is still churning.

You can keep your ice cream creation perfectly frozen for 30-60 minutes with this machine too, which would be absolutely perfect for when hosting a dinner party.

Dualit isn't the first to try its hand at perfecting the at-home frozen treats maker. Recently we've reviewed a version from Cuisinart, the FrostFusion, which can create soft serve dispensed in a style that will make you nostalgic for the Pizza Hut Ice Cream Factory of your youth (or certainly of mine).

Add to that the fact that GreenPan has also recently released their take on proceedings with the Frost Ice Maker (which features a holder for ice cream cones!) as well as Russell Hobbs entering with the Chilluxe and you can see that there's plenty of competition in the market at the moment. Here's a closer look at the other no-pre-freeze machines released in 2026.

If you just can't wait for June to try Dualit's version, then there are plenty of worthwhile sweet treat makers around to keep yourself refreshed in the meantime but I'm definitely excited to see how this excellent British brand puts their stamp on ice cream!

Salter, one of the oldest homeware brands in the UK, has released its alternative to Ninja's sellout Slushi machine, just in time for the summer weather. It's brand new Slushie Maker, retailing for £179.99 via Salter's website, is capable of turning drinks of your choice into slush in as little as 30 minutes and boasts an impressive 2.5 litre capacity.

I tried a fair few slushie makers last summer, my favourite of them all being the Ninja Slushi, but affordability is a huge factor for people thinking of investing in this type of appliance designed for entertaining.

That's why Salter's version, with its £179.99 price tag, as opposed to the Ninja Slushi's £299.99 RRP, might be very appealing to some. Here's a closer look at this cut-price alternative.

These two machines have the exact same capacity of 2.5 litres, but I'm guessing that before you get to how much you can slush, you're more interested in the programs of these machines as you weigh them up.

It's here again that both of these machines match up. Both have 5 programs, Slush, Frappé, Cocktail, Milkshake, Juice.

So far, so similar. It'll be in the time taken to achieve your desired level of slush that I'm predicting these machines may slightly differ. When I've tried the Ninja Slushi in the past, the process takes place very quickly to get your drink frozen – for me, it's never taken more than 30 minutes.

Salter advertise that their machine can also take as little as 30 minutes, so I'll be intrigued to put that to the test to see exactly how look it takes compared to Ninja's version.

In terms of size, these two again measure up very similarly, with considerable storage space needed if you want to stash one of these machines away when not in use. The design stakes of each machine are pretty different, with Ninja's version having more to offer in terms of colourways and sizes.

This is Salter's first foray into slushies, with just one model available so far whilst Ninja have just launched an XL and MAX versions of their bestselling Slushi machine, which are perfect for those who love catering to a crowd, as well as a slew of different colourways.

Right now you can snap up the Ninja Slushi MAX in a neutral cool-toned Mocha colour, whilst superfans are desperate for the brand to restock the OG size in the viral Stone shade. Last year Ninja also released very popular pastel versions, which had two-tone accents across the machine.

With either of these machines hosting and cooling down on a hot summer's day will be a lot more enjoyable this summer (as I found out last year!), so now all you need to do is decide whether you're going to save or splurge on your slushie machine.

Kenwood just unveiled an £149 indoor pizza oven, called My Pizzeria, which can reach temperatures of up to 400°C inside. Available now, exclusively at Currys, it'll later be rolled out for customers to buy via Kenwood, Argos and Amazon.

Not only is it available for a bargain price, but this oven also has an extremely compact footprint meaning it's small kitchen certified. And if you've seen or tried other iterations of the best pizza ovens before, you'll know they aren't necessarily known for being unassuming.

Available to snap up in a Storm Blue or Black colourway this oven can help you cook at-home pizzas in under 4 minutes, according to Kenwood. Here's how it manages such a feat.

Let's get into the measurements of My Pizzeria so that you can establish whether this oven is something you'll have any space for, given that it may spend a good chunk of time in storage. This oven measures at 35.2cm across, 36cm deep and 18.5cm tall. That means it might even be stash-able in one of your bigger kitchen cupboards.

As well as a heat element on the bottom of this oven, to heat the all-important pizza stone, it also looks like it has a grill element on the top so that your toppings are also perfectly done. The pizza stone, which is what will activate that crispy base that all good pizzas have, is also removable – presumably to make it easier to clean.

Another feature I like the sound of is the viewing window, which sits on top of the machine, in order to allow you to track the progress of your pizza without disturbing it. It also features a 15 minute timer, so that you'll be reminded when your creation is ready to eat.

In terms of controls, it uses a dial system to keep things simple in terms of setting the temperature and time of cooking for each pizza. There's a huge appeal with this oven in the fact that you can use it indoors. As someone not privileged enough to have my own garden, this fits my circumstances perfectly as well as suiting those with balconies.

I've tried an indoor pizza oven before, Ooni's Volt 2, which is an incredible piece of kit but rather big and bulky at the same time. This new buy from Kenwood is quite a different approach, but can hopefully make owning a pizza oven a reality for those who are on a budget and lacking a garden.

I'm certainly excited to see how it measures up under test condition!

If you're a Ninja mega-fan, the brand's newest collaboration with global ambassador David Beckham might already be on your radar. But if you're new to this bestselling coffee machine altogether then you're in for a treat – as this limited-edition buy really has combined the best of both worlds.

The OG Ninja Luxe Café Pro is hands-down one of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines I've ever tried and now, I've got my hands on David Beckham's brand new version for a closer look at the finer details.

This was already a five-star machine, as per my review from last year, and now it's had a serious glow-up with a trendy new colourway and subtle design tweaks. Here's what's new with David Beckham's shiny new version.

1. It's fingerprint proof

In behind the scenes footage of David Beckham designing his version of the Luxe Café Pro, you can see him scrutinising the original machine and its stainless steel exterior. Whilst examining swatches of material, he points out that the original shiny finish of the machine would be a problem for his everyday coffee routine.

'My problem with that' he says, 'is fingerprints'. It's an issue that I've found time and time again with stainless steel machines, including the original Luxe Café that I reviewed.

That's why David's edition features a different finish altogether, with a matte exterior that will keep marks and scuffs easily at bay. It's certainly been easier in a short window of time to keep clean!

2. It features a wood grain portafilter

A good, weighty portafilter is usually the sign of a great coffee machine. That was definitely the case with the original Luxe Café, which features a stainless steel version that's pleasing to pull an espresso shot with day-to-day.

But as this is the David Beckham version, obviously the portafilter needed to be a little more elevated than usual. After all, he said this machine was created by 'drawing inspiration from the natural materials of the English countryside' and it seems the Cotswold effect is in full swing with this natural, pared-back portafilter made from ebony wood.

It's a design quirk that's carried through to the handle of the milk jug too. This is another one of the central touch-points of the machine, which you use in order to make the best of the automatic milk frothing features, so it feels like a premium tie in to have it match up with the portafilter.

For Sage, one of Ninja's biggest coffee machine competitors, accessories with this natural wood look have already been a huge hit. The brand's Craft Premium Espresso Accessories (from £69.96 via Sage) are finished in walnut.

3. A shiny new colourway

The mix of matte chrome black and gold accents with this machine makes it a real standout in terms of colour. Since the dawn of the Luxe Café in 2024 there's been a selection of colours released, but this is the first to combine an all-over colour with different accents. It certainly makes David Beckham's version a real eyecatcher.

In terms of other available colours, Ninja released matte black and matte navy versions of this machine in September 2025, while Gunmetal, which is a shiny grey version, soon followed. There's been no foray into white or pastels with this machine yet, which I'm desperate to see, though US Ninja customers did just get access to a limited edition Raspberry Blush pink version.

Here's to hoping we see more from Ninja's partnership with David Beckham this year in the coffee realm, or at least some more colourways for all styles of kitchen!

Clever wouldn't usually be the first adjective that springs to mind when you think of a coffee machine but that's exactly what the De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic is, with a flurry of features to make your at-home barista experience completely seamless.

I got to try out this seriously kitted out coffee machine at the Ideal Home test centre to explore its huge drinks menu and see if its worthy of joining the ranks of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines out there. Here's how I got on.

In a nutshell

The price tag of this machine takes it beyond what you might call an investment level purchase and more into wishlist terrority. At over £1000, it's a seriously pricey appliance.

