I knew I was going to have a prosumer set up, so i wasn't especially worried about quality in the cup. That seems counter intuitive I'm sure but there was a reason. I knew at the price point I was going for, generally speaking, there was little difference between espresso machines. Now grinders, that's a different story... But anyway, given the assumption of equivalent coffee from machines in the same price range, my priorities went generally in this order.

1. Dual boiler. I didn't want to worry about any type of temp surfing what so ever.
2. Reputation of the seller. They would be providing any necessary service.
3. Aesthetics.

At some point you just have to,take the plunge and buy.

So I wanted to reply to my own post as we *finally* have a set up.

Grinder: Baratza Vario refurbished (referb was via Baratza and had a warranty, so why not? Seemed like a good deal). Our favorite coffee house had recommended this machine to us. We also considered the Preciso based off Mark Prince's reviews, but ya all talked us out of that. I have not tested machines individually, so I cannot compare/comment on which is better, but the Vario does leave fines in the cup when doing coarser grinds (such as pour overs), and hubby dislikes some of the things that he thinks were poorly engineered (why not shim all of their machines before they send them out? Also, there is overlap in the macro & micro grind settings, but the company does not know what they are, and they vary by each grinder made. So if we bought a new Vario, the setting may very well not match up with the old ones). We do like that you can grind just one shot of coffee as we switch a lot between what we are using (decaf vs caf, brighter vs deeper beans for shot vs latte) and, though we haven't managed to find the same flavor profiles as our coffee house, we have pulled some good & occasionally amazing shots (and yes, some crappy 'feed he plants' ones too, but we are still learning - and shots for sure vary out here based on weather changes).

Machine: We ended up going with the Breville Dual boiler 920. We found one at a local store with a 20% off coupon and a great return policy, so we figured we might as well try it out. Hubby liked it better than the 900, so we kept it. It has sucked up a few pucks, but over all it is working well. It is easy to use, and has a nice footprint, plus lots of storage & 'extras,'making it nice for home use. We also purchased a bottomless porta-filter. Again, we haven't made the exact same shots as our coffee house, but we have still pulled some great shots. Also, making the right foam for latte art has proven to be elusive. I've seen people do it on the machine, so it is possible. I've also seen people say it is a 'slow steamer,' but as a newbie to correctly steaming milk, I thought this would be a useful feature. I know our main concern with the machine was longevity, but seeing we are both having espressos nearly daily, I think after 2 years we will have gotten our money out of it; thus, if it dies, we know more now and can get a second one or upgrade to something else. We also considered an Oscar however, from what I read, it is a great machine if you can get one at a good price used, but for new its dated and pricey - for the same amount of money the 920 was a better machine. Also considered was the La Marzocco GS3 as we had used the machine before and liked it - but they are super expensive and I wasn't sure how much we'd use the machine (I have the word out at a few places we are looking for a used one, so if something comes along, that may be our upgrade ). We were also considering a Brewtus Expobar or Rocket as they have some nice features (rotary bump, ability to plumb it in, etc ), but well, I'm not crazy about the steel box look, and we found the 920 locally, so that is what we ended up with.

Oh, my dad lives in Kona and gave us his old home-use coffee roaster (he can't roast anymore due to repository issues), so we are itching to try that out next! (and get some green beans from him - one of these days... )