Workspace

I live in a small apartment with a small kitchen so I recently moved my coffee making equipment to a small kitchen cart. I've been using the Bygel utility cart by Ikea for about one month now, so I thought that I'd write up a short review on the product and my new coffee making workspace.

The cart:

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Height: The height of the cart is standard counter height which works well for operating an espresso machine and tamping.

Build: This is one of the cart's weaknesses. I have no qualms about its ability to support my Gaggia, but it can sway a bit. This would bother me on a more expensive cart, but for $30, I can't really complain. The two bottom shelves are metal.  The top is shelf is plastic, and can bow down if too much weight is placed in the center. You have to tamp near the edges of the counter to keep from depressing the plastic too much.

Storage: I love having open shelves, grabbing cups is easy, as is cleaning. The cart has a great slide out drawer that keeps random equipment out of sight and organized. The space afforded by the cart is on the smaller side, but that is something that the space I had available required.
Working from the cart is fine when using a hand grinder, but I'm not sure if I'll have enough room for the powered grinder that I will eventully purchase.

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I'd recommend the cart if your top considerations are size and price. If you can afford a better cart, and have the space for a bigger worksation, go for it. Otherwise, this cart does an adequate job. It frees up counter space for my girlfriend (this was crucial)  and working from the cart has not negatively impacted my espresso routine.
The addition of a large grinder might make the cart impractical.