jenniferw82•24d agoProlific Poster

My fancy espresso machine paid for features I'll never touch

I spent $1,200 on a dual boiler espresso machine last spring thinking I'd be a home barista pro. Turns out I only ever use the single shot button and the steam wand sits there gathering dust. I could have gotten a perfectly good used Gaggia for $300 and saved myself $900. Anyone else buy way more machine than they actually need?

2 comments

2 Comments

butler.finley24d ago

Don't you find that half the fun of buying something like that is imagining all the things you're gonna do with it, even if you never actually do them? I did the same thing with a smoker a few years back - got this huge offset model thinking I'd be smoking briskets every weekend, but it mostly just sits looking pretty while I use a cheap gas grill. At least your machine makes a solid espresso when you want it, mine just takes up half the patio space.

xena123d ago

Man I've been there with a pizza oven I bought three years ago. I swore I'd be making Neapolitan pies every Friday night but it sits under a tarp most of the time. What finally helped me was setting one specific day a month to actually use it like the first Saturday. I mark it on my phone calendar with a reminder three days out so I can grab ingredients. You could try that with the smoker, maybe a pork shoulder or some chicken thighs, nothing crazy. You get the fun of using it without the pressure of being a weekend BBQ master.