Gaggia Cadorna Prestige vs Philips Series 5500 LatteGo EP5544/90

Home users wanting a fully automatic bean-to-cup machine with integrated milk carafe and multi-beverage capability

Scores higher on drinks & milk system, capacity & refills, build quality & warranty.

Twenty drinks including six iced, from a two-part milk system that rinses in seconds

Scores higher on cleaning & upkeep, value for money, ease of use.

• +An integrated milk carafe with an automatic cleaning cycle that froths twice and then removes itself for the fridge
• +A 100% ceramic grinder with 10 settings, and pre-brewing pause before extraction
• +Made in Italy, with a Quick Heat boiler and a 1.5 litre tank

• −$1,049, exactly the category median, and $50 more than the Philips 4300 LatteGo
• −Black ABS bodywork on a machine at this price
• −One-year warranty, where Breville and Philips publish two

• +Twenty drinks, all named by Philips, including six iced ones and a travel mug setting.
• +LatteGo is two parts with no tubes, and Philips states both go in the dishwasher.
• +A removable brew group, which is what lets you rinse the part that does the work.
• +AquaClean, which Philips says means no descaling for up to 5000 cups.
• +Four user profiles plus a guest, so a household is not re-setting strength every morning.

• −Philips publishes no price, and its own retailer list runs from $699.00 to $1,299.95.
• −The SKU most shops sell, EP5544/94, has no page on Philips' own site at all.
• −Philips' two pages for this series disagree on voltage and country of manufacture.
• −The AquaClean claim assumes eight filter replacements, which is a running cost to price in.