Perspective
I was given the Bar4 (Caffe Sorrento) by a co-worker that was moving across country and didn't want to take it with them. It lived in my desk for about a year until I finally brought it home when my main coffee was re-located to my ex-wife's house.

Here is what I did to make fairly good espresso in it:

1: Espresso ground 1/2 light roast with 1/2 medium roast

2: Added coffee to the fill line and then tamped it down with the bottom of a measuring cup I had, that fit into the filter basket (you could also use the top of a pill bottle)

3: Add cold, clean water to the machine in the amount suggested by the instruction book

4: Make sure the steam valve is completely closed

5: Turn the machine on and wait.


While you're doing that, if you want steamed/frothed milk, pour the milk into the container you intend to froth in. I ended up using a pyrex glass that was fairly short. I filled it half way with milk. Once the espresso is made, put the glass up to the milk frother so that it is only about 3/4 of an inch off of the bottom of the container and then open the steam valve.

While steaming, move the glass around to heat the milk. If you have a thermometer, wait for 160F. If you don't wait roughly 10 seconds for about a cup and a half of milk. Then slowly lower the glass so that the frother is about an inch from the surface of the milk and keep moving the the glass around. You will start to notice the foam rise. Keep moving the glass so that you get more foam and you are evenly steaming the milk.

Just before you have enough foam, turn the machine off so that it stops producing steam and let the steam run out.

A couple of key points from the other reviews:
- If steam starts going everywhere, turn the machine off
- If coffee starts going everywhere, turn the machine off
- If problems happen, TURN THE MACHINE OFF

Also:
- You can not froth cold milk.
- If there is still steam in the machine when you close the steam valve, it will start spitting out coffee again unless the machine is off and cooled down.
- The espresso is only going to be as good as the coffee you use. It won't turn cheap coffee into good coffee.

Overall, it isn't a bad machine. You get what you pay for. As long as you aren't rough with it and break the knobs on it, it should work fine. Plus you can buy replacement parts for it from the DeLonghi web site.

What a Mess
I was so excited to receive my DeLonghi Caffe Sorrento Bar4 4-Cup Espresso/Cappuccino Machine.
Being an experienced expresso drinker I started to brew my expresso, needless to say the frother works so so good you do not even have to turn it on. Water and steam everywhere, also the frother does not turn off, I tried so hard that the knob came off. I was very dissapointed.

seriously flawed
I was so happy with this machine the first two times I used it. The third time was a disaster. The milk foamer did not work. I have tried everything, but it still does not work. Any suggestions?

Much Ado About A Great Product
We had a Mr. Coffee for several years, and it reliably turned out decent (not excellent) expressos and lattes. When the main switch failed recently, I looked into getting a new one and was surprised to see all the hyped up reviews on the Amazon site.
As a result, this simple little machine is selling for more than its list price -- ridiculous, in my opinion.I bought the Delonghi Cafe Sorrento for instead, and after about two months of heavy use, I couldn't be more pleased. Most importantly, it makes better expresso than the Mr. Coffee. I would rate the expresso as very good to excellent.That fact by itself is enough to recommend the Delonghi, and when you consider the price (equivalent to a week's worth of lattes at your friendly neighborhood corporate coffee merchant), it's a no brainer. If it breaks or malfunctions -- I regret to have to say it in this brave new world of globalized and outsourced cheap labor -- throw it out and get a new one. You'll have gotten your money's worth, I'm sure.So what else is good about it? Style: a matter of taste. It is sleek, modern and European in appearance. I like it.Frothing: Strong head of steam makes this quick and easy. The broad, plastic tip unscrews easily for rinsing, and cools very rapidly (unlike the metal tip on my old Mr. Coffee; the new models may have plastic tips as well). Filter basket: The housing is plastic (not metal), which cools rapidly and avoids the potential for burns from metal housings that are handled shortly after brewing for emptying/cleaning/reuse. There is a handy tab on the housing which flips up against the filter basket to hold it in place with one finger when you invert it and whip it madly against the inside of your plastic (hopefully) trash receptacle to empty the spent grinds. Best of all, the housing has two spouts (is that the right word?), which allows you to actually rest the housing and filter basket flat on on the counter without having to hold it as you fill it with freshly ground coffee. This a simple design feature, but it makes such a difference in everyday use compared to the Mr. Coffee, which you have to hold in one hand as you fill it. And, of course, should you choose not to use the carafe, you could make two expressos directly into the cups at the same time.Overall a great machine that makes very good to excellent expresso, is nicely styled, and has several intelligent design features that make it superior to the Mr. Coffee. So, have I convinced you?

