I’m saving more than $1500 extra per year thanks to this slick kitchen gadget – I couldn’t recommend it more

For me, one of life’s little luxuries is a barista-made coffee every morning.

I can’t go a day without ordering a $5.60 large latte from a café on my way to work in the city. It’s a non-negotiable for me, and I’d happily skip meals before I give up caffeine.

When I crunch the numbers, I’m spending at least $28 a week – and that’s only if I stick to one coffee a day. Some days I have two, so I’ve already lost track of the real total. For this review, I’ve averaged it out to $30 a week, or $1,560 a year – and that’s not even including weekends. 

So when I heard about the KitchenAid KF8 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine, I was sceptical anything could drag me away from my daily latte run. Still, I was curious to see if it could help me cut my expensive coffee habit – and make my mornings easier (spoiler alert: it did). 

With an eye-watering price tag, the coffee machine is undoubtedly a luxury item. So is it worth the investment? After putting it to the test for five months, here’s my verdict.

The KF8 model isn’t just another flashy kitchen gadget – it goes beyond a standard coffee machine, seriously feeling like having your very own personal barista at home. It genuinely surprised me in more ways than I expected. 

The coffee machine is all about exceptional espresso made simple. It basically puts a café on your kitchen counter. What I love most is that it takes less than three minutes to make my latte – from turning the machine on to running out the door with my coffee. The best part? It only costs me 45 cents per cup. 

Over the years, I’ve tried making my own coffee at home to cut down on my daily caffeine spend, but I never give myself enough time to make a takeaway cup. By the time I’ve scooped the grounds and frothed the milk, I’ve already missed my train. 

Okay, fine – it’s definitely a me problem, and I should probably get up five minutes earlier… But who am I kidding? I only give myself enough time to roll out of bed, shower, and get dressed for work, so convenience wins every time.

So I was impressed when I started using the KF8. All I have to do is hook the milk container up to the machine, set up my cup and press a button – that’s all. While I’m running around trying to get ready for work, finding my shoes or belt, the machine quietly grinds, froths and makes my espresso to perfection.

The coffee tastes just as good as a barista-made version from a café. It’s all we drink now and we’ve also cut down on buying coffee out at weekends – major win! Whenever we head out, we make our coffee to go and it seriously saves us a lot of money.

To make at-home coffees, we usually buy a 1kg bag for $32, which typically makes 112 cups of coffee, lasting us up to eight weeks. When it comes to milk, we’re spending $4.60 on a 3L bottle of full cream every fortnight. This means it’s costing us just 45 cents to make.

We also drink oat milk in our household. We usually buy in bulk so it works out much cheaper (I recently picked up a 12-pack of one-litre cartons for $26.40 – that’s $2.20 each). So if we’re making coffee with oat milk, it’s costing us about 52 cents per cup.

If I made my coffee at home before work every day for a year, it would only cost me $117 for full cream milk or $153.20 for oat milk – and that’s just weekdays.

Sleek, stylish and highly practical, the KF8 has been designed with modern-day homeowners in mind. It looks beautiful and luxurious on my countertop. It’s got this metal-clad design that sits beautifully on the bench looking like it belongs there – not cluttered like the gadgets you want to hide away. Whenever we have guests over, it’s always a talking point.

One of the biggest standout features is that you can create and personalise drinks from more than 40 different recipes. You can play around with the options. There’s something for everyone – including cappuccino, flat white, long black, piccolo, ristretto, macchiato, iced coffee and even hot chocolate.

You can create up to six user profiles with shortcuts to your go-to drinks – meaning everyone in the house can have their own ‘perfect coffee’ saved – no arguments, no guessing – just one tap and done. 

What I didn’t expect to love as much as I do is how customisable it is. My morning latte isn’t just a latte anymore. I’ve dialled in the strength, temperature, milk ratio and size of my coffee beans to match my preference so it actually feels like it was made by a trained barista, not a machine – it’s seriously a game changer. It’s awesome because everything is saved so you can just tap your profile whenever you fancy a coffee – no faffing around with settings or trying to remember your preferences.

One of my favourite features is the milk system. It can steam or froth exactly the amount you need at the push of a button, and there’s even a plant-based mode for oat, almond or soy milk. As someone who switches between dairy and oat depending on the day, that flexibility is ideal.

The machine comes with a milk container that you can fill with your choice of milk. We’ve purchased a second container to store our favourite oat milk, which is super handy in our household that uses both dairy and plant-based milk. 

You can steam or froth the exact amount of milk needed but we prefer to store the containers in the fridge, ready to attach whenever needed. Some days I prefer full cream, while others I want oat milk – the choice is yours. 

Cleaning is very easy and low effort. It runs automatic rinse cycles, reminds you when it needs a deeper clean, and even rinses the brew unit and milk frother after use, keeping it hygienic and ready to go at all times.

Bean switching is surprisingly easy too. You just twist and lift the hopper to change or refill beans, and it even clears out leftover grounds automatically so your next brew doesn’t get muddled. 

It’s a small detail, but it makes everything feel cleaner and more intentional.

After a few months with the KF8, I realised I wasn’t going to a café as much – especially on weekends. During the week, ordering takeaway coffee from the café near my office has become less frequent. And if I keep this going, I can seriously save myself thousands over the next few years.

However, it’s worth noting that the KF8 is quite a bulky kitchen gadget, so it may not be ideal if you’re short on countertop space.

Some might argue the relatively high price point of the coffee machine ($2,599) is a drawback. But if money is no object, you won’t be disappointed with the KitchenAid KF8 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine, as making café-style drinks offers an experience you simply can’t get from a standard home coffee machine.

To put things into perspective, this machine feels like it slowly pays you back in both convenience and savings – so you’re practically making money in the long run – girl math!

If you’re in the market for a new coffee machine, or you’re someone who spends way too much on takeaway coffee (guilty), I can confidently say the KF8 is worth the investment. Whether you’re an amateur or a seasoned barista, you’ll feel like you know your way around making the perfect coffee at home.