What you get for that exorbitant sum is a very impressive machine. Highlights include De'Longhi's integrated BeanAdapt technology, which runs a program of automatic calibration to get the best from your chosen beans, as well as an interface that responds to your everyday coffee choices by prioritising your favourite drinks at certain times of the day.

For black coffee lovers or for latte obsessives there's a lot to love. The drinks menu is equipped with all manner of drinks in a variety of lengths and strengths as well as milk frothing like I've never experienced. It textures milk in a deliciously silky way for cappuccinos and caffe lattes that are as good as you'll get in an expensive coffee shop. The separate milk carafe for cold milk frothing would be just exquisite for the warmer months too.

Product specs

• Coffee machine type: Automatic bean-to-cup
• Dimensions: 26.2 cm (width), 40.7 cm (height), 46.3 cm (depth)
• Coffee options: 38 pre-set recipes (iced and hot)
• Water tank capacity: 2.2L
• Pressure: 19 Bar
• Weight: 12.6 kg
• Colourways: Stainless steel finish
• RRP: £1,549

Who tested this coffee machine?

Getting started & first impressions

There's no learning curve with a machine this kitted out as the process is made so painlessly simple for you. Once you've unboxed it and set it up, you just need to follow the instructions on the screen to calibrate its settings.

You'll waste a small amount of beans and get through at least 4 espressos in the process of tweaking the machine's settings but this only needs to be done once and is very much worth it.

Getting to grips with the Bean Adapt technology is the most important step for me. Usually with an espresso machine you'll need to turn a dial to get the grind size for your beans just right. With the Primadonna, in-built software takes this manual step out of your hands with the process beginning by creating a profile for the coffee beans you pop into the hopper.

From here, you answer different questions on the machine's touchscreen on the bean type and roast level which the program then uses to adjust various settings including the grind size and brewing temperature.

This isn't where the feedback ends. Once your coffee has been made, the machine will ask you for your opinion on how it dispensed as well as how it tasted. If you answer these, the machine will go even further to make the necessary changes to make the coffee more suitable the next time around. You can run this program as many times as you like to get your perfect brew.

As for first impressions, there's no getting around it: this machine is big and bulky. But its still stylishly done somehow, with its gleaming stainless steel exterior and large, engaging touch screen. One of the things I really like about this machine is that the water tank pulls out from the front, so that if you put it underneath a cupboard you don't have to grapple with it every time you need to refill. It's all programmed from the front, which is excellent for everyday use.

What is it like to use?

Unless you're a black coffee drinker, the next thing you'll want to know about in terms of use is how to pick drinks and froth milk. For me, this is the best element of this machine.

The touchscreen is genuinely a pleasure to use. It displays the machine's menu in full colour, with engaging illustrations and visualisations of any steps you need to take.

It pools the types of drinks into two categories: iced and hot. You can then browse your options by swiping across the screen.

There are over 38 preset drinks on offer. And if there's something you like hot then you'll also be able to find it in the cold menu, which can lead to lots of fun drinks experimentation. I imagine it's also very fun to show off to guests.

Once you've selected your drink (let's say a cappuccino) then you can customise it even further by tweaking the intensity, size and temperature of your beverage. If you've chosen a milk-based drinks, the next thing you'll need to do is attach your milk carafe to the front of the machine. The gamechanging feature with the Primadonna Aromatic is the two milk carafes – one for iced drinks and one for hot.

On each of the carafes there's a dial which enables you to set your drink up as dictated by the machine. For a cappuccino, for example, you might want to set the dial to level 3 for maximum froth. It's a seamless system which allows for a huge range of different froths for various drinks and the combination of steam, air and milk within the carafes does such a gorgeous job. It's also as good for plant milks as it is for normal milk – and that is no mean feat.

What's the coffee like?

I started simple with my tests, opting for a hot cappuccino. I'd already had a good run through with the black coffees whilst I was tweaking the espressos as part of the BeanAdapt tech and was keen to get onto how the milk frothing was with this machine.

To make a cappucino you need to take the black milk carafe and plug it in to the front of the machine. De'Longhi recommends keeping the carafes with milk in them in the fridge so that they're always ready to go at the right temperature.

The espresso dispenses from the spouts attached to the main body of the machine after the milk has been frothed. The resulting drink had such a pleasing look of many layers and tasted divine. The frothing with this machine and similar De'Longhi's is so impressive.

Next I tried an iced caffe latte, which meant swapping out the milk frother carafe and turning the dial that sits on the top. I also filled a double walled glass with ice, which you'll need to do for all of the cold drinks to have the maximum drinking experience.

With the iced latte the espresso dispenses first followed by the cold milk foam. The hot coffee hitting the ice does melt some of it, which is why it's important to have a full glass. By adding the milk second with this drink, the classic layered look that's usually reserved for coffee shop drinks is easily achieved.

Next I moved onto trying out the cold brew function, which works pretty differently to the iced caffee latte. While the latter dispenses a hot espresso over ice, the cold brew setting uses room temperature water and low pressure. This means it takes a little longer for your coffee to dispense (a couple of minutes as opposed to a few seconds) and it gives it a different taste profile too which is less acidic than normal coffee.

It's a seamless experience to try out a cold brew with this machine and it takes less than 3 minutes from start to finish to replicate a process which usually takes 24 hours (steeping coffee grounds in cold water). The taste is less intense than coffee and more suitable for sipping all day in hot weather and this machine does a great job of it.

Cleaning

Extensive cleaning can put people off bean-to-cup machines in a big way. But with the Primadonna, the process is made as easy as it can be (which adds up given the price tag).

Standout cleaning features include the ease of refreshing the milk carafes after you've used them (you just turn the dial to 'clean' before you put it back into the fridge) as well as the reminders to empty the empty grounds tray (which conveniently pulls out from the front).

The big jobs, like descaling, are also prompted to you by the touch screen complete with in-depth instructions. The machine also self-rinses to keep you from having to perform that separately.

How does it compare to similar models?

The De'Longhi Rivelia is one of the best-loved coffee machines we've ever tried here at Ideal Home as per our expert home economist's five star review. You can find it on sale for under £600 and it boasts many of the things I love about this machine too including BeanAdpat tech and hands-free milk frothing. It also has two interchangable bean hoppers so that you can enjoy decaf coffee in the afternoons. If you're on more of a budget, it's an easy pick.

Should you buy the De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic?

If you're looking for a best-in-class automatic coffee machine and budget is no object, then what are you waiting for? This machine is unbelievably kitted out and the enjoyment you'll get from using it, as well as the calibre of drinks, will blow you away. It's ultra-capable.

If you're saving up for a De'Longhi or similar, while this machine might be out of your budget there's plenty from the same brand offering phenomenal quality for far less – check out the Rivelia as your first port of call.

You've probably already heard of an ice cream maker. They're similar to the ones you catch a glimpse of through your local ice cream van's window, just a little more worktop — and budget — friendly.

In the main, there are two types of ice cream makers to choose from. Pre-freeze ice cream makers only churn the ice cream once it has been frozen in your freezer. Self-freeze machines do all of the work for you — simply add your ingredients and it'll freeze and churn them into ice cream, fast.

I've tested both, and when it comes to convenience, a self-freeze machine is second-to-none. Specifically, the Cuisinart Frost Fusion Ice Cream Maker is great as it's multi-functional and can also make frozen drinks.

I've been using this Cuisinart ice cream maker in my kitchen for the best part of a month now. I've used all of the 6 preset programs, from sorbet to frozen wine — yes, it's seriously versatile! And here are my honest thoughts. Firstly, be sure to consider where it will live before you invest, as although it's slim, it's tall, so it needs some worktop space.

In a nutshell

If you want an ice cream maker that's multi-purpose, this is your girl. It can make slushies, sorbet and ice cream. And it's easy to clean afterwards, thanks to its self-clean cycle. While testing, we made one of each drink/dessert type, so 6 things in total, and I came to the conclusion that it manages to freeze drinks better than desserts (soft serve and sorbet), while the lower the alcohol content in those drinks, the more they froze.

The fastest the machine worked while testing was 14 minutes, and that was to make frappuccinos. We also noted that the serving sizes noted on the recipes in the manual were a little off — you can pretty much half the servings.

All in all, it's intuitive, looks great on your kitchen worktop, and it's a steal considering it can make much more than ice cream. It also keeps drinks frozen for up to 16 hours, and for ice cream, it can keep for 30 minutes.

