The best coffee maker 2024: expert tested coffee machines
The best coffee maker will make your life better. Or at least, it’ll get your day off to the right start. There’s a wide variety of coffee machines to choose from, and they come in at all kinds of prices.
If you’re just after the best coffee machine to deliver no-fuss coffee that’ll keep you going all morning, a drip filter machine is a great choice. Or for equally low effort but more coffee options, a pod machine should be right up your street. Alternatively, for more dedicated caffeine fans looking to unleash their inner barista, there are lots of bean-to-cup or espresso machines, at varying levels of cost and capability.
All of the best coffee makers you’ll find in this guide have been thoroughly tested by us, in real kitchens, by real caffeine junkies. We investigate at not only how good the coffee is (we’re extremely well caffeinated at this point), but how easy these machines are to use and clean, how noisy they are, and the variety of drinks they can be used for. Whether you’re an espresso aficionado, a fan of froth or just want some easy extra get-up-and-go, there’s a recommendation for you here.
The quick list
Below is our quick guide to the best coffee makers around. Use it to narrow down your options, then either hop down to the more in-depth entry, or head straight to a retailer to buy.
1. Moccamaster KBGV Select
The best coffee maker overall
The Moccamaster KBGV Select is the best coffee maker we’ve tested thanks to its balance of style, simplicity, and performance. A drip coffee machine doesn’t have to be complicated, and this one isn’t, with just two buttons. In our tests it produced delicious and well extracted coffee every time, brewing a full carafe in just under six minutes.
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The best coffee maker with grinder
The Ninja Luxe Café is a multifunctional coffee maker that can prepare espresso, drip coffee, and cold brew all in one – and even foam milk for lattes and cappuccinos. It’s a big machine and might look complicated, but our tester found it surprisingly easy to use and had no trouble creating consistently good coffee with a minimum of hassle.
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The best coffee maker with frother
This great-looking bean-to-cup espresso machine handles the entire coffee making process from start to finish – all you need to do is choose which drink you want. Our reviewer was very impressed by the quality of the espresso, which always had a rich flavor and golden crema, though bear in mind that the milk frother works best with dairy.
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The best coffee maker for K-Cups
This coffee maker lets you use either ground coffee or K-Cups, giving you more options than a typical drip coffee maker. Both options worked well in our tests, and we were particularly impressed by the cold brew setting, which created a drink that never tasted watered down. There’s a milk frother too, which is unusual for a drip machine.
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5. Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine
The best coffee maker with timer
If you want fresh coffee first thing in the morning, this is the coffee maker for you. Smeg’s simple but beautiful drip machine has a programmable timer that you can set to start just before you wake, and a hot plate to keep it at the perfect temperature. We found the resulting coffee smooth and delicious (though the interface steamed up a little).
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The best coffee maker for travel
A coffee maker for aficionados who want espresso on the move, the Picopresso relies on manual pumping to generate the pressure needed to extract a shot, but it’s small and convenient enough to use anywhere. Our tester rated it the best coffee maker for camping, but recommends taking some time to master it before heading into the wild.
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The best Nespresso coffee maker
Krups makes some of the best coffee-brewing equipment around (I swear by its grinders) and this compact Nespresso machine is no exception. The company is best known for its manual coffee makers, and has used its expertise to take brewing from a capsule to the next level, producing delicious, creamy coffee in record time.
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The best coffee makers 2024
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The best coffee maker overall
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Buy it if
✅ You want good quality filter coffee: The Moccamaster isn’t a jack of all trades., instead doing one thing very well.
✅ You value design in your kitchen: This is a great looking retro-style coffee maker.
Don’t buy it if
❌ You want to keep coffee warm all day: The hotplate only stays on for 40 minutes (though keeping your coffee hot longer can spoil the taste)
❌ You want a choice of brewing options: The Moccamaster keeps things as simple as possible, with just two buttons.
For us, the Moccamaster KBGV Select is the best coffee maker right now for several reasons: it brews impeccable coffee, it looks cool, and it’s effortless to use.
