Thanks KK .. it has been an interesting Coffee journey. Just checked how long I have been on this forum .. and it is only 3 years .. seems a lot longer. First joined this forum when I first wanted to upgrade from the Gaggia Baby and De Longhi grinder. It was Jack from Sorrentina, Lacehim and Home Barista over in the US that influenced me to get a lever machine, rather than stick with the dream up until that time .. which was a Silvia and a Rocky grinder. That combo, was considered a pretty outrageous outlay at $1,200... and ended up importing the Ponte Vecchio Lusso for $1,150 and getting a Compak K3 for $520 .. making it a $1,670 investment. Here I was thinking the Compak was the grinder for life. With a $3k Coffee machine .. I'm now thinking $520 grinder is trying to skimp by with a cheapy .. and need to upgrade to a $1200 one. (cheers for the heads-up Brett) I'll see how I go with fingers crossed. Probably inevitable that the message will sink in that I need to balance the ability of the Strega with a compatible grinder to do it justice. Having said that ... I have no doubt that I will be thrilled with the quality of the coffee coming up. The additional enjoyment is working with a machine that has a quality build .. and looks great. And of course I will be extra thrilled every day that it only takes 15 mins to heat up before producing that amazing cup of coffee. :coffee2: How good is that. This forum .. and the Coffee people in it .. have contributed a lot (along with those on other Coffee forums) providing assistance, information and sharing their experiences. Coffee lovers are an enjoyable and informative community to be involved with. I guess .. in the end .. you choose the Coffee machine that you really want yourself.