Specifications

• Model number: ICE201U
• Pre-freeze or self-freeze: Self-freeze
• Accessories: Drip tray, star tip (for soft-serve)
• Functions: 6 - Soft Serve Ice Cream, Slushy, Sorbet, Frappe and Frosé
• Settings: 5 frozen levels (not applicable for ice cream or sorbet)
• Dimensions (cm): H45 x W18 x D47cm
• Bowl capacity: 1.6L

Unboxing the Cuisinart Frost Fusion Ice Cream Maker

While the box that this ice cream maker arrived in was sizable, it was easy enough for me to carry. It wasn't too heavy, so I managed to pick it up and lift it onto my worktop without needing any help.

Upon opening the box, I was impressed with the lack of packaging. There were two cardboard inserts to keep the machine from rattling around; otherwise, the only other packaging was a plastic bag. This bag was recyclable (02 HDPE) and wrapped around the main unit.

The star tip comes separately and isn't initially attached to the machine. You'll find info in the manual for fitting it to the machine, but this part is only for use when in soft serve mode.

First of all, you need to wash all of its removable parts in soapy water and dry them before first use. Otherwise, all that's needed to assemble the machine is to attach the removable drip tray, which is simple. Then you need to slide the auger inside the machine and fit the dispenser assembly and paddle onto the front of it. It's clear how to do this as there are arrows and lock symbols to show where it needs to sit.

Other than that, you need to place the ingredient funnel tray and cover at the top of the machine. After this, you're set to start mixing your ingredients.

Note: the machine must be placed in the spot you'll be using it and left upright for 4 hours before use.

Using the Cuisinart Frost Fusion Ice Cream Maker

The only thing you need to do ahead of using this ice cream maker is to prepare your ingredients. Some recipes require your hob, others need a blender, so be sure to check ahead of time. Once your mixture is ready for use, you pour it into the machine via the ingredient funnel. Turn the machine on, and using the touch screen, you can select one of the preset modes. Press the bar button at the bottom of the screen to cycle through these 6 modes.

Then comes the choice of firmness — there are 5 options. Press the snowflake button to increase the firmness. Once chosen, press the play button. You cannot choose the firmness of soft-serve ice cream or sorbet. The machine will then get to work, and once ready, it will beep. After that, it will automatically go into its Keep Cool mode.

While there isn't a timer countdown on the LCD control panel, you can check the status of your treat by looking at the firmness progress bar. The status it's currently at will correlate to the bar that's flashing. If it isn't flashing, then it's ready, and you may have missed the beeping noise.

Overall, it's pretty intuitive to use, and I had zero issues with any of the programs.

Making soft serve ice cream

There are two recipes for soft serve in the manual — vanilla or chocolate —, and I decided to give vanilla a try. It requires only 5 ingredients and claims to serve 8. You need to attach the star tip to the machine before serving this ice cream so that it swirls.

I ended up having to make this 3 times, as the first time it took so long and never froze properly. After 1 hour, I was still waiting for it to beep. I concluded that the recipe must have exceeded the maximum capacity level for ice cream, as this is 900ml, whereas for frozen drinks it's 1300ml.

The second time, I halved the recipe, and it was below the minimum fill line. I turned the machine on, and it did work as it bleeped to signal it was ready for serving, but it wasn't super frozen. And it just about served 2 people.

The third time I made ice cream, I made the full recipe and poured it into the max ice cream line (900ml). It sat slightly below the line for maximum ice cream capacity.

The ice cream took around 30 minutes to be ready to serve. When served, with the star tip fitted to the machine, it was frozen but soft. It swirled great and tasted amazing. It served 5-6 people, which I was impressed with.

After 30 minutes, the machine bleeped to signal that the keep cool setting was ending. The ice cream had melted slightly by this point, but it was still swirling.

Making a wine slushy

A frosé on a summer's day, is there truly anything better? The recipe in the booklet serves 12 and took 40 minutes to make. It was nice, but admittedly not my favourite drink ever. It'd be great for serving at a party, but again: it wouldn't serve 12 — maybe 6 at a push.

This slushie definitely frose better than the margaritas, perhaps because the alcohol content was a lot lower, as it requires just 750ml of rose.

I did like it, but it's not something I would drink every day. I love that the recipe contains fresh strawberries making it almost healthy for you. Also, the thickness was really great! Easy to slurp through a straw yet it didn't melt very fast.

Making a frappucino

You can find two frozen coffee recipes in the manual. I decided to make the Frozen Sweet Latte. You need to balance the sugar with the other ingredients correctly, or the recipe won't freeze. This one apparently made 8 servings, so I decided to half the measurements to prevent throwing any away.

The recipe asked for 4 teaspoons of sugar, 275ml of whole milk and a double espresso shot. Immediately, I didn't think this was enough coffee to feed 4 — that's half a shot of espresso in each drink.

I set it to the most frozen setting, and it took just 14 minutes to be ready, so I was impressed by its swiftness! However, this definitely was not 4 servings; it fed 2 of us. Arguably, this was the most frozen drink I made in this machine.

Making a slushy (no alcohol)

Choose from a pink lemonade slushy or a cherry cola slushy if you're going from the manual. I used this machine for a pink lemonade, which was a hit with my nephews, and this drink definitely froze better than the 2 alcohol-based beverages, probably due to the lack of alcohol in its ingredients.

Using the entire recipe, I added the mixture to the machine, and it sat just above the ice cream's maximum capacity line, which is 900ml. I switched it on, and after exactly 30 minutes, it was ready for serving.

The taste was really nice and subtle, not like a slushie you'd get for the kids in a soft play (thankfully!). It was frozen, but not in large chunks; it did melt very fast.

Making a frozen cocktail

I made Margaritas in this machine 3 times. Yes, we loved them that much. They're also so easy to make, with a recipe included in the manual. It depends on how many servings you make, but having followed Cuisinart's recipe for 10, it took just 25 minutes to freeze the ingredients to the highest setting.

This frozen cocktail tasted great; there's no doubting that. But it wasn't as frozen as the other drinks we'd made, plus it melts fast, and it definitely didn't serve 10 — we got maybe 5 servings. At the end, I noticed there was still some liquid left in the machine, which just wouldn't come out through the dispenser, making a messier cleaning job.

Making a sorbet

There are 2 sorbets to choose from in the manual: tangerine or mango. I chose mango, which, surprisingly enough, didn't require many ingredients, but it did need some preparation — a blender to turn the mango chunks into a liquid. It claims to serve 8 and took just 16 minutes to beep and signal it was ready. This recipe did actually serve quite a few people, perhaps not 8 but definitely 5-6.

Consistency-wise, this sorbet was soft. It was essentially soft serve sorbet. I also found that it was very thick — when I poured it into the ingredient funnel, it struggled to strain into the machine. You cannot choose a thickness level for sorbets, BTW.

Undeniably, the taste of the sorbet was great. It wasn't quite as frozen as I'd hoped it would be, though. So, if you want this machine mostly for making sorbets, then be prepared that you might need to play around with ingredients or branch away from the manual.

What's it like to clean?

Handily enough, there's a rinse setting on this machine for after use. It requires you to empty the machine of the liquid first, and then you need to add warm water via the ingredient funnel until the machine is at its max capacity.

Press the rinse setting button and press play. This setting takes roughly 5 mins. After, you need to dispense the water out of the machine like you would a slushy, into a jug of some sort.

Once emptied, the machine can be dismantled. Remove the drip tray and soak it in warm, soapy water. Then take the ingredient tray and the cover out of the machine and soak this, too. Also soak the paddle and the auger. Once soaked and rinsed, they can be put back into the machine when fully dried.

I did notice that this machine was harder to clean after making ice cream than slushies. This is because the ice cream is thicker, and in the case of the vanilla flavour, it requires vanilla essence, which is oil-based, so harder to rinse clean.

You can put the auger in your dishwasher — but this is the only dishwasher-safe part, and it's suitable for the top rack only.

How does it compare to other ice cream makers?

You can really only compare this ice cream maker to other self-freeze ones. Similar machines that we have reviewed are the Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Maker and the Sage Smart Scoop.

In comparison to the other Cuisinart model, this one offers a lot more functions. The Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and Gelato Maker is £199.99, therefore £100 cheaper than the one I've tested. It offers just 3 modes, which are Gelato, Sorbet, Frozen Yoghurt. Its capacity is smaller, too, at 1.4L vs 1.6L. Something to consider, especially if you often host large families and groups. Both are pretty sizeable machines and come in a stylish white colourway.

