Marcato Ampia 150 Pasta Maker

Marcato Ampia Pasta Maker Machine Mod 150
I'm Italian and love this product. As a kid we rolled everything with a rolling pin....lots of hours of work. My aunt first got one of these Ampia's and told the familia. We got one & it works great & saves alots of time. It's well built, sturdy, inexpensive but most important does a great job with little effort.

Only thing missing is an english manual
GReat product. My daughter uses it for polymer clay and loves it. It stands up to everything she puts into it, unlike the ones sold specifically for Poly clay. It's a simply machine that anyone can figure out, so the manual is just a plus, really. It would be nice, though, to have more sort of "how to use this product to best effect" instructions, and in English, rather than Italian. Not complaining, though. Its quite satisfactory.

Good but not what it claims
this is an extremely well made machine and does a great job at what it does however, it lists lasagna as one of the types of noodles it makes and that is the main reason I bought it. The only place lasagna is mentioned is in the ad and on the box. The machine doesn't have a place for making them and the directions say nothing about them! I'm not sure why it is listed. Furthermore, no attachments can be added so that isn't one you can add! If I had known the ad was wrong, I wouldn't have gotten this machine; I'd have bought an attachment for my old machine!

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Factory-Reconditioned Cuisinart DCC-1200FR Brew Central 12-Cup Coffeemaker, Brushed Stainless Steel

Minor design flaws keep this good coffeemaker from greatness
Would I buy this coffee maker for the full price of the new model? Probably not. But the reconditioned one is a great value.

It looks great, as is apparent from the photo. Keep in mind, though, that as a reconditioned unit, it may have some minor blemishes to its appearance. Mine, for example, has a very small dent in the stainless steel on its left side. It's not noticable unless you're looking for it, and that alone wouldn't keep me from recommending this coffee maker. (Also, as previous reviewers have noted, this model does NOT come with a permanent filter like the new model does.)

What's a little iffier about it, though, are a couple strange design issues that affect usability.

Every coffee maker I've ever owned has had a flip-top carafe--but not this one. You have to physically remove the lid to pour water into the carafe--a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience nonetheless.

You need the carafe to measure water, because there's no water-level indicator on the coffee...

So far, so good!
This is my second attempt into the "higher end" coffeemaker ranks, and I can honestly say the Cuisinart Brew Central has fulfilled all my expectations.

The coffee is just marvelous! It works fast and quick, and it's H-O-T, which is fine by me since the previous Krups disaster absolutely blew big time and produced marginally warm coffee at best.

I'm no coffee diva, but I grind my own beans and have for years. Of course it takes a little fine-tuning to get the right measure of coffee vs. water, but I hit the mark on the second pot.

My local tap water is actually very good, so I didn't think the charcoal filter would do much. But actually, the coffee tastes even better - so who knows? I think I'd try brewing coffee without the filter once this one wears out, just to see if there's much of a difference.

I purposely bought a reconditioned machine, since I spent $100 on the previous Krups horror, and I didn't want another repeat of a waste of money. My Cuisinart arrived...

I now own two.
I bought one full price and one refurbished (for the office) and I love both. Very easy to use, the self cleaning function is what I really appreciate. I run the simple cleaning process every week and the coffee maker always brews fresh, clean coffee without that dirty bitter flavor found in most cups of office coffee. My only caution is to be careful pouring the water into the maker -- the drain opening is rather small so be careful. Otherwise, a dependable coffee maker (I've had my first one for over a year) that looks great on the counter.

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