During our tests we found that this hand-built coffee maker (known as the or the Moccamaster KBG Select in Europe) is beautifully simple to use thanks to its two-switch operation. The filter holder is even removable so you can pop it on the scales to weigh out the correct quantity of coffee, and the carafe pours cleanly without dripping. Those who are aesthetic-driven will also appreciate not just its sturdy build but also its elegant, retro-style design that comes in so many colorways – 21, to be specific.
Just keep in mind that the hotplate stays on for only 40 minutes. However, leaving coffee on a hotplate for hours can make the coffee bitter anyway, so this is hardly a massive deal-breaker.
It’s not the most expensive coffee maker on our list, but there are cheaper drip filter machines around if you’re on a tighter budget. Check out our best drip coffee maker guide for plenty more options.
Read our full Moccamaster KBGV Select review
The best coffee maker with grinder
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Buy it if
✅ You enjoy variety: If you can’t choose between drip, cold brew, and espresso, the Ninja Luxe Café does it all.
✅ You want ease of use: It might look complicated, but this coffee maker is surprisingly straightforward to master.
Don’t buy it if
❌ You want to brew big pots of coffee: You’re limited to 18oz at a time. If you want to make a pot, the Ninja DualBrew Pro could be a better option.
❌ You want to steam plant milk: Automatic milk frothers tend to be optimized for dairy, and this one is no exception.
Whereas some bean to cup coffee makers (like the Smeg BCC13 below) handle the whole brewing process for you, the Ninja Luxe Café guides you through the process of preparing your drink manually – like an experienced barista guiding your hand to help you achieve exactly the taste you want.
It’s an impressive looking machine, but our tester was surprised how easy it was to master. The Luxe Café suggests a suitable grind size and dosage for the drink you want to make, and the result was consistently well extracted coffee with minimal effort. Espresso turned out beautifully, though we found the choice of four different settings to be unnecessary for filter coffee – regular and cold brew would have been fine.
The automatic milk frother worked well with our tester’s 2% milk, creating creamy microfoam for lattes and cappuccinos. It wasn’t so well suited to oat milk though, which we’ve found tends to be the case with auto milk systems. In all other respects, the Luxe Café is hard to fault, and if you want a machine that can produce drip coffee, cold brew, and espresso drinks all in one, you need look no further.
Read our full Ninja Luxe Café review
The best coffee maker with milk frother
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Buy it if
✅ You make several coffees daily: Bean-to-cup coffee makers are never cheap, so you need to be a frequent coffee drinker to justify the price.
✅ You don’t want to tinker: The BCC13 weighs, grinds, extracts, froths and pours with no input from you – perfect if you want to be hands-off.
Don’t buy it if
❌ Coffee is your hobby: There’s very little scope for creativity here, so if you want to experiment then a fully manual machine would be a better choice.
❌ You prefer plant milk: Like the Ninja Luxe Café above, the Smeg BCC’s auto milk frother works best with dairy.
If you want to make cappuccinos and lattes, you have two options: look for a coffee maker with a manual steam wand (like the dependable Gaggia Classic) and master the art of aerating and stretching, or choose a machine with an automatic milk frothing system that will do the hard work for you.
The Smeg BCC13 is the latter type, and brews consistently good, well extracted coffee from start to finish, with no effort from you whatsoever. Just load beans into the hopper, add water to the tank and milk to the dispenser, and choose a drink type using the menu on the top (you’ll need to refer to the manual the first few times to know what each button represents) and the BCC13 will do the rest.
During our tests, we were very impressed by the quality of the espresso produced by the BCC13, which was delicious and well extracted every time, with a rich golden crema. Dairy milk foamed well using the auto frothing system, though plant milk didn’t fare quite so well (something Smeg does warn about). If you want to use alternative milks regularly, you might want to consider a simple espresso machine and a separate milk frother like the Dreo Baristamaker, which is designed to tackle soy, oat, almond etc.
Read our full Smeg BCC13 review
The best coffee maker for K-Cups
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Buy it if
✅ You want to use ground coffee and K-Cup pods: The Ninja DualBrew Pro has an adaptor that lets you choose either.
✅ You drink coffee slowly: The hot plate can keep your drink warm for up to four hours.