When comparing this to the Sage Smart Scoop, price is a big deal breaker, as this machine is a whopping £369 (via Sage). It has 5 preset programs, including Sorbet, Frozen Yoghurt, Gelato, Ice Cream, and Keep Cool. It can keep your dessert churned for 3 hours once it's ready, which is a winner.

Should you buy the Cuisinart Frost Fusion Ice Cream Maker?

If you're looking for an ice cream maker that's nothing but convenient and also super versatile, then this is a great buy. You might have to play around with some of the ingredients, depending on what you're hoping to make, but overall, the machine is a game-changer because it can keep drinks frozen for 16 hours — and ice cream for 30 minutes.

We did find that the recipes included in the manual were slightly inaccurate when it comes to portion estimates. Some say they serve 8, but actually only serve 4. We had great results on all of the slushie drinks, alcohol and zero-alcohol, but noticed that the zero alcohol drinks froze a little better. The sorbet was a little disappointing as it wasn't very frozen, but it tasted great. The soft serve took 3 tries, but in the end, it came out perfectly swirled and soft.

It's definitely worth the £300 price tag because of its intuitivity alone, and the fact that it has a self-clean function is also a big winning point. Its small footprint means it won't take up much worktop space, and its white colour means that it'll look great while sitting there, too.

The Philips Baristina coffee machine was launched in the UK earlier this year to much fanfare, with a sleek design and an affordable price point for a bean-to-cup machine, it has an alot going for it. However, its biggest selling point (alongside it's looks) is that it is unbelievably easy to use and is one of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines you can buy to ease the transition from a pod coffee machine.

In a nutshell

I will start by telling you what the Baristina is not: it's not a coffee machine for latte drinkers or budding baristas who already understand how to pull a good espresso shot. What this machine really is is an upgrade for anyone who needs their caffeine hit quickly and easily in the morning, but is fed up with coffee pods.

Philips has kept things very simple; like many coffee pod machines, it only has two options when making coffee: an espresso or a lungo. The machine makes the switch from pods to using coffee beans effortless. It does away with the mess and guesswork of other bean-to-cup machines doing the grinding, dosing, tamping and pulling the shot for you. All you have to do is touch one button, and every time you'll get a consistently good cup of coffee.

It was so quick and easy to use the Philips Baristina coffee machine that it finally persuaded my Mum (a decades-long Nespresso owner) to switch out her pod coffee machine.

Product specs

• Coffee machine type: Bean-to-cup
• Dimensions: 18 cm (width), 34.5 cm (height), 38 cm (depth)
• Coffee options: Espresso and Lungo
• Water tank capacity: 1.2L
• Pressure: 16 Bar
• Weight: 5 kg
• Colourways: Black or White
• RRP: £299.99

Unboxing

What is immediately striking about the Philips Baristina is how much smaller it is than your average bean-to-cup coffee machine. It arrived in a compact cardboard box that was easy for one person to lift and carry.

The box immediately won me over, as once I removed the cardboard sleeve, the inside box side fell open to reveal the coffee machine. No awkward tugging or shuffling to tip the coffee machine out of its box. Only a small piece of foam was used inside the box to protect the coffee machine; all the packaging was recyclable cardboard.

The coffee machine is relatively straightforward to use. While it did come with an instruction book, a quick start guide was written out on the top of the box along with a QR code to a dedicated website that included a digital user's manual.

The Baristina only comes with a white-handled portafilter, but other than a bag of beans, that is all you need to get brewing your first cup of coffee. However, if you do prefer a latte, you can buy the Baristina in a bundle with a milk frother for an RRP of £379 on Amazon.

First impressions

This is one of the best-looking coffee machines I've tested, I was testing the white version, but it is also available in black. I loved the chic matte white finish and the stylish fluted design. My one disappointment is that the coloured-handle porta filters, which this coffee machine launched with in the US, are currently not available in the UK. Here's hoping they'll land soon for an even more striking look on a kitchen worktop.

The coffee machine fits comfortably under a set of kitchen cupboards, and has a small foot print for a bean-to-cup coffee machine.

The water tank sits hidden at the back, and while relatively easy to lift out and refill, the tank felt more flimsy than my other coffee machines. The lid was completely removable rather than a simple flip-up, and a little tricky to lift off if you just wanted to fill it up with a jug. However, the water tank is a good size, I found it only needed refilling every five coffees.

I was a little concerned about the size of the drip tray; it doesn't cover the whole bottom of the machine. Instead, it is a tiny box that can be easily removed to fit large mugs underneath. When making a couple of espressos in a row, the mess from drips on the bottom of the machine had me wishing for a larger drip tray.

Before using the coffee machine, you need to wash the portafilter and run a rinse cycle, which is easily done by slotting in the portafilter, filling the water tank and pressing the intensity boost button to run the cycle. The machine communicates via easy-to-understand blinking lights around three buttons (espresso, lungo and boost). When the intensity boost button stopped blinking, the machine was ready to go.

The machine doesn't have a water filter, so there is the potential for hard water to impact the machine in the long-term. If you do live in a hard water area, as I do in London, you might want to only fill the water tank with filtered water; the machine will also alert you when it needs descaling.

There is nothing else you have to do to set up the coffee machine; the bean grind is automatically set. You can't adjust it, but I found it to be spot on for the beans I was using. The Baristina is the definition of a plug-and-play coffee machine; you can be up and running in minutes.

What is it like to use?

The Baristina, for all its simplicity, is very fun to use, and became my party piece when testing it out at home. It is a fully automated system, so all you have to do is slide the portafilter into the machine until it clicks and place your coffee cup under the spout. Press your chosen coffee size button, then slide the portafilter over to the right and leave the machine to do the rest.

On the right-hand side, the portafilter will fill with coffee grounds, a job it does while waiting for the machine to heat up. This is where my guests would panic that the cup was on the wrong side to catch the espresso shot, but the portafilter will automatically move back over to the left, where it brews and pulls the perfect espresso (or lungo) into your cup.

Then you have to wait until the button stops flashing on top before removing the portafilter. There is alot of flashing and blinking buttons involved with this machine, but they were helpful prompts to follow.

The portafilter has a little button that ejects the puck, which I was a big fan of it. It means there's no banging on the side of the bin, just press the button a couple of times.

What might put some people off is that the coffee machine has only two coffee options, espresso and lungo. I found myself using the espresso function most of the time as it was best suited to a latte base (I heated the milk using my Dualit milk frother). However, my partner and Mum, who both drink daily black coffees, loved the lungo function.

There is a degree of customisability with the machine; you can increase the intensity of the espresso or lungo by pressing the boost button after selecting your drink. You can also adjust the drink volume. You do this manually the first time, pressing your chosen size button for 5 seconds before moving the portafilter over to the right, and then pressing it again when it is dispensing the coffee into your cup. The machine will then save your chosen preference.

Personally, I found that the settings of the coffee machine were already set for the perfect espresso and lungo, so I didn't use either of these adjustments beyond initially testing them out.

The ‘Morning Rush’ test

All the coffee machines we review are put through the 'Morning Rush' test, which usually involves going from turning the machine on to having two milky coffees ready. As the Baristina is best suited to espresso or americano drinkers (maybe with a splash of milk), this is what I timed it for, and it aced the test.

It achieved the task in under five minutes. The machine heats up within a minute or two, and it can grind the beans of your first coffee while heating up. Once it's warmed up, it can produce either an espresso or a lungo from grinding to brewing in under 60 seconds. I put it to the ultimate test and cranked out five coffees (a mix of lungo and espresso) for some friends, and it achieved the task in 6 minutes.

If you are a latte drinker, the slowest part of the coffee machine process with the Baristina will be waiting for the milk frother to heat up. I didn't try the Philips Baristina milk frother. However, using my own separate milk frother, I found I could still get two lattes out the door in around 8 minutes, because I could froth the milk while the coffee machine was brewing the espresso shot - something many budget bean-to-cup coffee machines can't do.

Noise test

This coffee machine is relatively quiet. The specifications say its noise level is 72 dB, which is about the same level as a dishwasher, a little louder than a normal conversation. When I tested, I found the sound level to range to reach 78.9 dB at its loudest, which is when it's grinding the beans. The brewing and dispensing of the shot were all much quieter.

Coffee quality

Kiss the Hippo is one of my favourite coffee shops in London, and my main reason for using their house beans in testing is so I can compare my finished result to their professional barista-made drinks. I'm happy to report that the Baristina measured up well.

