Gaggia MM, £60, stockists: 01422 330 295, *****

This is the machine for dedicated coffee drinkers. Those of us who enjoy a potent espresso will find the coffee generated from this professional-looking and solid machine, ground to perfection. One tip: wear ear-muffs.

Krups KM 75, £19.95, stockists: www.johnlewis.com, ***** For the price, this was our favourite. It had sharper stainless steel blades than the Bodum, so the coffee ground into a fine powder. Simple and compact with a large capacity and it's easy to clean, so grinding nuts and spices without them tasting of coffee is possible.

DeLonghi KG39, £29.99, stockists: 0845 600 6845, ***

There are too many gadgets posing as useful additions on this one. Lights come on to indicate when you have reached fine, medium and coarse, and an imposing dial shows the number of cups ground. The grinding worked well, but it was messy extracting coffee from the deep bowl.

Dualit EL60, £59.95, stockists: 01293 652 500, **

This is bulky - plastic posing as metal. It sports serious-looking blades that actually don't cut coffee fine enough. It's easy to use, though, and you can put it on a timer,so you don't have to keep your hands on the mill, but spilled coffee every time the tray was extracted.

Bodum C-Mill, £19.99, stockists: 01604 595650, **

Bodum's was by far the quietest machine, but this was probably because it didn't work as hard as the others: the coffee produced was coarse. Fine for cafetieres, but not for espresso drinkers.