KitchenAid KF4 5KES8454 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine with Iced Coffee Review

Design and features

• Can save favourites to profiles
• Easy milk system cleaning
• 14 standard drinks including two iced

Bean-to-cup coffee machines can be bulky. While it’s a stretch to call the KF4 compact next to a simple espresso machine, it’s far slimmer than many other bean-to-cup machines. However, that doesn’t apply to all dimensions. It’s noticeably deep on the average worktop, and a little taller than some, such as the KitchenAid KF8, too.

The KF4 could reasonably tuck beneath shelves but you’ll need to be able to access the 1.8L water tank, and the bean hopper and ground coffee chute on top.

And while it might be 3kg lighter than the KF8, there are trade-offs. Colour choice is limited to Matte Black or Porcelain White, and the exterior is mostly plastic.

Despite that, there’s still plenty of attention to detail: filling the tank can be done in-situ thanks to a hinged flip-up lid, or the whole carried to the sink using an integral handle. The KF4 uses the same connected milk-frothing system as the KF8 that foams or warms easily and is cleaned automatically after use. And while the KF4 has a shallower cup platform, it’s still wide enough for big mugs.

There’s a smaller 8.9cm / 3.5-inch touchscreen than the KF8 but it’s as simple to use.

The menu offers 14 drinks, two of which are iced options, with the ability for coffees to toggle one or two shots, select bean strength, body, temperature and volume. Favourite combinations can be saved to one of four named profiles and resaved over should your preferences change.

Plus, there are reminders to clean the milk hose, descale and deep clean, all with guided steps. None of the removable parts, such as the drip tray or milk container lid are dishwasher safe, though, so there’s still a small amount of maintenance by hand.

Performance

• Makes easy milk-based drinks
• Brews coffee with consistent crema
• Could use more guidance for iced drinks

One of the most appealing aspects of the KF4 is something it shares with other machines in the same range: its built-in burr grinder. Relatively quiet when stacked up against others, it automatically adapts to different beans without the need to set the grind size manually. Its bean hopper is generously sized for the machine too, at 250g, which equates to around 20 shots of espresso.

The KF4 is easy to set up – great if this is your first bean-to-cup or if you’re upgrading from one that’s more complex.  As well as a quick start guide, there’s a huge amount of onboarding within the control panel that takes you through the parts and features.

Some settings feel gimmicky, such as changing the colour of the progress bar, but others are genuinely useful: being able to extend or shorten the auto off time for example.

During the test period, I found a couple of recurring issues. While I liked that there’s no need to opt for pre-ground when using it – raising the door for the chute sets it for the next shot, bypassing the grinder – like the KF8, pre-ground can’t be saved as a permanent setting for a drink.

This would be fine if it didn’t also add extra steps to the coffee making. First, it alerts you on the next screen that there is pre-ground in the chute, then sends you back to a previous menu – either the profile if you had already selected a drink, or the profile menu if not. Either way, using pre-ground means making a drink involves more taps every time than brewing from beans. In addition, when turning in on, it usually, but not always, went to the main menu of drinks first rather than profiles where it had been left.

The other problem was the temperature of the iced drinks. Despite all the KF4’s guidance around brewing coffee, there’s little clue as to how much ice to use (although there’s a QR provided that will take you to tips and recipes online). For example, iced espresso can be set to one or two shots and the volume altered up to 80ml but there’s little room in an espresso cup for ice.

I added one large cube, which with one standard shot brought the drink level right to the rim.

While this was a good espresso – sweet, with a thick crema – it wasn’t chilled, just tepid.

This suggests that iced espresso is intended as a shot in a larger drink, rather than being the main event. As with the KitchenAid KF8, the dispensing spout slides up and down to accommodate different cup sizes, but it’s not quite low enough (9cm) to reach an espresso cup without a few splashes.

Iced coffee also doesn’t suggest a coffee/ice ratio. Onto ice, the temperature of the iced coffee was initially 22.8°C.

With a vigorous stir, this dropped to 13°C – far from my ideal 4°C of an iced coffee. This is because even though the iced coffee setting comes out at a lower temperature, it’s still pretty high – around 77°C. It’s lower than the standard coffee temperatures, which I measured at high – 90°C, med – 85°C and low – 81°C. The iced coffee retained its flavours well though. The regular espresso was just as good, with a nice crema and pleasant taste.

It’s also a shame that there are no iced milk-based drinks. Brewing a cappuccino onto ice resulted in a drink that was pleasant but still about 25°C once the ice had melted.

Cool but not cold enough to be refreshing on a hot day. On the plus side, as with the KF8, the KF4 offers a quick rinse for the milk tube after use, which latte and cappuccino drinkers will love.

Should you buy it?