The Story of the New Coffee Maker

Saturday our coffee maker quit working.  I was rather distraught since I was having one of those days. You know, the type where you wake up late to a child screaming like a pterodactyl for his bottle and a blaring alarm clock that has been snoozed repeatedly for the last hour and a half. I bolted out of bed, threw on some exercise pants and a t-shirt, no time to shower, tried to brush my ratty hair and stumbled to Levi's room and got him and then set straight to work preparing breakfasts, doing laundry, dealing with invoices for the garage, answering phone calls, etc, etc. So when I finally got our little man down for a nap in the afternoon, I thought there could be nothing better than a hot cup of energizing coffee. And maybe a shower. But first, coffee. 

So I filled the pot with water and coffee grounds and hit the button and nothing happened. So I hit it again. {This has happened twice before and it always redeemed itself.} But nothing...again. Grrrrr....

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So I called my honey, who was out running errands, and asked him to please stop in at the local Wal-Mart and pick me up a new one. He refused {since he has something against Wal-Mart} and I was bummed. 

So we borrowed a backup pot that my brother-in-law keeps in the barn for my afternoon coffee. Hallelujah. And then that night we used this as an excuse to go out to eat and shop for a new coffee maker. {Any excuse will do for eating out around these parts.} We were pleasantly surprised to find a Bed Bath & Beyond nearby the restaurant we went to. I went in and quickly located a $29.99 Mr. Coffee model that I thought would do the trick. And it was short enough to fit under our wall cabinets {there is only 13.5" of clearance over our counters rather than the standard 18"}. 

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I was thrilled to be buying a coffee maker that would hold a large amount of coffee, keep it warm, and even perform a delayed brew first thing in the morning! We had never had those luxuries with our 2 - cup to go model. It had been fabulous, don't get me wrong, and we didn't even buy it. My friend, Camille, gave it to us once cuz she didn't want it. When we first got it, it definitely served us perfectly well cuz we really only brewed coffee once in a blue moon if we had java-loving house guests or we wanted to make a frozen java for dessert. But over the past few years, since having our little one, and getting older ourselves, we've become more and more dependent on the caffeine. And we've found it increasingly annoying that our coffee maker could really only brew enough for 2 people {not fun when entertaining} and didn't keep it warm long. In fact, we even discussed how we felt we were somehow entering adulthood officially by getting a new coffee maker that would have all those bells and whistles. 

So, before we headed to the checkout with the Mr. Coffee machine, Dave said he wanted to look over all the options. I was exasperated, to say the least. See, if you know my husband, you know that if he goes shopping, he will come home with the most expensive option. You'll love whatever it is, no doubt, but you'll pay for it :) So, being the tightwad of this marriage, and knowing where this could go, I tried my best to restrain him, to distract him. . .to no avail.

It wasn't 5 seconds later that he spotted this puppy.

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The DeLonghi Combination Drip Coffee, Espresso, Cappuccino and Latte Machine.

For $149.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I about had a heart attack. {And I know, I know, it could have been worse. There are plenty of $1,000+ espresso machines out there. . .but this is reality and $149.99 is a big deal to me right now.}

I tried my best to talk him out of it. We argued and deliberated. He said he only really likes espresso drinks and not regular brewed coffee. And I agreed that I did prefer them as well. Then he further justified the purchase by explaining that it would seriously cut down on his frequent trips to The Depot Coffee House and Starbucks for $4 white mochas. That did make it seem a bit less pricey in the long-run.

So he called my sister, former Crate & Barrel associate, and in-family expert on all things kitchen. She ok'd it and even mentioned that Crate & Barrel sells the same thing for $129. Then Dave used Dave Ramsey bargaining tactics and sweet-talked the BB&B folks into price-matching and we walked out the door with our DeLonghi for about 15% off :)

And after spending a few days getting the right type of coffee and reading the manual {er, Dave reading the manual. . .} and all that, we have successfully made a couple at-home mocha lattes and I am THRILLED with this purchase. It was well worth the money for our household and I think it will save us hundreds of dollars this year. Easily. Even if we did have to spend so much to begin with.

Anyone else OBSESSED with coffee lately? Do you have a favorite espresso machine or coffee maker? What other types of kitchen gadgets are you so thankful to have?