L'OR Barista Coffee & Espresso Combo System (Open Box)

I purchased my L'OR Barista in Dec 2023 and a year later I couldn't be happier with it. In the past, I have gone through the full gamit of buying pod and home espresso machines hoping to find one that could come close to replicating my iced coffee drink that I would typically buy daily from one of our many local coffee stands. I'm in the Seattle area so those stands are pretty much everywhere and the cost adds up. I've tried the fancier espresso machines but they were a bit cumbersome, time consuming, messt and inconsistent for me personally. I really just wanted a machine that could give me tasty crema espresso shots without all the hardwork, guessing, and mess. At the time I found the L'OR last year, my monthly coffee expense was averaging around $195.00. (I'm ashamed, trust me). I didn't have high hopes for this machine, having been through so many other machine breakups but thought I'd give it a try being it was through Amazon and I wouldn't have to donate it to another friend if things didn't work out. I ordered the machine where, at the time, it had the option to buy the barista with a heavily discounted multi flavor/intensity espresso and coffee "kit" which, I did. When it arrived, I quickly set it up added water to the tank and made myself 2 shots of their lungo espresso. Fitst thing I noticed was the amount of crema. It was unlike anything I was able to get when pulling shots by hand with my other machines. Again, I don't claim to be a barista so my past shot failure attempts were likely due to my own competence but the ease and simplicity at which the L'OR was creating these nice shots was exactly what I had been searching for for years! After playing around with the different flavors, strengths and types, I found that the perfect espresso pod for my particular drink was the #10 estremo so I added it my auto ship and never looked back! The machine itself has never caused me any issues. It's a work horse. I use it daily and it's never let me down. Are there a few design flaws that I think they could improve on ? Sure. 1. The water reservoir placement on the back might be more practical if it was on the side of the machine towards the front for those who keep their machine on the countertop but under cabinets. In order to fill the reservoir, you need overhead access to the back to fill it. You can fill it two ways. Either by lifting the tank straight up and off the machine or by removing the tanks lid to refill it while it's still attached. Either way, you'll need adequate space above the machine whenever you refill it if you don't want to slide the entire machine out from under lower cabinets everytime. 2. The tanks reservoir lid itself can be a bit finicky. The lid sits flush inside the top of the tank without any handle to grasp onto when taking it off or putting it back on. This poor design makes it very easy to drop the lid directly into the tank when either pulling the lid off or putting it back on. I've contemplated super gluing something to the top of the lid itself so I can actually grip onto it to avoid dropping into the tank. It's happened to me an annoying amount of times and I'd seen others complain of this in their reviews as well. 3. Design of the internal empty pod bin is sort of well...blegh, I guess? I have a couple gripes about it. It does fill up rather quickly and you won't realize you need to empty it until you go and pull up the lever to insert a new coffee pod and it "jams" which by design, the lever you lift up lowers and flips the pod basket upside down to empty the last used pod into the bin directly below it. However if the empties stack up too high, you'll pull up the lever and there won't be enough clearance below for the basket to drop and flip because it's crushing down onto the empty pods. On top of that, emptying out the bin can be quick but it's also a procedure. Basically you have to take off the removable tray base and then pull and slide the fixed tray towards you, which in turn pulls out the empty bin that sits on top of the internal drip tray. The empty bin can't be emptied on its own. The peek "hole" you see behind the nozzle is just that. It's to see how high your empty pods are. It's not there to pull the bin out when it's time to empty like many would assume. Once you have it pulled out you lift and empty out the old pods then you also will need to empty and clean the internal drip tray. Then you'll stack the tray and bin back up and slide it (all together) back into the unit where it lightly snaps into place. The internal empty bin design seems to be a bit overkill but I suppose since the drip tray is also hidden inside it's a way to make sure the old coffee and drip tray gets emptied and rinsed out regularly being that it's out of sight, outta mind. I would also like to reiterate that regardless of the "flaws" I noted above, I am still in love with this machine. What I believe to be flaws might be exactly what others like about it. For me, the importance of having a smaller machine that could consistently make me yummy shots of espresso by just a touch of a button was key. And my machine had fully paid for itself 6 weeks after I bought it. My normal drink is a 24oz iced, white chocolate, Americano topped with a splash of milk or cream (if I'm feeling fancy). Last year prior to buying the L'OR, I was paying $6.50 a day that includes a dollar tip. I use bulk Ghirardelli white chocolate powder, the