The espresso shots and lungos had a lovely, thick golden crema on top that lasted for a long time. The taste was lovely and smooth, with nice chocolately notes and a slight acidity. Overall, I was incredibly impressed by the quality of the espresso; the automated elements were calibrated perfectly. It delivered a superior coffee than I'd ever managed to achieve with my manual (and more expensive) bean-to-cup coffee machine.

Thermal stability

To test the thermal stability to see if the coffee machine was potentially overheating or over extracting I made 5 espressos in a row to compare the temperature from the 1st to the 5th cup. The 5th cup was slightly hotter than the 1st cup, indicating it could be at risk of overheating with extended use.

However, each of the five cups was consistently good, with a lovely flavour and beautiful crema. This machine is designed for easy consistency, which is excels at. The only issues I ever had with consistency was when I accidentally didn't put enough coffee beans in the bean hopper and was left with a very soggy coffee puck to remove.

Cleaning

A white coffee machine sounds like it's going to be a nightmare to clean; however, the simplicity of the grinding and brewing process and the lovely matte finish of the machine meant it was relatively easy to keep clean.

However, a word of warning, if the sight of coffee drips bugs you, then you do need to wipe it down after every use, every splash will show up.

All the parts, including the drip tray and water tank, are easy to remove and clean. The bean hopper isn't removable, but the instructions recommend simply wiping it down with a damp cloth and leaving the grinder alone altogether. The only issue I could foresee with this is if you were to use dark roast beans, which can clog some grinders up with their oils

The portafilter was easy to clean; you just need to make sure to press the puck release button a couple of times when running it under water to remove all the coffee grounds.

Descaling the machine was fine, once I got the hang of all the button-holding times. The machine will alert you when it needs to be descaled by the espresso and lungo buttons blinking simultaneously after brewing a drink. Philips recommends using their own CA6700 liquid, which you can buy for £8 on Amazon, for descaling, which you add to the water tank.

To start the cycle, you need to insert the portafilter and press and hold the espresso and lungo buttons for 5 seconds. The descaling cycle will begin when the buttons change so that the espresso button stops blinking and the lungo starts blinking. You can remove the water tank, rinse, refill and put it back to start the flushing cycle. The whole process took around 15 to 30 minutes. Personally, I'd have preferred a dedicated button, as I found all the buttons and light blinking combinations more confusing than they needed to be.

The rinse cycle, which should be done at the start before using the machine, or if the machine hasn't been used for a while, is quicker. You just need to press the intensity boost button for 5 seconds with the portafilter inserted into the machine, and it is done in a couple of minutes.

How does it compare to similar models

The Philips Baristina is an unusual bean-to-cup coffee machine as it has more in common with the best pod coffee machine, with the simplicity of its drink options. However, at £299 it is more expensive than most of the pod coffee machines we've tested, the most expensive Smeg Lavazza A Modo Mio is priced at £250, and at the other end of the spectrum, you can pick up the Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie for under £100 right now.

However, with pod machines comes the extra expense of buying into the pods your machine uses; there is also a difference in taste. Personally, I prefer the flavour and freedom of choosing my own coffee beans, and enjoyed the espresso the Philips Baristina produced more than the Nespresso Pixie Pod Coffee Machine I also had in my kitchen.

Now, compared to high-end bean-to-cup coffee machines, which are rarely found under £500 the Baristina appears well priced. However, there are other super-easy-to-use automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines on the market around the £300-£400 mark. The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next, which our reviewer awarded 4 stars, can usually be found on sale for around £449, but it has a milk frother built in that can make lattes and cappuccinos at the touch of a button. The Philips Series 2200 Fully automatic espresso machine, priced at £319 at John Lewis, also includes a lot of things the Baristina lacks, including a built-in water filter and milk frother.

But while those two might deliver more functionality, they are nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing or compact in size as the stylish Baristina.

Should you buy the Philips Baristina?

I loved the look and simplicity of the Baristina, and it makes a 'damn good cup of coffee' to quote Twin Peaks. As a latte drinker, this coffee machine is not well-suited to my taste, but my partner and Mum, who both drink black coffee, loved it so much that my Mum has just swapped her old Nespresso for the Philips Baristina.

It is expensive for its functionality, but for the £299 pricetag you get a compact machine that is better looking than any other automatic coffee machine. It also makes super-speedy and consistent cafe-worthy coffees with zero effort. If you are trying to ditch a takeaway coffee habit and have no interest in learning how to tamp your coffee grounds, this coffee machine will help.

You should buy the Baristina if:

• You want a stylish and compact coffee machine
• You drink espressos or black coffees (with a splash of milk)
• You want to use coffee beans instead of pods
• You want your coffee quickly and easily

You shouldn't buy the Philips Baristina if:

• If you are a latte, flat white or cappuccino drinker
• You prefer a more hands-on coffee making experience
• You are on a tight budget

Mastering your at-home coffee machine is the key to a good brew in the morning, but having the same control over your manual milk steamer wand can sometimes take just as much, if not more, work.

That's why, if you love milky coffees (or even just entertaining those who do), you should think about your choice of milk frother from the beginning of your coffee machine buying journey too.

I've tested dozens of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines for Ideal Home in the last few years and the one thing all of my favourites have in common is a solid built-in milk steamer. If you love lattes and cappuccinos as much as I do, then these are the mistakes you should avoid even before buy your coffee machine as well as after you have it in your kitchen in order to keep the hot drinks flowing seamlessly.

1. Picking the wrong machine

As someone with the great privilege of testing coffee machines for a living, it's an unfortuante truth that my latte art skills are very much lacking. I use the Sage Barista Express Impress everyday for my morning coffee, which has a great manual steam wand, but my microfoam is not really there (thanks wholly to user incompetence).

So, if getting the perfect latte texture is essential to you, then you have three options.

Either learn the barista-level skills you need, opt for an automatic machine (such as Ideal Home's top-rated version, the De'Longhi Rivelia) or get a semi-automatic version with a steamer that does the work for you. In particular, when I tried the Ninja Luxe Café, I absolutely loved its automatic frothing abilities and for its price, it's a total bargain.

I've laid out machines that exemplify those three options below.

2. Allowing your milk to overheat

Once you have the right steam wand or milk frother to suit your drinks of choice, the next thing to get right is the process of steaming itself. This will be particularly important to anyone using a manual steam wand.

Stuart Wilson, founder of Lost Sheep Coffee (roasters of truly excellent coffee beans) identifies the biggest mistake people make when steaming milk as 'overheating it or introducing too much air.'

He goes onto say 'Milk should be silky and smooth, not burnt and bubbly. If it’s too hot, you lose that natural sweetness and end up with a flat, burnt taste.'

So how can you prevent that, even if you're still a home barista-in-training?

Stuart says to 'Aim for a temperature around 60–65°C (once its too hot to touch jug, remove hand and count to 5), and focus on creating a fine, velvety microfoam rather than big bubbles.'

'It’s all about control and consistency,' says Stuart. 'Less is often more when it comes to great milk texture. Get the milk spinning round in circles inside the jug and play with introducing air or no air into the milk from the wand. I always recommend Full Fat Milk or Barista Oat for best results.'

I definitely struggle to get the temperature of my milk exactly right from day-to-day. That's why I've been enjoying using a version with an integrated thermometer, like this one from Amazon for £12.31, as a visual guide.

3. Not cleaning it right away

Build-up on your steam wand can be a huge hindrance to the quality of your coffee at home. That's why it's a huge mistake to not stay on top of your cleaning routine.

Isabella Forgione, small appliances expert at AO.com, stresses the importance of cleaning your coffee machine and steam wand straight away.

'If your coffee machine has a milk frother or a steam wand then you’ll want to clean this after each use,' says Isabella. 'Never leave it sitting with dried-on milk as this can harden quickly and ruin the taste of future brews.'

Instead, Isabella advises 'Run a quick blast of steam into a jug of hot water then wipe the wand down with a damp cloth. If you think yours needs a deeper clean, then soak the tip in warm water with a little washing up liquid once a week.'

Getting into a schedule with your coffee machine cleaning in general is always a good idea, but don't forget about your milk frother if you want to keep your drinks top-tier.

With avoiding these mistakes in mind, you can hopefully master your at-home lattes as you never have before and keep yourself from spending money on takeaway coffees!