disappointed espresso addict
This is a very disappointing machine. I have owned 3 espresso machines & this one makes the weakest espresso of all. The company did not include the 1 cup filter when I bought it new. There was conflicting advice from DeLonghi Customer Service about the ground of the coffee...my local Caribou Store laughs when I come in, ordering 1/4 lb. of a different grind every day.. No one in customer service knew the answer to my questions & I was put on hold each time for a supervisor's help. Then info was given based on supervisor's interpretation. I have given up. I bought this because it has an attached water tank. Now I'm purchasing a Saeco Aroma Espresso machine online here which is more expensive --but I know from earlier experience that Saeco has excellent customer service!

Amazingly Great
The title says it all.

A expresso maker for the home, that makes a cup of espresso like you would ger at a cafe. The cup of espresso even has a layer of coffee foam on top of the coffee.

Nice product but it has some problems
Overall, I like this product. It's performance is very good, and its espresso coffee is wonderful. However, the licking problem reduce 1 star.

FOUND THE KNACK!
I have owned this machine since 3/'04 (!)and thought about getting a new model w/coffee maker. After shopping for a new machine and reading the reviews on this one, I must add my 2 cents. I have figured out how to avoid problems others have had with it and I am very happy with mine. In fact I will not upgrade because the others (w/ coffee maker)are not pump driven unless you spend a fortune. Here is what I do for a great latte: Turn on machine first thing. It takes about 2-3 minutes for mine to warm up and the light to turn on. While waiting for that, I get my milk out and pour it in my mug, and then fill the basket with coffee. I then turn on the frother and run it into the empty frothing pitcher. For some reason, it spits out water first before the steam gets there. Before that, I used to wonder why my drinks were watered down. So I then steam my milk right in my mug. It works great if you put it just below the surface of the milk. Then I shut off the steam and hit the espresso button and make the coffee. I pour the espresso through the milk. Perfect every time! I did buy the Delonghi burr grinder and it works perfect but I love Illy coffee so sometimes use that too. I only wish the espresso machine had a bigger basket and made more at one time. The pump is a little noisey, but at least it has a pump! BTW, mine does not leak and have had no problem with the washer (yet). Delonghi does have a terrible website and poor customer service.

Tried twice and it broke down in less than 1 month!!!
This machine makes a great cappuccino. I was very happy at first making several cups a day... Until it blew up (literally, almost) and stopped making steam.
I tried again (Seeing that half the reviews were good and half were bad I figured I'd try my luck)...
What a surprise... The second one broke in exactly the same way in less than 3 weeks (I had guests over too, so I was very upset).
Bottom line, I returned it and purchased a breville, which does not make as good a coffee, but I hope it will be more reliable...

Lukewarm latte, lukewarm review
Purchased as a replacement for a 4+ year old Delonghi EAM 3200, which served faithfully until the boiler started leaking and melting the plastic below the cup warmer! Went with the Perfecta because of the double boiler (not on the 3200) and the auto-milk dispenser. First the good. It's much quieter than expected, which is great in the morning when others are asleep. I appreciate the custom settings, which allowed me to set the expected milk and espresso volumes my wife and I were used to (Starbucks grande sized). BTW, the machine also looks sharp. The unexpected drawback: it really takes until the 3rd cup in the morning for the milk to get up to a truly acceptable temperature (confirmed with a thermometer). Cup #1 in the morning in a lukewarm latte, and this is despite setting the machine temp to "hi". Latte #3 will hit 160 degrees, which is great. This almost caused us to return the machine (there's no option on this machine to manual froth to a desired temp), but I think we'll work with it and see how it goes.

Delonghi Buyer Beware!!!!
Buyer Beware. This machine puts up a good front, however, after about six months it stops working. Cheaply made. Sent off for repairs and after two months it was sent back to me only to work for another two weeks before breaking again. Delonghi seems to be content with having the machine in transit and repair longer than in my kitchen. Very poor product. Very high price. Stick with your local gourmet coffee shop.

Main problems: Milk frother will not work. Leaks water from the bottom of the machine.