Don’t buy it if
❌ You sometimes want espresso: Although it has an ‘espresso’ setting, the DualBrew Pro can’t compare to a shot pulled using an actual pressurized espresso machine.
❌ You’re tight on space: This is larger than most drip coffee makers, so measure your counter first to make sure it will fit.
The Ninja DualBrew Pro is a two-in-one drip coffee maker, able to use either coffee grounds or K-Cups. We found the control panel a little more complicated than most other coffee machines we’ve tested, but we got the hang of it after the first few brews, and the rest of the DualBrew Pro is no harder to use than any other filter coffee machine.
We appreciated the indicator lights, which let you know how far along the brewing process the machine is, the mess-free design that closes the brew basket once it’s done, and the well extracted coffee it produced every time, whether we used grounds or a cup. The cold brew setting was particularly impressive, producing a delicious drink that didn’t taste watered down.
There’s a water line for brewing tea (great if you don’t have a kettle handy) and a milk frother, which is very unusual for a drip coffee maker. We wouldn’t recommend the DualBrew Pro’s ‘espresso’ setting, though. As you might expect from a drip coffee maker, it can’t replicate the depth and richness of a real espresso shot. If you want a machine that can do both properly, take a look at the Ninja Luxe Café above.
Read our full Ninja DualBrew Pro review
The best coffee maker with timer
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Buy it if
✅ You want coffee first thing in the morning: The programmable timer means there’ll be a freshly brewed pot ready and waiting for you.
✅ You hate waste: There are no pods here, and the Smeg machine has a reusable filter that’s easy to wash.
Don’t buy it if
❌ You have a tight budget: This is a luxury drip coffee machine. If you want something more affordable take a look at our best drip coffee makers guide.
❌ You have limited kitchen space: Like the DualBrew Pro above, this is a fairly large coffee maker. For something smaller, take a look at the Cuisinart Grind & Brew.
If you’re a fan of drip coffee then the Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine is probably the best coffee maker for you. It can make several cups of coffee in one go and it’ll keep coffee warm for 40 minutes too, so on those extra sleepy mornings, you can keep coming back for more.
For the ultimate convenience, you can set the timer on this machine and it’ll start brewing your coffee before you even get out of bed, and we think waking up to the smell of fresh coffee is perfection. It’s finished in Smeg’s signature retro style and available in a wide range of colors, too, making this one of the best coffee machines for anyone who values aesthetics as much as flavor.
On test, it made a smooth cup of coffee and was easy to use, plus with a two and four cup option, you don’t always have to make a full carafe. However, we found the Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine’s interface steamed up quite a bit, and the coffee maker takes up a lot of space on the countertop too.
Read our full Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine review
The best coffee maker for travel
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Buy it if
✅ You want to brew on the move: Whether you’re camping, in the car, or at the office, the Picopresso lets you make fresh coffee anywhere.
✅ You’re short on space: Even if you don’t have space for any of the other coffee makers in this guide, you can still find space in a drawer for this.
Don’t buy it if
❌ You don’t have access to hot water: The Picopresso doesn’t have any means of heating water, so this will need to be done first.
❌ You’re short of time: Making espresso this way is quite time consuming – all the components need to be cleaned and dried, and there’s the time spent pumping to achieve the necessary pressure.
If the thought of travel leaves you terrified that you might not be able to get a cup of coffee the way you like it, the Wacaco Picopresso could be just what you need. This pocket-sized coffee maker is one that you can take anywhere, and because it’s hand-pumped and doesn’t require mains power, it’s also the best coffee maker for camping.
Before you put it in your rucksack for a trip into the wilds, though, we’d recommend taking some time to learn its ways. This one’s made for coffee aficionados rather than beginners, so you’ll need to experiment with tamping your coffee and finding the right water volumes to get a cup of espresso that’s best for you. It definitely delivers, though; our reviewer was soon able to brew a full-bodied cup of espresso complete with a good-looking crema.
Because it’s so compact it doesn’t hold a lot of water (0.1qt / 80ml), which means you won’t get a huge amount of coffee out one brew, and of course you’ll have to make do without texturized milk. However as a portable means of making a great cup of coffee wherever you may be, this is about as good as it gets.