When you use an appliance every day, it's vital that you make the right decision. From style to functionality, and of course not forgetting price, it's important to find the right kettle and toaster that will suit your space but also stand up to the test of many cups of tea and plates of toast.

As a picky kitchen editor with unusually strong opinions on appliances, I'm pleased to say I've found the perfect pair in the ProCook kettle and toaster. Chic, subtle and genuinely good at what they're designed to do, I have very little bad to say about my chosen small appliances.

Now that I've lived with them for two years, using them both almost every day, I thought it was high time to dive into my thoughts as to why they make it onto the lists for the best kettles and the best toasters. Here's why they get my seal of approval.

Choosing a kettle and toaster shouldn't be such a tough decision, so I was surprised when I was struggling to find an option that I wanted to invest in. I was finding that the styles I liked, such as the KitchenAid kettle and the Smeg kettle, were a little over my budget and more affordable alternatives didn't have the same sleek design that I wanted.

For most of us, kettles and toasters sit out on the worktop permanently so a stylish design was something that I considered a top priority. I wanted it to go with my existing appliances which were a stainless steel coffee machine and stand mixer, while also being neutral enough that I wouldn't go off the colour in years time.

So when the opportunity to try ProCook's kettle and toaster, which were brand new in their product line two years ago, came up, I was eager to give them a try.

Two years on and I can safely say that I couldn't be more thrilled with my choice. Sure, there are a few drawbacks, but the kettle and toaster still look great and work superbly well every day.

The selling point of the ProCook kettle and toaster for me was the style. I chose the stainless steel toaster and grey kettle, which don't match completely but still give a cohesive look and blend in with other appliances.

The stainless steel toaster is prone to fingerprints, but with a wipe down, it looks good as new and has no scratches.

The kettle brews quickly but does have the tendency to be a little bit noisy, so this is something to bear in mind if you find yourself boiling the kettle late at night or early in the morning.

One other issue I have found is with limescale in the kettle. It's important to note that I live in London which is notorious for hard water, so this might not be a problem if you live in a softer water area. However, it has marked the metal in and around the spout which makes it look more worn.

For the price, these are truly minimal faults that are expected over the course of two years of daily use. With a regular wipe down, the toaster looks pristine still and has had no functional issues.

Overall, the ProCook kettle and toaster are stellar buys that fit the perfect gap between stylish and well-priced.

Shop more ProCook kettles and toasters

No one needs the daily stress of small appliances that don't work well or need replacing within a year - buying well and buying once is the secret to a stress-free kitchen.

David Beckham's kitchen worktops at his home in the Cotswolds will need to be cleared of space for a new addition: his first product collaboration with Ninja, which has been unveiled as an exclusive version of the brand's bestselling coffee machine, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro by David Beckham.

The Ninja Luxe Café Pro, which I awarded five stars to in my review back in 2025, is now available with David Beckham's stamp of approval in a matte black stainless-steel finish, complemented by black chestnut wood grain and gold finishes.

Earning a spot as one of our top-rated bean-to-cup coffee machines (after testing dozens here at Ideal Home), the Luxe Café Pro was already a fan favourite, but now I predict it's about to get an even bigger boost of popularity.

In a big week for coffee machine releases, including new products from Nespresso (the Vertuo Up) and Philips (with a new bean-to-cup model), Ninja has joined the party with this celebrity collaboration. Given David Beckham's enthusiasm for all things coffee and Ninja's very successful move into the barista-style machine market, this collaboration feels like a natural fit.

The Luxe Café is already a product with absolute rave reviews, as well as extremely popular limited-batch colourway releases. Now those wanting to pull an espresso shot just like David Beckham might be enticed by his shiny new machine.

I've previously discussed the big differences between the original Luxe Café and the Pro version, but the summary is that the latter is a premium offering thanks to its integrated tamping system, improved milk frothing system and sleeker control panel.

This limited edition version was the product of 'a six-month creative process, channeling Beckham's signature aesthetic' according to Ninja. The specific design quirks, which are exclusive to this machine are inspired, according to Beckham himself, by 'the natural materials of the English countryside'.

It's no secret that David Beckham is a huge coffee fan and celebrated the launch of this machine with a post to his Instagram using it to pull an espresso shot, alongside some seriously niche latte art depicting his own face.

This week in the US, Ninja dropped a pink version of the Luxe Café machine, which fans were loving on the brand's Instagram. So as well as new David Beckham inspired machines, here's hoping there's plenty other variations of this sellout coffee machine to come!

Philips is making its mark on the coffee world with the release of a new bean-to-cup machine, this time an automatic offering, to add to its collection of barista-style products.

The Philips Cafe Aromis looks to be a very capable addition to that line-up, with over 50 possible drinks on offer, including the capability for iced versions.

Available now from a selection of retailers, including John Lewis for £849.99, it's sure to be a hit if the brand's previous iterations have been anything to go by. The Philips 5500 Series LatteGo, which we've reviewed and ranked as one of our favourite bean-to-cup coffee machines of all time, is always a big winner with readers when it goes on sale.

Here's a first look at the Cafe Aromis, which is a super capable machine just in time for iced coffee season.

There are a lot of brand-specific terms to get your head around with this machine, so let's dive into the systems at work here.

The BrewExtract technology is the first quirk to know about – designed to pack more coffee than competitors into every cup, according to Philips, and 'resulting in a consistent, cafe-quality experience'.

Next up, you have a Virtual Barista Assistant at your fingertips, a feature designed to help you, with an app, work out the optimal machine settings for your coffee beans of choice. That includes tweaks to strength, volume and texture.

Those features are all well and good for making black coffees but if it's iced macchiatos and creatively flavoured lattes that you're here for, then the feature that'll matter the most is the LatteGo Pro tech.

This 'pro milk system' will froth you whatever milky drink you choose (and there are plenty of options) at the touch of a button, with two carafes that attach to the front of the machine.

As with very popular recent machines from De'Longhi, such as the Eletta Explore, there's a huge draw in the two carafe system for iced coffee fans as one is dedicated wholly to cold milk frothing. That will really take your at-home iced drinks to the next level. This machine also has a dedicated cold brew setting too, which mimics the process of steeping coffee in cold water in a matter of minutes.

Another crowning feature for this machine is the 4.3” touch display, which is where you can pick out drinks to be made at just the touch of a button. It certainly means this machine makes a visually impressive addition to a worktop.

A few taster drinks that this machine can create include espresso macchiato, café au lait, mélange, piccolo Latte and even babyccinos so that the whole family can be invovled.

Priced at £849.99 it's certainly a pricey choice (unlike Nespresso's new machine which launched this week) but with its extensive features this machine really does seem like having a fully fledged barista waiting for you in your kitchen every morning. Here at Ideal Home we're looking forward to testing it out for ourselves to seeing if it lives up to these promises.

Aldi's kitchen range is always coming up trumps with small, affordable problem-solving buys. The next example that deserves its moment in the sun (or the air fryer) is the supermarket's new dedicated range of accessories for everyone's most time-saving appliance – all priced at just £2.99 each.

Available in store right now, this line of accessories for the best air fryers is going way further than previous iterations thanks to its versatile set of designs, including liners without sides.

These flat-laying inserts are the perfect buy to pick up if you've previously despaired over how to master cookies or pizza in liners with raised sides or if your existing inserts have lost their non-stick coatings after years of use. Here's a closer look, as well as alternatives you don't have to rush to the Specialbuys aisle in order to nab.

The flat liners are the star of the show here for me, especially after my many failed attempts to bake cookies in my air fryer and immediately having them break as I try to lift them out of the basket.

Aldi's version has a raised helper grip on one side to make them easier to lift off an air fryer plate, which can also help when reheating pizza or pita breads. But it's not just the ability to properly cook flat foods that people are loving this type of liner for.

In the reviews of versions from John Lewis and Dunelm, it's clear that many customers are using these liners as a stand-in for their old air fryer trays (which is the insert that sits in the bottom of the basket).

After you've had an air fryer for a few years, these elements can lose their non-stick coating, especially after countless washes or turns through the dishwasher, and these affordable liners are offering people an easy alternative to getting a whole new appliance.

'Because the plates on my ninja are no longer non stick they make a very good alternative,' reads one review of the Dunelm liners, while another says that 'These are amazing products. Saves my plates getting broken'.

John Lewis' air fryer liners are slightly different, with two mesh liners and two silicone within the multipack. These can be cut to the exact size of your dual-zone air fryer, which is great if you don't have a massively popular model, so that you can customise them to your needs.