Nice Machine
Mine, stopped frothing milk, in about 40 days after I had purchased it here from Amazon.com; but, it was somewhat easy to work with DeLonghi , at the toll free number that comes with the machine. We tried a number of things; and, when nothing resolved the problem, DeLonghi had Fedex pick up the machine from my home (they even sent me a special box to pack the unit in) and gave me a choice of two service outlets they would have it repaired at under warranty. At, the time, this was a new unit/model; and service parts had to be specially ordered --- so, it took approximately three months before the machine was delivered back to me. Any time I phoned DeLonghi, during this process, they has a status report as to what was going on; and, as it was quite a while that the machine was not in use by me, DeLonghi , even extended my warranty by the amount of time I had to go without the machine. Since it's repair, over 5 months now, the machine has been working just fine (and, I use it several times a day, 7 days a week).

Good machine; and, good product support from DeLonghi, in my opinion.

Great Machine!
I am surprised that I am the first reviewer of this great machine. I just received mine yesterday. I bought it from another vender, but since I typically do most of my shopping via Amazon I thought I would share my experience thus far. Overall, this Super-Automatic is simple to use and makes great coffee, lattes, and cappuccino's. My advice though....WATCH THE DVD BEFORE USING!!! I thought I had this thing in the bag.. how difficult could it be to use??....Well it isn't difficult to use, but there are a few things I did that had I watched the video all the way through I would not have done. For example, when setting how fine or coarse you want the beans you have to adjust the dial one notch at a time while the grinder is running (still doesn't make sense to me). I paused the video before waiting for the lady to finish talking on the topic and just moved it a few notches towards fine...oops! Oh well, doesn't seem to have adversely effected anything, but now I know. Contrary to reviews I have read of super-auto's, the burr grinder on this one is quiet when running. On a scale of 1-10 where 10 is extremely loud and 1 is basically silent I would rate this machine a 5 and my Cuisinart Grind and brew (the one that hold like a pound of beans) an 8. I was actually expecting something much louder.

Build Quality- I would have to say I am impressed with the looks of this machine and its fit and finish. I am sure some people will complain of the amount of plastic, but seeing how this thing already weighs over 20lbs. why add more weight. I thought about the Gran Dama, but honestly this machine is better.

Coffee- I was also considering the Jura Z5 because I read good things, but the price was a stretch. Granted, this machine isn't cheap either. I believe that I made the right choice. The espresso is great. I do wonder though what it tasted like from the factory, but since I changed the settings prematurely I will never know...ha! The Milk pitcher is ingenious...BRAVO! Latte's and Cappuccino's are a breeze and let me tell you this machine makes both very well. Sure a semi-auto can do better, but really I do not want to do the extra steps. As it is, Starbucks does not compare. I have read reviews that state the Gran Dama latte's can be cold. I have to admit, the first one I made was, but after I made a couple and utilized the cup warmer they were perfect. I bought the Cinnamon Dolce syrup from Starbucks and I downed to many lattes....probably explains why at 0209 EST I am still up and writing this review.

My Opinion- If you are in the market for a super-automatic I would say give this one a consideration. I bought this machine from a place that has probably the best return policy of all retailers, so if something does go wrong I will take it right back for another. Regardless, the people at Delonghi are great and I was amazed that as soon as I pushed (1) I was talking to a person almost immediately. I will probably just purchase the extended warranty from the manufacturer and extend the 2 years to 4...Extra 0. That is all for now. Look for an update in a couple months.


**UPDATE** 3/24/10

Well I overworked the first one, but the place I bought it from gladly took it back and ordered me another one. I made nearly 2,000 cups of coffee in 4 months with the first one. I have made nearly 1000 with the one I have now, but it seems to be holding up fine. As far as recommending it I still would. I love this machine. It is so nice that I can make everything Starbucks does without having to pay them for every cup. I have basically every syrup they have and all my guests rave about the Delonghi. It is a lot of money to spend on a coffee maker, but I would do it again.

Oh so convenient!
I've read mixed reviews on this one, but we were so tired of moving our coffee pot in and out to fill it, we decided to take a chance. We've had the pot for a few weeks now & we make coffee at least once a day. It makes delicious coffee and the front access is fabulous!! One downfall is how slowly it brews. On the standard brew it takes about 12-15 minutes to brew a full pot & the aroma brew is even slower. The convenience is well worth the wait though. It's also a fairly stylish looking pot which is nice since it sits out on the counter all the time.:) It sounds like some people have gotten "lemons" but I'd definitely recommend this pot!

