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Nine Bar Basics product guide

KitchenAid KF2 KES8452 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine

A small counter where you want automatic espresso and iced coffee but prefer steaming milk yourself

The KF2 grinds and brews six hot and iced drinks from a button panel, with a 1.8-litre tank, an 8.8-ounce hopper, an IntelliGrind burr grinder and an Over Ice setting that brews cooler. Milk is your job: a steam wand with a foam slider, no pitcher supplied, and a cleaning routine after every use.

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Published specifications

  • KitchenAid: 6 pre-set recipes, iced coffee setting, steam wand, no auto milk system
  • Manual: 1.8 L tank; KitchenAid: 8.8 oz bean hopper
  • Manual: dose single or double, strength and temperature low, medium or high
  • Manual: max volumes espresso 80 ml, coffee and iced coffee 220 ml, hot water 260 ml
  • Manual: descale every 6 months, brew unit every 6-8 weeks, filter every 2 months
  • Two-year limited warranty; 10-year US parts and service availability

Fit and limits

Strengths

  • Manual publishes cleaning intervals and how long each cycle takes
  • Programmable volumes and per-drink temperature for espresso, coffee, iced coffee and hot water
  • Steam wand has a foam density slider and comes apart for cleaning

Caveats

  • No milk pitcher supplied, and milk frothing is done by hand
  • Icon panel with no drink list or user profiles
  • Steam wand described as auto by KitchenAid and manual articulating in the listing details

What the KES8452 is

The KF2 is the entry model in KitchenAid's fully automatic iced-coffee line. Its comparison table row gives six pre-set recipes, an iced coffee function, a steam wand, no auto milk system, a 60-ounce water tank, an 8.8-ounce bean hopper, a removable brew unit and a size of 14.2 by 7.7 by 18.5 inches.

The manual covers this model on its own, with a 1.8-litre water tank that lifts out of the back, an LED panel of buttons and icons rather than a screen menu, an adjustable-height dispenser and a service door on the right. Power is 120 volts and 1450 watts from a grounded three-prong outlet.

The listing adds a weight of 22.3 pounds and an output pressure of 15 bar, neither of which appears in KitchenAid's own documents we read. Both sources agree the machine is 25 percent smaller than KitchenAid's KF6, KF7 and KF8 models.

Six drinks, and the buttons that set them

The manual describes the drinks as a Drink Type toggle between coffee and espresso, plus Over Ice, Steam and Hot Water, with Dose set to single or double and Strength to low, medium or high. Hot water dispenses 180 millilitres single or 360 double.

Volumes are programmable for espresso, coffee, coffee over ice and hot water, and the manual gives maximums of 80 millilitres for espresso, 220 for coffee and iced coffee and 260 for hot water. Brewing temperature can be set to low, medium or high per drink, with medium as the default.

KitchenAid's page calls the display a backlit LED display, the listing calls the panel touch-sensitive with slider controls, and the comparison table leaves the screen size blank for this model. The manual describes an LED panel of icons rather than a scrolling text menu.

The iced setting

For iced coffee the manual says to put a cup of ice under the dispenser first, choose Over Ice and start; the drink then dispenses at a lower temperature. KitchenAid's page gives the reason as preventing over-extraction as the drink cools.

KitchenAid recommends serving cold drinks over ice and pouring your milk over the iced espresso afterwards to build an iced latte, so the machine chills the coffee and you finish the drink.

The programmable volume for iced coffee is the same 220 millilitre maximum as hot coffee, which is the figure to check if you plan to fill a tall glass. The manual sets 80 millilitres for espresso and 260 millilitres for hot water.

Milk is hands-on here

This model has a steam wand rather than an automatic milk system. KitchenAid's page calls it a Pannarello auto steam wand and says it pulls air into the milk to make microfoam, with a foam density toggle on the side, and the manual describes that slider as More Foam for drinks like cappuccino and Less Foam for drinks like latte.

You froth the milk yourself: the manual has you purge the wand into the drip tray, then hold the tip just below the milk surface. It also states plainly that the KES8452 does not include a milk pitcher, so bring your own jug.

The wand needs cleaning after every use. The manual asks for a purge and a wipe, with the metal tube removable, a periodic full disassembly by twisting, and a weekly deep clean soaking the components in milk cleaning solution. The listing and KitchenAid describe the wand differently, manual articulating versus auto, so check which behaviour you are expecting.

Cleaning intervals are published

The manual gives a cleaning table with intervals, which is unusual and useful: descaling every 6 months and about 15 minutes, brew unit cleaning every 6 to 8 weeks and about 15 minutes, and a filter replacement every 2 months taking about 2 minutes. All three are marked as depending on usage.

Descaling runs in two phases that must both be completed, with the water filter removed first, and the manual gives the containers and quantities on its own page rather than here. Brew unit cleaning cannot be stopped midway, and the unit itself is rinsed in cold water only, never detergent.

The water filter lasts about 50 litres, and the machine has to be told whether a filter is installed or not; without one you set the water hardness by hand from the supplied test strip. No removable part is dishwasher-safe: the manual names the drip tray, bean hopper lid, water tank, brew unit, service door and dispenser as hand-wash items.

Alerts, storage and the warranty

Because the panel is icons rather than text, the manual's alert list matters: separate icons cover a missing or unlocked brew unit, no water, low beans, a full drip tray or puck container, a brew unit fault, and a critical error in which the machine cycles through every icon. A fast-flashing temperature icon means the system is overheating and you wait for it to stop.

The machine rinses itself at power-on and power-off and shuts off automatically after four hours of disuse. For storage there is an Evaporate System routine that empties residual water, and KitchenAid warns against exposure to temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

The warranty is two years from the date of delivery, with KitchenAid paying factory-specified parts and labour for defects present at purchase or replacing the machine. KitchenAid's page adds a 10-Year Parts and Service Availability Commitment for the United States and a three-year extended limited part warranty on the burr grinder. Excluded are non-household use, accident, misuse, fire or flood, shipping to a service centre, use contrary to the manual, and repairs by people Whirlpool has not authorised.

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Primary sources

  1. KitchenAid product page for the KES8452BM Fully Automatic Espresso Machine KF2 with Iced Coffee
  2. KitchenAid owner's manual W11766707 rev D for the KES8452

Primary sources checked .

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