De’Longhi Dinamica Espresso Machine, White – Automatic Bean-to-Cup Brewing, Built-In Steel Burr Grinder & Manual Frother – One-Touch Hot & Iced Coffee – Easy Cleanup

Low-cost alternative to Keurig: Update after 3 years
This is a good, lower cost, bean-to-cup machine that is a great choice if you do not make a lot of milk-based drinks (if you do, look to upgrade to a machine with integrated milk dispenser). It suffers from having counter-intuitive controls for the more complex functions and no digital read-out to provide instructions. You will need to have your manual handy to make adjustments or manage cleaning cycles.Update after three years: First, it is still going strong, absolutely zero problems after 40 months and roughly 6,000 cups. I noticed this is now around two-hundred dollars less than what we paid on the cyber monday sale! All-in-all I need to bump it to a five star review. The little annoyances re the manual etc. are just no big deal. Coffee is excellent and it has proven to be a reliable friend each morning!Longer, two part review: 1) vs the k-cup machines 2) vs other superautosVs the KeurigIf you are one of those people who still use the antiquated k-cup style machines, just stop. This machine is a great alternative that will give you better coffee, save you at least $1,000 over its lifetime, and save the environment from you dumping 10,000 useless plastic containers into the trash. (See bottom for cost savings.) There is really no comparison between the coffee quality – this is VASTLY better tasting coffee. So you get better coffee for less money.Vs other SuperAutosThis is our fourth superauto machine (home and office). We have previously owned Gaggia/Saeco machines. We were looking for a simpler machine this time because we rarely make milk drinks which is the main difference between this and the more expensive models.Strengths:Simple to operate on the basic coffee making functionsVery fast warm-up timePretty good crema (not great but good)Low costLots of adjustability in temperature, grind size, coffee dosage, and drink lengthEasy clean-up with removable infuserWeaknesses:With no display screen, adjusting the settings or performing basic maintenance functions is counter-intutitive to say the least (to descale “Press and hold the [bean] icon (B8) until the [two lines with little triangles] light (B5) and the ESC and OK icons light up…” you get the idea).The manual that came with the machine was not very good – download the more complete manual from the web site (maybe ours was missing?) – to get detailed instructions on how to adjust things (be warned, the manual on the Delonghi site is missing illustrations it says it has!)If you can live with this annoyance, it makes good coffee and works well for the price.Fit & FinishOne of the reasons we went with the DeLonghi instead of the Saeco/Gaggia is that this machine fit better into the décor of the kitchen. It is maddening that nearly all other manufacturers put a white or stainless front on their machines but the rest of the appliance is gray or black. The white version that we bought is white all the way around the appliance so it does not stick out like an eyesore in our white kitchen. The machine is solidly put together and everything fits well.Cost vs K-CupsCompare the cost of 12.5 g net weight of the coffee in a k-cup which runs up to 70 cents for quality brands and 35 cents for the cheap stuff, to the cost of 12.5 g of good quality whole bean coffee at 20-25 cents (Lavazza Super Crema is our preferred daily brand). Multiply the difference by 10,000 cups which this machine should easily deliver before needing repairs (e.g. 5 cups a day for 5 years). At a 20 cents per cup savings this machine will be $2,000 cheaper over its first five years. (n.b. you will probably use less than 12.5 g per cup if you are used to K-cups because this machine is more effective at extracting the coffee.) And the coffee quality on this is MUCH better.

Gives a good feeling about having an espresso machine until you make one
The machine is a good value for money. I bought because I was looking for a white one. Didn’t want to spend double the price or more. It is very easy to clean and operate. Everything is positive so far until you start making coffee. It is very diluted. no flavor. Even at maximum strength.I gathered, even before buying it, that most of the current reviews are fake but went ahead with the purchase .The summary is that it is a good machine as an entry level but not good enough for a coffee taster expert.

1 Year Update: This machine is still churning out 2-4 coffee’s every day without fault and has been an outstanding purchase. I stand by my original review and rating.Original Review: I spent ages looking at various manufacturers coffee machines. I wanted an automatic bean to cup machine, which also steamed the milk. I’d had a manual Delonghi previously and it had lasted years of daily use. This machine is everything I wanted.I’ve used this machine every for 3 months now, sometime twice a day. The coffee just seems to get better and it definitely takes a week to bed in and get the settings how you want them such as the grind setting. More expensive models don’t seem to offer much more for the money and despite the information on Deloghi’s website, this machine does produce just as many coffee options. The only exception being a flat white, but you could do this manually if you wanted.Pros- Looks great- Easy to set-up- Quick to start-up- Easy to use – most drinks are one-touch, 2 drinks are easy to make, mymenu allows your personal favourite to be one touch away.- Quick to produce the drink of your choice- Easy access to the water tank and bean hopper- Produces excellent espresso- The milk frother is easy to use/clean and produces rich dense foam at its max setting- Drinks are perfectly hot on the default setting, but if you want hotter then there is a temp. control setting to increase this- Reliable operation (I’ve yet to have a problem after 300+ lattes)- Programming is easy to set the quantity of each ingredient- Easy to maintain (everything is automated, including the warnings for a full drip tray etc.)- Makes just as many drink options as the higher-end models, despite not being advertised- Comes with a water filter and decalk bottle, which will get you started for the first few monthsCons- Sometimes says the grounds hopper needs emptying when it’s only half full. Doesn’t happen often and it’s easy to empty- Quite a long machine, not really an issue, but might be for a short kitchen surface and anything above it may restrict access to the bean hopper- The water tank could be a little bigger, it will produce 4-6 drinks between refills. Not a massive issue and it’s easy to fill. Besides a larger tank would mean a larger machine.

This is a wonderful coffee machine. For those, who enjoy their coffee, this machine gives multiple options. From light to strong flavours and multiple coffee options like espresso, Cappuccino, Latte, Flat white etc.We have been using this for almost a fortnight now and loving it.Few points to note1. Use Beans, option for powder is only for making one cup. We have been using beans as it has got options to select the grind2. Use cold milk in the container for milk based coffee. If the temp of milk isn’t cold then milk delivery in the cup May not be good3. Flat whites are awesome