How we rate milk frothers

Every milk frother on this site is scored on the 5 criteria below, weighted to 100 points. This page is generated from the same rules that produce the numbers, so it cannot describe a system we are not using.

Each criterion says what it measures, why it carries the weight it does, and what the evidence actually is, which is often the more useful half. A score read without knowing that grind consistency comes from burr geometry rather than a measured particle distribution is a score taken on faith.

Frothing & Modes

30 of 100 points

What it can make: how many modes or programs, whether it makes cold foam for iced drinks, whether you can choose a temperature, and whether it has a setting for hot chocolate.

What we can actually read: Modes, cold foam and temperature settings are all on the maker's page or in the manual.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 4 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 30 of the category's 100 points.

  • Modes5 of 10
    2 or less
    2 pts
    over 2, up to 3
    3.5 pts
    over 3
    5 pts
  • Cold foam2.5 of 10
    present
    2.5 pts
  • Temperature choice1.5 of 10
    present
    1.5 pts
  • Hot chocolate setting1 of 10
    present
    1 pt

10 of 10

Cleaning & Handling

25 of 100 points

Cleaning, mostly. Milk burns onto a heated jug every time, so whether the jug itself goes in the dishwasher, or is at least non-stick, decides whether you keep using it.

What we can actually read: Every maker here publishes a cleaning table; several say the jug is hand wash only.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 5 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 25 of the category's 100 points.

  • Jug goes in the dishwasher3 of 10
    present
    3 pts
  • Whisk goes in the dishwasher1 of 10
    present
    1 pt
  • Non-stick jug2 of 10
    present
    2 pts
  • Jug lifts off its base1.5 of 10
    present
    1.5 pts
  • Automatic shut-off1.5 of 10
    present
    1.5 pts

9 of 10

Capacity

20 of 100 points

How much milk goes in for foam and for hot milk. Foam takes far less than the jug holds, because the milk roughly doubles as it froths.

What we can actually read: Both MAX lines are printed in the jug and in the manual.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 2 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 20 of the category's 100 points.

  • Milk for foam5 of 10
    120 ml or less
    2 pts
    over 120 ml, up to 200 ml
    3.5 pts
    over 200 ml
    5 pts
  • Milk for heating4 of 10
    200 ml or less
    1.5 pts
    over 200 ml, up to 300 ml
    3 pts
    over 300 ml
    4 pts

9 of 10

Materials & Warranty

15 of 100 points

What the jug is made of, the warranty, and whether the maker sells spare whisks and lids.

What we can actually read: Material and warranty are usually published; spare parts less often.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 3 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 15 of the category's 100 points.

  • Jug and body material4 of 10
    Stainless Steel
    4 pts
    Glass
    2.5 pts
    Thermoplastic, Plastic, ABS
    1.5 pts
  • Warranty4 of 10
    none
    0 pts
    up to 1 yr
    1.5 pts
    over 1 yr, up to 2 yr
    3 pts
    over 2 yr
    4 pts
  • Spare parts sold1.5 of 10
    present
    1.5 pts

9.5 of 10

Value for Money

10 of 100 points

Points per dollar against the median price of the frothers we rate.

What we can actually read: Maker prices are published for most of them.

Computed from price, not from a rule list

Value is the only criterion here with no thresholds of its own, because it cannot be read off one product. It asks what else the same money buys in this category, so it needs the category. That result is then worth 10 of the category's 100 points.

Points already earned on everything else
out of 10
Multiplied by the category median over this price
median ÷ price
Capped at
10
No price published, or fewer than 3 priced rivals
5 of 10

Half marks is not a verdict, it is a refusal to guess: with nothing to compare against, a product is neither good value nor bad, and scoring it either way would invent a finding. It corrects itself as the category fills.

This category is too small to judge its own silence

We hold 6 milk frothers here. Everywhere else on this site, an input fewer than one maker in four publishes has its weight taken out of the total, because at that point we are measuring the market rather than the product. That rule needs at least eight products to mean anything. On a handful, one maker's silence looks like the whole market's. So nothing is struck out here, and scores in this category are out of the full 100.

How we rate everything else

The rules that apply to every category, where specifications come from and why blanks stay blank, are on how we score.