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I think the Wilfa or the MC2 are the best options for that budget. The Wilfa won’t really do espresso, and the MC2 won’t adjust between the ground sizes easily, but will manage espresso.
However, if you’re like me and 90% of your coffee intake will be brewed coffee of some sort, I think either of those will do. You’ll be spending another £200 minimum if you want an espresso machine, and the cost of a good grinder for espresso starts at about £200 as well it seems. So you could buy the Wilfa and sell it on if you decide to dabble into espresso, or buy the MC2 and it’ll do both but might be a bit of a fiddle to dial in for espresso.
I’ve come to realise that making a good espresso at home is really involved - which isn’t a bad thing, but it starts to become a hobby and making decent filter at home is the right balance of time and money input for the coffee you can make at home. I’m not gonna wake up and start trying to dial in an espresso for my morning coffee (although it is a fun thing to do on the weekend).
Essentially, either of those should be ideal for you and within budget. I wouldn’t worry about espresso for now as it’s a whole different beast but the MC2 will do espresso if that’s a deal breaker.
Nef-
I’ve come to realise that making a good espresso at home is really involved - which isn’t a bad thing, but it starts to become a hobby and making decent filter at home is the right balance of time and money input for the coffee you can make at home. I’m not gonna wake up and start trying to dial in an espresso for my morning coffee (although it is a fun thing to do on the weekend).
Also this ^ is definitely something that I feel doesn't get said enough.
I recently shimmed by burrs for the Sette (both the filter and espresso burrs were a bit too close to the edges of the settings for my liking) and even with a grinder I've used every day for more than a year, it still took me a good few shots to get things dialled in again (granted, small boiler lever machines aren't exactly ideal for dialling in a grind setting).
It takes a fair amount of effort to get as consistent a result as you'd get in a decent coffee shop. Definitely a fair step up from making filter at home which is much more forgiving.
mmccarthy
I'm after a recommendation for a grinder to use at home. I've previously bought coffee ground, but now I have a bit more kitchen space want to grind my own, as I know what a big difference freshly ground coffee makes.
At the minute I brew in a Hario V60 dripper. However, I could see myself trying other methods like aeropress or maybe even espresso in the future. So I'd like something that's capable of espresso, and is easy to adjust between different coarseness settings.
I'd been thinking about getting an Iberital MC2 or Wilfa Svart second hand on ebay. Are there better options out there? I don't really have a budget, but would be most comfortable paying under £100 used.