Read our full Wacaco Picopresso review
The best Nespresso coffee maker
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Krups is a brand best known for its manual espresso machines and brewing equipment (I have one of its grinders, and swear by it), but with the Pixie, it’s put that expertise to use in the world of coffee capsules. The results have to be tasted to be believed. During our tests, not only did the Pixie heat up incredibly quickly, reaching temperature in just 25-30 seconds, the resulting brew was the best we’ve tried from any Nespresso machine, with thick, robust crema.
The Pixie can only brew two sizes of drinks (espresso or lungo), but it’s otherwise hard to fault. It has a reassuringly sturdy build, and pulling down the front handle to dispense your coffee gives just a little taste of the barista experience without any of the skill or mess usually involved. Cleanup is a piece of cake too – just press the ‘lungo’ button three times when you want to rinse the system through.
The Krups Nespresso Pixie can be bought on its own if you like your coffee black, or with a standalone milk frother for just a little extra cash. All in all, it’s a beautifully designed little machine that takes up barely any space on your kitchen counter, and delivers genuinely impressive results in less than two minutes.
Read our full Krups Nespresso Pixie review
How to choose the best coffee maker for you
There are so many different options on the market that it can be hard to know which is the best coffee maker for you.
If you enjoy a simple americano and don’t like milk-based drinks, then a drip filter coffee maker will be a great option. Plus, these machines can make as many as 12 cups of coffee in one go.
If you just want small quantities of coffee, though, we’d recommend a single-serve coffee maker from Keurig or Nespresso.
If you like milk-based coffee, then there are quite a few options available. Some models are fully automated and have a built-in frother that will be able to create a variety of milk textures, while others have steam arms which you place into a jug of milk and froth the milk yourself. There’s a third option too – and this includes buying a separate milk frother which is a stand-alone machine. You’ll be able to use these to make everything from lattes to hot chocolates, and they make a great accompaniment to a pod coffee maker.
Coffee drinkers that like plenty of customization options will be best suited to a coffee maker that lets you adjust the strength of your brew and create different sizes of hot drinks. Many premium coffee makers will let you do both of these things, but you can also adjust the strength and the aroma of your coffee with a good drip filter model.
The final thing to consider is how involved you’d like to be in the coffee-making process – and the clean-up afterwards. Some designs are smart-enabled so you can simply switch them on from your phone, however, others will require you to pack down ground coffee and pull your own shot of espresso before frothing the milk yourself. Some of the best coffee machines have self-cleaning systems which purge the steam wand to prevent milk residue drying in the pipes, while others have systems to flush out any build-up in the machine.
If you’re still not sure, you can find a more detailed breakdown in our article covering which type of coffee maker to buy.
Frequently asked coffee maker questions
Can espresso machines make regular coffee?
Technically yes, because espresso is the base of all kinds of coffees. Espresso machines can be used to make an americano if they have the functionality to add hot water to a shot of espresso (which many of the best coffee machines do). If you want to make milk-based drinks such as lattes or flat whites you’ll need to ensure that there’s a steam arm on the machine, or alternatively, you can purchase a separate milk frother.
How do coffee makers work?
With so many different types of coffee makers on offer, it’s no surprise that each type of machine works slightly differently. Here we focus on espresso machines and pod coffee makers but for a more detailed explanation, head to our feature on how coffee makers work.
Espresso machines work by using a pump to push pressurized water through coffee grounds so that it infuses with the water to make a smooth shot of espresso. If an espresso machine has a milk frother, it will use a boiler to push steam out of the machine which is then used to give the milk a velvety texture. Pod coffee makers work by using a compacted capsule of coffee and piercing a hole in the capsule. Hot water is then powered up through the machine and pushed through the capsule to create a coffee. Some more advanced pod machines, such as the Nespresso Vertuo Next, spin the coffee pod around at high speeds so that the contents evenly infuse with water for an even smoother cup of coffee.
