Best coffee makers 2022: for beginners to home baristas

Choose the best coffee maker for your kitchen with our guide to top pour-over, espresso, and single-serve coffee makers. We have reviewed each and every one of the best coffee makers in our guide, so you can even click to our dedicated reviews to learn more about each coffee maker below. 

For some, the best coffee maker will simply be a means to a more caffeinated morning. Those who are fussier about their espresso or americano will be willing to sacrifice a bit more time to something that can achieve a smooth, Italian-style crema. We find that these coffee makers will require a bit more maintenance, but they can make a great morning ritual that offers an easy way to indulge at any time in the day. 

In our guide to the best coffee makers we have been careful to feature machines of all shapes and sizes, but if you know exactly what type of coffee machine you're looking for, we also have guides to the best espresso machines and other expert coffee makers, complete with hands-on reviews. 

The best coffee makers of 2022

The Philips 3200 Series LatteGo makes any type of coffee you could wish for, with just the touch of a button. It has an in-built milk dispenser that takes the effort out of making your own latte or cappuccino, and the bean-to-cup design means you'll end up with the perfect dose of fresh ground coffee every time. 

It's truly luxurious, with the ability to make coffee shop-worthy brews without any real effort on your part. We loved the LatteGo milk frothing system, which has markings to show you how much milk to add for different types of coffee. This cuts down on waste, and you can put it through the dishwasher to keep it perfectly clean. 

It's modern without being garish, and while no bean-to-cup machine is small, this one is easy enough to store. It sits perfectly under cabinets with some extra clearance that makes it easy to top up on coffee beans.  

You can change the temperature, strength, and quantity of your drinks using the smart touchscreen control panel. Pre-heat is needed, but it doesn't take too long and the machine flushes any water that may have been sitting in the system overnight before doing a brew. 

Our Philips 3200 Series Fully Automatic Espresso Machine review has more information

True coffee lovers who want to experiment with their coffee will have their routines transformed with Breville's Precision Thermal Brewer. The coffee maker has six pre-set brewing modes, including Strong, Gold (meets SCA requirements for a Golden Cup Standard), Fast, Over Ice, and Cold Brew, but the real magic is you can even customize (and save) settings for temperature, bloom speed, and flow rate. 

Everything is precisely down to your desired specifications, and it's easy to operate with the LCD screen and control dial.  It’s programmable too, so you can set it to start brewing before you wake up. 

The machine itself is made with quality stainless steel parts for added durability. It uses a Thermo Coil Heating System that delivers water that is purer than typical brewing systems that use aluminum. 

In addition, the thermal carafe keeps the coffee hot for a longer time. Depending on the amount of coffee you choose to brew (up to 12 cups), there are also two filter baskets: a cone-shape and a flat-bottom filter, which is recommended to use when brewing more than 8 cups. 

Our Breville Precision Brewer Thermal Coffee Maker review has more information

The Dutch-made Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Select is the best coffee maker for true coffee lovers. What it lacks in a multitude of extra features, it more-than makes up for with smooth and speedy brewing, and a quality design that is backed by a five year warranty.

This coffee maker is certainly easy on the eyes, with a large and striking build that puts function first. It's available in a selection of colors though, so you will be able to fit it into any kitchen design you wish. You'll find this coffee maker in our guide to the best drip coffee makers, where we noted that it's as close as you'll get to a pour-over coffee from a home machine.

The Moccamaster has a cone-shaped coffee filter to allow a full flavor profile to develop when you brew. It has a shower-style pour-over design that automatically works, and takes only a minute to come to the right temperature. This uses copper brewing technology to reach 196°F - 205°F, the ideal temperature range for the full extraction of ground coffee. We found that the entire process took around four minutes, and was whisper-quiet throughout. 

Our Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Select review has more details

For when you quickly want the perfect cup of espresso or coffee for one, without the fuss, and at the touch of a button, Nespresso is the way to go. With 16 standard coffee blends and dozens of specialty recipes, plus the countless third-party pods now available, Nespresso remains one of the best pod coffee brands, and Nespresso's latest iteration of its Vertuo line is slimmer and has more options than ever. That's why it takes the top spot in our best single-serve coffee makers guide. 

The 37oz. water tank capacity is enough to get you through a few espressos before having to refill, but the pod capacity is 8, which is less than most Vertuo models. Unlike other Nespresso models, the Next can also brew an 18oz. carafe for when one cup isn't enough, as well as the standard 5oz., 8oz., and 14oz. options and single and double espresso shots. 

