De'Longhi Dedica Style, Traditional Pump Espresso Machine, Coffee and Cappuccino Maker, EC685M, Silver

Ok, so, I really have to say something about this machine as this is my 3rd DeLonghi of such type. First of all, what I do want people to know that this machine makes a really good coffee, with putting some research and knowledge of how to use it. If you don't have time/desire/opportunity whatsoever I STRONGLY recommend just to buy any bean-to-cup with no fuss - just press the button.First of all, I am fascinated with its demensions - you will barely notice its presence even on small counter top. It's heating really fast for such small device. I do recommend to use freshly medium-to-fine (but not too fine as the machine will be "choking" in the process) ground coffee, to buy a decent tamper and a stainless steel milk frother cup. Then, DO NOT add more coffee than its meant to baskets (14 g for double portion and 7 g for one portion) as it had been written by other reviews - you will need to put too much strength to close the holder or even worse - you wouldn't be able to do it at all, but with the right measurment (which later you will be able to see intuitively) it will close with NO effort. Milk steamer works fine, too, with skimmed/semi-skimmed (haven't tried whole, though) or soya milk, you will need no more than 40-45 "ticks" to heat milk properly and to make lovely cappucino.Yes this may seem like a lot of fuss for quick coffee-lovers however when everything is done automatically it's actually not. And the price especially on promotions is very good for such lovely device. I do have to mention that I have a separate coffee-filter machine for my big morning cup and this one is for occasional espresso/cappucino and I am satisfied by its taste and quality (good beans make difference as well).

Obal not an expert and I am super there are better coffee makers in the market, but not necessarily in this price range. This is is compact, easy to use and it does the job. It is all depends of grinder you are using, coffee and water but it does make a nice coffee. I’ve had it for a couple of months so I can’t say anything about its durability. Design is a matter of opinion, this one is a lot retro and I like it.

£149 is same price as John Lewis - so strange they claim it is a 35% reductionI have has this machine for few years and I love it!

After some trials and failures with a few different machines, I think we have finally found our perfect match in this machine 👏🏻 It heats up in no time, the handle is really secure in place on the machine and it extracts evenly. Love not having to time a shot, just click the button and do something else whilst it does the work for you. The wand has a setting for warm milk and cappuchino, as I am a Latte person and my husband is a flat white person, I make a lot of milk in one go. (~450ml whole milk) I set it to Cappuchino and place the jug under to let it do the magic. It has a timed setting so it stops frothing just a little too soon for our larger milk portion, but probably perfect for a smaller portion of milk. I just start the frothing cycle again and let it run for another 20-30 seconds just to get the right temperature, not a problem. I would rather it stopped frothing a little too soon than not at all, as I had a few incidents with the Stilosa as that never turns off. The machine seems sturdy with no creaking or rattling when being used, and it's very narrow so it doesn't take up much space.Noise: It makes the standard burrrrr and duuurrrr noises you would expect from any coffee maker, it just comes with the territory and if you can't stand that sound for a few seconds before getting your hands on a delicious cup of freshly brewed coffee, you should probably stop looking at these machines all together. Some have the mechanism a little more insulated, but you still hear it clearly. To put it this way; there isn't a single machine I would operate whilst on a work phone call because they are all too loud, even if they are less loud. Even the professional noise insulated machine we had at work that cost a fortune was too loud.To sum up the other machines for anyone considering different models based on reviews; The Stilosa was great for taste, but it was a chore to manually time every shot just because I am easily distracted and prefer to multitask. It's a bit slow to heat up and pressure seemed a little low some times, but on a copule occasions the pressure was high enough that the handle came flying off mid extraction to splatter wet coffee grounds everywhere. It was a bit cheaper than this one and you can sort of tell when handling them both, but still a fantastic machine for someone who likes to do everything manually as it makes great coffee.All the 'bean-to-cup' machines didn't have the right taste at all, tasted like our usual 'freshly ground beans coffee' had been replaced by instant coffee no matter what grind or extraction settings we tried. And if wr wanted to use pre-ground coffee it was a whole operation to add it to the extractor. The milk auto-frother was a massive letdown on all, the worst was on a nearly £500 De'longhi machine, no matter what we tried it only spat out somewhat warm milk with a few bubbles, never any foam. Hot chocolate had more foam than my lattes, it was ridiculous.