Unsurprisingly, Aldi's versions are the cheapest on offer, and it's not just the flat liners that they've designed either. If you've got a sweet tooth, you might be tempted by the waffle and doughnut maker moulds instead, which are also priced at just £2.99.

The waffle version is available in two different sizes, in case you only have a very compact air fryer. Or if you'd rather stick with the traditional air fryer liner design (as they're great for self-contained foodstuffs, like a lasagne or a cheesy pasta bake) then there's some size choice available to you there too.

If you're yet to try out an air fryer liner and your appliance is in need of a bit of a refresh, then I'd definitely recommend trying out a reusable one rather than the disposable versions. They're better for the planet and for everyday use!

If you're in the market for a compact, affordable coffee machine, then you're in luck as Nespresso's newest offering, the Vertuo Up, just landed on UK shores.

Priced at £179.99 and available via John Lewis, the Up has a whole host of features that will appeal to those with cosier kitchens as well as iced coffee lovers – just in time for the start of summer.

For me, the standout thing with this coffee machine is the 'Coffee Creations Mode', which brews shorter, more concentrated coffees which are well suited to adding to an espresso martini or a barista-style cold drink like you would ordinarily pick up from Blank Street or Starbucks.

Ideal Home's coffee-loving team got an exclusive first look at the Vertuo Up at The Recipe Remix, Nespresso's pop-up running in Covent Garden between the 14th and 19th April to celebrate the launch. Here's what they discovered about this brand-new pod coffee machine launch which came out in the same week as David Beckham's new coffee machine with Ninja.

For a lot of us space can be at a premium on our kitchen worktops, which is where the sleekness of the Vertuo Up comes into its own. Measuring up at 25.5cm tall and 12cm wide, it's a real space saver – but just bear in mind that you'll need 40.5cm of space overall so that the spout on top of the machine can open.

As well as its slim build, there are a few efficient features that can help you get to your morning coffee faster including rapid heat-up (which means it can be ready to brew in 3 seconds) and a larger water tank for less frequent refilling. The water tank can also be rotated around the back of the machine, so that you can sit the machine where is most convenient.

Another bonus with the Vertuo Up, which the Ideal Home team got a taste of in person, is the colour options. You can choose from Pearl White, Ink Black, Graphite and Ocean Blue to suit your kitchen colour scheme, which is great for those who are picky about what they choose for their kitchen worktops.

Another thing that caught the eye at the pop-up was the machine's movable cup platform, which works in tandem with the ability to create up to 40 different drinks, according to Nespresso.

You'll probably be using this feature if you capitalise on the new Coffee Creations mode, as this brews shorter drinks that you can then add milk or other ingredients to in order to make your iced or hot coffee exactly how you want it.

The pop-up, which is serving up pickled coffee colas and Nespresso double espresso chiaro Vertuo pods brewed over ice, is showcasing the weird and wonderful breadth of coffees you can mix up with this machine.

While the Ideal Home team might not have been won over by the strange combination of the pickled coffee cola (which is the new brand ambassador Dua Lipa's supposed drink of choice) they were impressed by the Vertuo Up machines on show working overtime to serve 25 people their coffees at once.

Hopefully we can get our hands on the Nespresso Vertuo Up soon for a full, thorough review of its new features, as well as to test out its slimline credentials. Here's to hoping it's a true small kitchen space-saver!

There's no surer sign of spring's arrival than the switch from hot coffee to iced – and now we've finally come to the moment for cold brew and perfectly crisp iced cappuccinos.

And the best part of all of this, of course, is getting to switch over your coffee station to incorporate all things cold coffee, from ice cube trays to delicate glasses with the perfect sipping straw.

One of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines with an iced function, like Sage's Barista Touch with Cold Extraction (which we've reviewed), is obviously a handy thing to have as temperatures rise but small fixes can go a long way to improve your existing set up too.

So, why not mark the arrival of sunnier days with a new tumbler or set of stirrers? I've rounded up all my favourite iced coffee season picks below.

Of course, plenty of these picks can double up as new additions to your home bar or picnic set-up for this summer too. If only I had a gorgeous built-in bantry, I'd have it stocked up in an instant!

Stacked air fryers are a huge help for cutting countertop clutter and there was one standout product that started the whole vertical cooking trend: Ninja's DoubleStack air fryer.

Released in 2024, it was a triumph for tidy kitchen lovers who also couldn't bear to lose out on the merits of one of the best Ninja air fryers. I definitely count myself as one of its fans – it's yet to be superseded on my kitchen worktop.

But, while it's undoubtedly one of the best air fryers out there, at £269 I totally see why it's too expensive for many. That's where Salter's £99 alternative – the VertiCook – comes into the frame. I've tried both to show you the difference in the two given their relative RRPs.

1. Quality of controls

A huge pro to dual-zone air fryers is the ability to program each drawer at different temperatures or for different cooking times (or to do both at the same time). But of course, to get there, you need to punch in the controls first.

To put it plainly, this is harder to do with Salter's more affordable version than it is with the NinjaDoubleStack. Both use vaguely confusing language on their control panels (unless you have a natural knack for knowing what VertiCook Ultra or DoubleStack Pro mean off the bat), but that learning curve is definitely a little steeper with Salter's product.

The control panel with the VertiCook favours symbols for the presets over words which I'm not such a fan of, especially when I'm in a rush.

Trying to match the small images with the presets is a bit laborious compared to Ninja's alternative, where the 6 settings (Air Fry, Max Crisp, Roast, Bake, Dehydrate, Reheat) are plainly laid out in words instead and you use the air fryer's control knob to select the right one.

As I mentioned before, this is a learning curve so if you do end up opting for Salter's version, it's definitely something you can get to grips with quickly. Our tester Annie didn't have an issue with it in her in-depth review of the VertiCook View model from Salter in her review, which is extremely similar.

One of the big pros of spending more money on Ninja kitchen appliances is that they're so easy to use, which means on the controls front, there's a clear winner for me.

Winner: Ninja's DoubleStack

2. Evenness of cooking

The fan, which is the element in an air fryer that allows it to cook food so fast, is recalibrated in a stacked design – sitting along the back rather than at the top of the unit.

In my experience, this can prove to be a little problematic when it comes to the evenness of cooking, as it means you must shake the contents of each drawer more frequently to stop food at the front cooking more quickly (which is where the heat, pushed from the fan, ends up gathering).

With my Ninja DoubleStack, this means I have to stay vigilant with shaking and turning food to prevent burning (as it's super powerful) and I found the same with the Salter VertiCook when I took it for a spin at our test centre. Our reviewer Annie also found that shaking was imperative with the VertiCook for everyday family cooking in her review.

In the VertiCook's favour however, I didn't find that kind of heat unevenness when I tried it with a shorter cooking task (baking breakfast muffins).

In short then, it's unfortunate that both of these air fryers have a bit of an issue with cooking evenness that means you must be vigilant with keeping an eye on cooking progress. Neither have shake reminders either, which is a missed oppurtunity. For the higher price, I'd like to see more from Ninja.

Winner: Salter's VertiCook

3. Overall finish

It's my job to try and tell people why it's worth buying one, but even I can admit that an air fryer isn't the most sightly of kitchen appliances. That's why the design of a stacked version appeals to many – they're easier to make space on a countertop for or even to hide away, if you so wish.

If you have no choice but to keep yours out on display, the finish and look of an air fryer is going to matter a lot. And I think both Salter and Ninja's offerings bring a lot to the table on the looks front (within reason).

My DoubleStack is white, which makes such a difference to the brightness of the kitchen in my rented flat, especially given that my toaster and kettle are the same sahde. You can also pick it up in Grey, Black or Black with gold accents.

Salter's range is similarly impressive within the Vertical range, especially with the offering of faux wood accents on the handles to match the brand's Toronto kettle and toaster range.

The overall winner is hard to award here, as the value of Salter's range is just so good (there are so many excellent picks under £100), but I think Ninja has the edge on the quality of finish overall with the handles and drawers.

Winner: Ninja DoubleStack

The winner

For me the Ninja DoubleStack, which is the original stacked air fryer, has to win the battle here. It's more expensive by miles, but it's more enjoyable on the whole to use (especially if you'd reach for it multiple times a day).

That's not to say Salter's version isn't worth your time, especially if you're on a budget. I've been super impressed every time I've tried it given the price and I love the option to pick a colour to suit your kitchen. For under £100, it's a great option for those looking to save on space.

