I'm not familiar with that particular model, but I've had a Phillips Saeco 2200 for nearly three years and I love the convenience of it. It's easy to clean and the espressos it makes are pretty consistent.

I would also love to know. I've had a Saeco 2200 for nearly three years and no issues so far.

Lightly frying the rice before cooking it is a quite common practice for Mexican rice, and it seems to help reduce the starch content to make the rice less sticky and keep the grains whole. Here's one link I found regarding this topic: https://chatelaine.com/food/pre-fried-rice/