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my office is looking for a new coffee machine to replace/upgrade from a keurig. I've been given three constraints.

  1. It can be plumbed so we don't need to keep filling the water reservoir.
  2. It grinds beans as needed.
  3. It can be found new between 3-500 USD

My search yesterday only lead to finding machines that fulfilled 2 out of 3 constraints.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

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    which constraint did you find was generally missing? I'm guessing plumbed. – Jim Jan 17 '17 at 13:50
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    300-500 USD is actually considered cheap and most if not all cheap espresso machines won't be plumbed. So the closest thing you're getting would be the Breville Barista Express. If you're not too bothered about proper espresso, try looking up bean-to-cup machines. They won't be plumbed either (for that price) but will deliver coffee from the bean as needed. – Shiri Jan 17 '17 at 13:56
  • Correct, plumbed was the hardest constraint to meet in this price range. I agree 3-500 is cheap, unfortunately that is what I have to work with. The machines I was originally recommending were 1000+. Espresso isn't anything they are looking for just coffee. – Chuck Jan 17 '17 at 14:02
  • Note that another thing to keep in mind if plumbed is a requirement is that you may then also require a water filtration system depending on how hard the water is in your area. Otherwise you might be in for quite frequent descaling sessions depending on how often the machine is used. – Shiri Jan 18 '17 at 9:45
  • How many coffees will be drawn out of the machine (approximately)? I recall having seen in the manual of at least one cheaper machine that it's not built for more than ~20 coffees a day. That may hold for many cheaper machines, and then it's no wonder why they don't come with plumbing: because refilling the water once or twice a day shouldn't be a big deal. – DCTLib Jan 19 '17 at 16:47
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I had a friend requesting exactly this for his gym recently and we were unable to find a machine that fit all three constraints.

The options were basically choose a commercial level plumbed machine with a separate grinder, or a home level grinder / brewer combo and pour water in yourself. I think there may be some basic technological problems with sticking a grinder right on top of a brewer, since it would probably be subjected to less than ideal environmental conditions (all that water vapor getting on your burrs / into the bulk beans can't be good)

If it is a low volume situation, the Cuisinart DGB 900BC might work, if high volume I would recommend a plumbed Bunn / Curtis Airpot system.

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