Dangerous Short
We purchased two for our business one for upstairs one down. Within the first thirty days the first one developed condensation on the LED to the point you could not read the clock.Then the hot plate shorted out and became to hot and caused the pot to shatter with coffee in carafe, a horrible mess, having to replace a rug due to coffee stains and glass.9.00. The second was the worse: After declaring the first one was a fluke, continued the use of the second. The LED had alreay clouded up .(yes i know that it is from either coffee or water that has seeped in from spillage of pouring water in or placing the carafe back into its spot, but having the LED and electrical on the front at the base is just a horrible design!)19 days after the other exploded, I was awakened by the smell of smoke and burning plastic, the coffee maker was set to brew at 5:30 am, when I rushed into the kitchen and smoke detector blaring the coffee maker was on fire. The hot plate must have once again shorted out and melted the plastic to the point it caught fire. I am just so glad we stopped the fire before it engulfed the kitchen. 00. in damages. I have had my outlets tested by an electrician and all is fine. The Coffee Maker is DANGEROUS and and BAD DESIGN!! Do not BUY!

Three star coffee maker, black hole for vendor.
The product appears to be of fine quality. When I purchased the pot the ad identified the item as new. Well I received the pot in a generic cardboard box without the decantor. I notified your vendor of the problem and he stated the ad specifically said "no decanter".

Needless to say I did not see this in the ad. I would not have chosen to purchase a coffee pot plus shipping, then buy a decanter plus shipping from another vendor. I now have invested approximately double the advertised cost of the coffee maker.

The coffee maker does work and makes good coffee. I do have to drink it iced to cool off.

Regards

Alb

If you like plastic-flavored coffee
Bought this coffee maker and it is very easy to fill--loved that. The problem was the smell of melting plastic after it brewed and that smell was part of the unusual taste of the coffee. Tried expensive coffee, regular auto grind, and opened a new can of coffee trying to determine the bad tasting flavor. It was the pot--had to return it since I like hot coffee without the plastic overtones.

Design Flaw
I fell in love with the ergonomic design of this coffee maker when I purchased this appliance 6 months ago. The front load system is wonderful, the aroma button works great. However, there is an inherent design flaw that leads the coffee to run down the back of the pot and collect on the heating element, and some days on the counter. I've done more research on this, and many people are experiencing this issue. Looks like I'm going to have to go back to pulling a coffee pot out from under my cabinets, as I can't put up with cleaning up coffee everyday.

Great Machine! Three Years of Use
I've used my machine for about three years now. It makes great espresso. My father in law bought the same one after he used mine. The removable water reservoir is extremely practical. My shots come out nice and hot with a beautiful froth on them every time. We have really enjoyed this machine!

My one and only problem with it is that it leaks a little bit of water. I need to wipe up a little bit of water after each time i use it. It really isn't a big deal, but it is a little bit of a bother. I didn't notice this problem with any of the other reviewers, but my father in law's machine does the same exact thing.

Overall, I would totally recommend this machine whole-heartedly. It is a great buy and saves a ton of $$ because my coffee is less expensive and better tasting than buying it anywhere else.

lasted 2 weeks
Was really enjoying this expresso maker, but unfortunately the pump quit working after 2 weeks. It looks like I'll be going thru some type of warranty process.

Great Value
I am very happy with the great value that I received from Cucinna Bella on this machine. It was a display model so the price was reduced to . It was quickly shipped to me and arrived in excellent condition.It makes a great latte and meets all of my expectations. At , this was a very good deal.

Don't buy this machine
I received this item for Christmas 2008, it worked for about a week
I than took it apart like the book said to do and cleaned it descaled it everything I could think of, still the frother didn't work and the crema
was never warm enough.
I called the company which was Brand Variety, and they said my 30 days was up, (my husband purchased it in November and put it away for Christmas.
I was than refered to DeLongi who gave me the address and phone number
of a repair station that I could send it to.
The repair man said that the machine was manufactured 2 and a half years ago, and he didn't think that DeLongi, would honor a machine that wasn't currently in their line up.
Now I ask you, you spend 200.00 for what you think is a good machine and
you get the run around. Not Fair!!!!!!!!!!

WORST ESPRESSO MAKER - DONT BUY - HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE TOO
Horrible machine, the espresso comes out like water, it overheats and gets jammed all the time. The frother leaks water out all the time, and the parts are impossible to replace because the customer service for DeLonghi is absolutely horrible. I ordered a part in February of 2008 and I still have not received it yet, supposedly its backordered. Backordered for 9 months? Come on! If you buy an espresso machine stay away from DeLohnghi products.