Ninja just launched its bestselling Slushi machine in two new configurations that size up the number of drinks you can serve at once – the Slushi XL and the Slushi Max, both available now. Just in time for the spring sunshine (fingers crossed!).

I'm all in for the OG Ninja Slushi after trying it last year – I even installed one at the Ideal Home Christmas party so I could convince the rest of the team – and the brand has answered my prayers with these supersized versions.

My main gripe with the original 1.9 litre capacity Slushi after testing it was nothing to do with its performance but instead the fact that it would be empty after one round of drinks if I was hosting for more than six people.

That's all change with these souped up 3.7 (XL) and 4.4 litre (MAX) upgrades. Here's a closer look.

Let's get down to what you and I really want to know: how many drinks can each one make during your next summer soiree?

Well, let's assume that you, like me, are serving frozen margaritas (what else?) in a 200ml coupe glass. With those workings, with the XL you can get through 12 servings and with the MAX, 16. That means that your guests can go back for a second round before your Slushi needs a refill.

All of the much-loved settings from the original Slushi remain: the 'RapidChill' tech (which means you can go from a room temp mix to slush in under 30 minutes), the WhisperChill tech (which means you can hear your guests when hosting) and the all-important functions: Slush, Frozen Cocktail, Frappé, Milkshake and Frozen Juice.

Each drink is also adjustable in terms of consistency with the controls on the front of the machine, depending on how frozen you want your slushie.

Even as a lifelong slushie lover (the best part of a day spent at the beach, in my opinion) I was fairly skeptical before I tried the Slushi out on actually installing one in my kitchen. But it turned into a real focal point for summer hosting, especially when your guests can dispense themselves a frosé without you needing to step in and serve them.

I'm going to be trying out the XL side by side with the original Slushi to see how the extra capacity actually makes a difference but as far as the concept goes, I'm always going to be sold on more drinks that people can serve themselves at a dinner party!

There's a new bargain slushie machine on the market – LOGIK's Frozen Drinks Maker, which is now just £109 down from £299 at Currys – and it's available at the best price I've seen yet for this kind of summer-ready kitchen appliance.

Last year I had the lucky job of testing and writing about all of the frozen treat makers that arrived in the UK which don't require you to pre-freeze a thing. Now in 2026 they seem to be an even bigger trend, with people looking for more ways to host at home.

Here's a closer look at this slushie maker with five modes in total (slush, cocktail, milkshake, juice slush and cold drinks) and how it stacks up to Ninja's original viral machine.

Before last year, grabbing a slushie was only really possible at the seaside or the cinema – unless you wanted to install a pricey professional-grade machine in your house.

The arrival of the Ninja Slushi changed that, with its built-in compressor meaning that you could go from a fizzy drink or premixed cocktail to a fully fledged slush at home in less than 30 minutes. As I learned when I tested many of these drinks makers last summer, as long as there's some sugar content in your chosen drink, it'll slush up nicely.

LOGIK's Frozen Drinks machine offering might not have the Ninja branding, but it does look like a solid performer for its bargain price. From five user reviews to date via Currys, it's earned a 4.8 star rating, with all of the comments positive. One reviewer said that their 'great grandchildren love it' and that it's 'been in constant use'.

At this price and with those glowing user reviews, if you're in the market for a Slushie machine that you can use all summer long then this seems like a bargain one to pick up.

If you love slushies and soft serve, then a more multi-functional buy might be even better for you. As well as the excellent Ninja Swirl (which does require prefreezing) I tried Cuisinart's Frost Fusion last year which allowed me to make a Mr Whippy style cone in under 30 minutes at home. Here's a full look at those two side by side as well as a new pick from GreenPan, which has just been released.

With so much choice out there already (and it's only spring!), one thing is for sure: its looking like a soft serve and slushie summer. Now all we need is the weather to come good...

The Venn diagram of good coffee and stylish homeware is an unfortunately small one – as much as I love my bean-to-cup coffee machine, it's more than a little ungainly.

But if there's one exception that never fails to tick both boxes it's a French press, which is why I've found all of the best versions available to buy this spring.

Otherwise known as a cafetière, these stylish coffee makers couldn't be easier to use. Add hot water to coffee grounds, wait just a few minutes (usually about four) and serve up enough delicious coffee to please a crowd.

That simplicity of this French café-core essential is what makes it a timeless kitchen addition – my at-home pick is Le Creuset's Stoneware version in Chambray, which is £69. On the hunt for something more affordable? Then I've got the pick for you – Bodum's eight-cup cafétiere is just £35 (via Selfridges) and has stunningly impressive reviews.

Whether you're looking for a French press as your primary method of staying caffeinated or as a timesaver to pull out when you're hosting brunch with friends, these cafétieres are not only capable of making delectable black coffee but will look great on your kitchen worktop too.

If you prefer filter coffee rather than the perculator method, I've had my eye on this stunning stoneware dripper from Fable (£34.99) – it's well worth a look if you prefer the pour-over style.

However you prefer to serve coffee at home, there's plenty to be gained from emulating our French counterparts’ effortless café culture and eye for stylish picks.

De'Longhi has a fantastically shiny new coffee machine to 'ooh' and 'aah' over – the Eletta Ultra – and if you're into iced drinks, you'll want to see the extent of the menu here.

Available now for £1,149 via De'Longhi, this automatic bean-to-cup machine is an upgrade to the existing, and very popular, Eletta Explore model. Ideal Home's expert reviewer and home economist Helen McCue tried the Explore out back in 2024 in her review, calling it 'the ideal machine if you love cold coffee as much as hot coffee'.

Here's a closer look at this new version, which according to De'Longhi has improvements in three key areas: variety, silence and precision.

Let's get into what earns this brand new machine its 'Ultra' title, starting with the menu of drinks on over. There are so many customisable drinks on offer here that I've taken the liberty to copy below, because I know you want to see exactly what kind of coffee shop vibe you can create in your kitchen.

1. Espresso
2. 2x Espresso
3. Coffee
4. Doppio+
5. Long
6. Americano
7. Espresso Macchiato
8. Cappuccino, Cappuccino+
9. Cappuccino Mix
10. Latte Macchiato
11. Caffelatte
12. Flat White
13. Cortado
14. Hot Milk
15. Hot Water (for tea)
16. Espresso Over Ice
17. Coffee Over Ice
18. Americano Over Ice
19. Cold Cappuccino
20. Cold Cappuccino Mix
21. Cold Caffelatte
22. Cold Latte Macchiato
23. Cold Flat White
24. Cold Milk Foam
25. Cold Brew
26. Cold Brew Pot (multi-serving)
27. Cold Brew Cappuccino
28. Cold Brew Latte
29. Cold Brew to Mix (for cocktails/mocktails)
30. Hot To-Go - every hot drink scaled for a travel cup
31. Cold To-Go - every cold drink scaled for a travel cup

With a menu list that long, you're essentially opening a coffee shop in your own kitchen. And there's added (and new) versatility in the fact you can also switch between hot and cold drinks with dedicated milk frothing systems that you attach onto the front of the machine. Plant-based milk drinkers are covered too, with specialist settings for non-dairy drinks.

This machine has a very immersive-looking interface, with a 4.3" full-touch display which you pick your drinks from – the Explore has a 3.5-inch Colour Touch Display which our reviewer called 'effortless to use'.

Another thing Helen loved using the Explore's screen for was for tweaking its settings to get the perfect cup of coffee. And the brand's signature bean adapt technology has been carried over to the Ultra too. Helen had high praise it, saying that 'because I had taken the time to set up the bean adapt technology, every drink started with the base of a perfectly brewed espresso.'

Plus, if you have a bean-to-cup machine already but find that it makes quite the racket in the mornings, the Eletta Explore also has the benefit of ultra-quiet performance. It's QuietMark-approved (an organisation that independently checks the noise level of appliances) and according to De'Longhi 65% quieter than previous models. That's bound to be a huge selling point for people who want to enjoy their first coffee of the day in relative peace and quiet.

There's so much to read up on with this shiny new De'Longhi machine and I'm excited to put it to the test in my own kitchen to see how it fares as we come into iced coffee season. Here's a quick look at the other De'Longhi automatic coffee machines we've tried here at Ideal Home and their specific USPs.

Whichever automatic bean-to-cup machine takes your fancy all of them have one thing in common: total ease of use.