How to clean a coffee maker
Keeping your coffee maker clean will not only ensure it looks great, but it’s crucial for maintaining working order and keeping it hygienic. We’ve written a full feature on how to clean a coffee maker and all its parts but the good news is that you’ll be able to clean thoroughly using products you’ve most likely got at home already. To clean your machine’s water tank, you can make a solution with one part water and one part white vinegar and simply leave it to soak inside your water reservoir for a couple of hours. To give the pipes a good flush through, let the vinegar solution run through the machine by switching it on as you would do normally for water.
We’re also got a dedicated article on how to clean a Nespresso machine and how to clean a Keurig, for those that have single-serve coffee makers at home.
What is the best coffee maker for home use?
If you’re looking for the best coffee maker to use at home, either because you’re spending more time working remotely and want a cup of Joe that’s the same quality as you’d get in the office, or you just want to cut down on your expenses by reducing your coffee shop visits, then you’re probably wondering which is the best one to buy.
For true coffee-shop-worthy espresso, then it’s worth investing in one of the best espresso machines on the market right now. These ensure you can tweak the strength of the coffee by changing aspects such as the volume of water used to brew the espresso, the length of time the brewing process takes, and how tightly or loosely compacted the puck (the disc of ground coffee) is.
All of these affect how strong, and how bitter the coffee tastes. But espresso machines require plenty of experimentation, which takes time and using ground coffee can be messy.
If you’re tight on space consider the Breville Bambino or Breville Bambino Plus (which are sold under the Sage brand in the UK), while for those with larger kitchens and a bigger budget, consider the De’Longhi La Specialista Arte EC9155MB or the Breville Oracle Touch – again known as the Sage Oracle Touch in the UK.
If you don’t want to spend all your time learning how to brew the perfect coffee, or cleaning up after it, then one of the best single-serve coffee makers, also known as pod coffee machines, will produce good quality espresso with minimal mess. We rate the Nespresso Vertuo Next, but our article which Nespresso machine is best? offers plenty of further information to help you decide.
If you’re in the US there’s also an array of Keurig single-serve coffee makers to choose from. Check out Nespresso vs Keurig: which should you buy? if you’re unsure which manufacturer you should plump for.
Which type of coffee maker should I choose?
For those that want to perfect their coffee-making skills, consider an espresso machine. This is the best coffee maker for people who prefer to handle every part of the brewing process, from compacting the coffee grounds into a puck or small disc (a process known as tamping) to the brew volume and duration to create the perfect cup of coffee to suit you. If you’re new to this type of coffee maker, discover how to use an espresso machine in-depth in our article.
Alternatively, for the same coffee-shop standard hot drinks but with a hands-off approach, opt for a bean-to-cup coffee machines, which automate the processes described above to rustle up a cup of joe at the touch of a button.
If you’re looking to make a cup of coffee with as minimal amount of fuss as possible, a single-serve coffee maker is the best fit. Also known as pod coffee machines, they use capsules filled with ground coffee to create a hot drink with far less mess than espresso machines.
Nespresso and Keurig are the biggest brands when it comes to single-serve coffee machines and offer a range of machines each. However, pod coffee machines have a poor reputation when it comes to sustainability as many of the capsules end up in landfill. Follow our guide on how to recycle Nespresso pods to help ensure this doesn’t happen.
Finally, the drip coffee maker is a familiar style to most of us and it’s the best coffee machine for those that want to brew large quantities of Java at any one time. Discover in-depth how coffee makers work in our article then, find out how to make your favorite coffee at home
How we test the best coffee makers
We take testing the best coffee makers seriously and put all the machines through their paces to see if they really can do everything they promise to. We test each coffee maker for the crema it produces on an espresso, how easy it is to use and set up, and also for consistency from one cup to another.
When we’re testing, we take into account the overall design of each coffee maker – how it looks, how much space it’ll take up on your kitchen counter, whether the water tank is removable for easy refills, and how the machine looks as a whole.
For coffee makers with milk frothers, we test the milk texture to see if it’s silky and smooth and of course, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t drink plenty of coffee along the way to see how each cup measures up for the overall taste.
We test models to see how much control you have over each cup of coffee, and whether it’s a case of simply pressing a button or whether more of a hands-on approach is needed. All the best coffee machines will require regular cleaning so we’re always sure to note what maintenance is involved and how easy these machines are to keep in top condition.
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