Plain Buy Guides

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page are affiliate links.

Nine Bar Basics product guide

KitchenAid KF6 KES8556 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine

One-touch espresso and milk drinks for a household happy to use its own milk jug

The KF6 is the button-driven model in KitchenAid's fully automatic line: 15 drink types, four profiles, a 2.4-inch colour display, a 2.2-litre tank and a removable bean hopper. Its milk hose goes into a container of your choice, milk delivery is single-outlet, and every removable part is hand-wash only.

Check this model on Amazon

Listing checked . Confirm the model, included parts and availability before ordering.

Published specifications

  • Manual: 15 drink types, 4 user profiles without custom names
  • Manual: 2.4-inch colour display, off-screen touch buttons
  • Manual: cup clearance 3.5-5.4 in (89-137 mm), 2.2 L tank
  • Manual: single milk outlet; no milk container supplied
  • Listing: 18.5 x 10.2 x 14.3 in, 39.7 lb; 120 V, 1450 W
  • Two-year limited warranty from date of delivery

Fit and limits

Strengths

  • Same 2.2-litre tank, filter, grind regulator and cleaning cycles as the touch-screen models
  • Removable bean hopper with a purge routine for swapping roasts
  • Box includes filter, cleaning tablets, spoon and water hardness test strip

Caveats

  • No milk container in the box; the hose goes into a jug you supply
  • Single milk outlet and no personalised names for the four profiles
  • No removable part is dishwasher-safe, including the tank and dispenser

What the KES8556 is

This listing is the KF6 in a stainless steel finish, part number KES8556SX. The manual's model line for the KES8556 gives 15 drink types, four user profiles, a removable bean hopper, an illuminated dispenser, a cappuccinatore and a 2.4-inch colour display.

It is the only one of the three machines in this manual without a touch screen. The manual says the KES8556 has off-screen touch buttons to navigate the menus, with toggle left and right, a return key and a confirm key, while the other two models use a touch screen.

Cup clearance is 3.5 to 5.4 inches, or 89 to 137 millimetres, and the listing's details repeat the upper figure as up to 5.4 inches. The tank holds 2.2 litres and the machine runs at 120 volts and 1450 watts from a grounded three-prong outlet.

Milk: bring your own container

KitchenAid's page and the listing both say to place the milk hose directly into a separate milk container of your choice, and both call the system a single drink delivery system. The manual states the same thing: the KES8556 does not include a milk container.

The manual also notes that all three machines have dual coffee outlets, but that the KES8556 has a single milk outlet, so two milk drinks at once is not part of this model. Its drinks table marks frothed milk as a KES8557 and KES8558 option.

Whatever jug you use, the manual's advice on milk still applies: use milk straight from the fridge, and run the Easy Milk Rinsing the display asks for after each milk drink, at the latest before switching the machine off.

What comes in the box

KitchenAid's box list and the listing agree: the machine, water tank and filter, the removable bean hopper, a milk tube, brew-unit cleaning tablets, a spoon that doubles as a filter mounting aid, and a water hardness test strip.

The spoon has two jobs in the manual. It measures one level spoon of pre-ground coffee into the grounds shaft, and its other end screws the water filter into its holder inside the tank.

The listing's included-components field is shorter than its own bullet list, naming only the tank, hopper, milk tube, cleaning tablets and filter. KitchenAid's box list is the fuller one, and it matches the manual's parts list.

Setup: water hardness, filter and grind

First start steps through language, water filter and water hardness. The manual says to dip the supplied strip, wait a minute and select the matching level from a four-level chart with level 3 as the factory setting, and it notes that a filter means less frequent descaling.

The filter lasts roughly 50 litres of water before the display asks for a replacement. KitchenAid says to fill only with cold fresh tap water, never deionised or mineral water, and to use fresh water each day.

Grind fineness is set with a regulator behind the right-side service door and only while the grinder runs, left for finer and right for coarser. The manual recommends finer for light roasts and coarser for dark roasts, and its troubleshooting table lists too fine a grind among the causes it covers.

Drinks, profiles and beans

The manual's model table gives this machine 15 drink types. Strength levels 4 and 5 are marked for the KES8558 only, and the frothed milk drink is marked for the KES8557 and KES8558, so neither belongs to the KES8556's menu.

Four user profiles are available, and the manual is specific that on the KES8556 you cannot create a personalised username for them. First use needs four or five coffee drinks before results are satisfactory, and the manual warns the machine may be noisy until the water system has filled.

The hopper twists off for a bean swap and the cleaning menu has a Purge Beans routine; KitchenAid's page calls it Auto Purge between batches. Only roasted, untreated beans belong in the hopper, since sugar-coated, pre-ground or freeze-dried coffee will damage the grinder, and pre-ground coffee goes through the separate shaft instead.

Cleaning, limits and the two-year warranty

Cleaning is a regular job. The brew unit comes out through the service door and is rinsed under cold running water with no detergent before each cleaning program, a tablet goes in for the two-phase cycle, and descaling is prompted on screen, must not be interrupted and rules out vinegar. The frother is taken apart and hand-washed from time to time.

No removable part is dishwasher-safe. The manual names the drip tray, bean hopper and lid, water tank, brew unit, service door and dispenser as hand-wash items. An Evaporate System routine empties residual water before storage, and the machine should not be exposed to temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

KitchenAid's page and the manual give a two-year limited warranty from the date of delivery in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada, extending to later owners. It excludes use beyond a normal single-family home, accident, alteration, misuse, fire or flood, and shipping to a service centre, and the manual says to contact KitchenAid rather than returning the machine to the retailer.

Check the current listing

Check this model on Amazon

Confirm the model, included parts and availability before ordering.

Primary sources

  1. KitchenAid product page for the KES8556SX Fully Automatic Espresso Machine KF6
  2. KitchenAid owner's manual W11616369 rev D for KES8556, KES8557 and KES8558

Primary sources checked .

Compare with

Keep comparing

Use the Nine Bar Basics product index to compare other models, or read the full buying guide for category-level advice.