How do I fit an espresso setup in a small kitchen?
Measure height before width. Most home machines need 40 to 45 cm of vertical clearance to open the top-fill water tank, and that is what actually kills small-kitchen plans, not the footprint.
Start with three measurements: counter depth, usable width, and the vertical gap to the underside of your wall cabinets. Compact home machines commonly occupy something like 25 to 30 cm of width and 35 to 40 cm of depth, which most kitchens can absorb. The problem is the third dimension. A machine that is 38 cm tall and fills through a hinged lid on top needs meaningfully more than 38 cm of clearance, and standard cabinets often sit around 45 cm above the counter.
So prioritize front-fill or removable side tanks if you are working under cabinets. Failing that, choose a machine you can slide forward to fill, and make sure the counter is deep enough that sliding forward does not put it over the edge. This single consideration eliminates more machines from small kitchens than any other.
Next, plan the workflow rather than the arrangement. You need three zones within arm's reach: grind, prep and pull. Grinder and dosing cup on one side, tamping and WDT space in the middle, machine and scale on the other. If you have to carry a loose portafilter of grounds across a kitchen, you will spill and you will hate it. Twenty to thirty centimetres of clear prep space between grinder and machine is the difference between a joy and a chore.
Then reclaim space vertically and underneath. A wall-mounted shelf or rail takes the tamper, WDT tool, dosing funnel and cloths off the counter. A knock box can live in a drawer or under the counter rather than beside the machine. Cups belong in a cupboard, not stacked on the machine, whatever the photos suggest, because a stack of cups is the thing you knock over reaching for the portafilter.
If the counter genuinely cannot take it, a rolling cart is a legitimate answer rather than a compromise. A sturdy cart puts grinder, machine and storage together, rolls to an outlet, and can be tucked away. Two cautions: check the cart's weight rating, since a prosumer machine plus a grinder is heavy, and lock the castors before you tamp, because a moving surface makes level tamping impossible.