The magic of the Vertuo system and its one-touch brewing technology is how the machine is able to scan a capsule-specific barcode to deliver the optimal in-cup, taking into account cup size, pressure, brewing time, and temperature. Rather than utilizing bar pump pressure, the Nespresso Vertuo uses a Centrifusion brewing system to extract its flavor. Together, this technology helps develop a perfect, silky crema. 

If you’re the type of person who loves a cappuccino over breakfast, filter coffee during the day, and an espresso mid-afternoon to keep you awake, the DeLonghi All in One Combination Coffee Maker is your perfect machine. 

It comes with attachments that allow you to brew up to 10 cups of filter coffee, as well as a portafilter for single and double shots of espresso. Even better, you can accomplish both at the same time. Recent additions to the latest edition include a digital touchscreen control, a Bold brew setting, an updated front-loading water tank, and a spillproof glass carafe. 

The De'Longhi All in One Combination Coffee Maker conveniently replaces the need for you to invest in both an espresso maker with an advanced milk frothing steam wand and a drip coffee machine, though it is particularly wider on your countertop than a typical drip coffee maker to accommodate for the dual settings. 

Our De’Longhi All-in-One Combination Coffee Maker and Espresso Machine review has more information

The Café Affetto Automatic Espresso Machine achieves barista brilliance with a chic and relatively compact frame that's perfect for brewing single-serve espresso-based drinks. It's a treat to look at, with white, black or silver finishes and those bold rose gold accents that bring a uniquely modern take to the traditional espresso machine. 

With an in-built grinder, the Café Affetto Automatic Espresso Machine has five different settings to allow you to adjust based on the specific beans. Note that espresso should be made with much more finely ground beans than pour-over coffee, so limiting you to five settings makes sense for the range of ground sizes you could need to make espresso in this machine. 

The controls are simply laid out on the top of the machine, with a pre-set mode for espresso, americano, steam, and hot water, as well as a custom 'my cup' setting that can be set up in the paired app. 

Our Café Affetto Automatic Espresso Machine review has more details

How we selected the best coffee makers

We put a lot of thought into how we test the best coffee makers before featuring them in our guide, and have included a range of coffee makers from top brands like Breville, Nespresso and Technivorm to make sure that there is a coffee maker for everyone in our roundup.

Each and every one of the best coffee makers in our guide has been tested by a member of the Homes & Gardens team. You can also click through to read more thorough reviews of coffee makers, including how easy they are to set up, our thoughts on the user experience, and that all-important cleaning process. 

How to choose the best coffee maker for you

Before you buy, consider what sort of coffee you and your family actually enjoy drinking. 

An all-comprehensive bean-to-cup model will grind fresh beans from scratch for example, and we promise you’ll notice the difference in freshness in the flavor. 

Machines that only use ground coffee are generally less expensive, yet still, produce delicious results. You may, however, want to keep a coffee grinder on hand, if you're partial to buying whole beans. 

Compared to the more expensive automatic espresso maker designs, manual espresso makers take practice but offer more precision and control.

If however, you prefer classic filter coffee rather than espresso or lattes, an affordable carafe design will make fresh coffee, and keep it warm with the minimum of fuss. 

Single-serve or pod machines promise mess-free real coffee in convenient single-cup servings, and while they generally produce quality espresso, they generate create quite a lot of waste compared to buying a simple bag of coffee. Additionally, you can look into reusable pods that you pour your own coffee grounds into.  

Finally, true coffee aficionados who want complete control over their coffees, from brew time to water temperature, will want to try the French Press or Pour-Over methods for an experience, that is best described as truly gourmet. 

How much should I spend on a coffee maker?

We’ve found excellent coffee machines costing anywhere from $100 and $3000, but as a general rule, the more you spend the better the machine will be, especially in terms of longevity, quality of parts – especially if it has a built-in grinder – and ease of cleaning. 

Pod coffee machines are generally quite affordable, but the pods themselves tend to cost more per serving than using typical grinds. 

If you want to make quality coffee at home, we think you should aim to spend at least $200, but given how much a flat white in a café costs, your machine could easily pay for itself in just a few months.  

If you love real coffee, you’re going to need a quality coffee machine. If you love instant coffee or tea all you need is a spoon and a kettle, but for specialty coffees with Barista flair, a model that has a high-pressure boiler that can extract espresso with a lovely crema layer on top is a must.

Bean-to-cup designs offer the freshest brews. By grinding exactly the right amount of beans for your chosen drink you’ll extract more flavor from your favorite roasts.

How easy is a coffee maker to clean?

Cleaning a coffee machine that uses ground coffee is a messy, unavoidable chore. As well as regularly emptying the grounds and drip-tray, you’ll need to clean the milk wand and jug, plus it’s advised to have regular deep cleans using specific coffee machine cleaning products and de-scale to avoid any problems from hard water.