De’Longhi Magnifica Start Espresso & Coffee Machine with

Awesome machine – life changing!
Yes I know this may sound extreme but I am in love with this product. We have had an expresso machine for years but it was very messy. This machine makes some of the best coffee and it is simple to use and no messy clean up. The only downside is the fact that the panel is not as user friendly. You need to look up codes and which buttons to push in which order to program or interpret what certainly indicators mean. Also it would be handy to have a liner to the area where the coffee grounds empty so it is easier to clean. Currently some of the pucks break apart and are more moist which means I have to rinse the container and some grounds then go down the sink. Much less mess than my previous machine so not really a complaint but a suggestion. Maybe these do exist?I also love that the milk container is dishwasher friendly.

What the Puck?
I am not sure what makes me more upset- that this well-known company put out a coffee maker that can’t make a decent cup of coffee. Or that I wasted SO much money on it.The most basic function of this machine should be to make a simple cup of coffee. Good luck with that. The size of the “puck” of coffee for whatever you do with this machine is always the same. So if you want a bigger cup of coffee-the amount of coffee grinds used is the same as the small cup. The only difference is how much water it uses. That means that your 12 oz cup of coffee is weaker than the 8 oz.To adjust the size of the cup you want you press the coffee button until it blinks. You wait at the machine until your cup fills to where you want it and then you press the coffee button again. This then becomes your default (size) cup setting. Great right? Except that the next person who wants coffee has no idea what size of cup they are getting. If I brew a small cup and my husband wants a 12 oz he’s getting an 8 oz unless he uses the same process. And his 12 oz cup is weak. De Longhi made the strength of the coffee a seperate interface you can easily see. But somehow neglected to make selecting the size of the cup and the setting clear. And sure- you can make two cups but guess what? No normal mug(s) fit under the two nozzles side by side. Ergo the two-cup function requires you to put a single large container of some sort under the nozzle and then pour from there into two mugs. Making two cups of coffee for ourselves each morning is a chore. We ran through a ridiculous amount of bean brands to find a bean that would be strong enough for a large cup and not taste terrible when a smaller cup is brewed or a weaker setting is selected.There is also no way to know how many beans are in the machine aside from a visual above it. Often you wind up starting a cup of coffee only to hear the dreaded “empty” whirling noise you’ll come to recognize. If you’re not standing near the machine to stop it still brews the cup.Don’t forget the container you have to put under the machine for every on/off cycle. It cleans itself with water both when it is powered on and when powered off. This means you run through a LOT of water. If you have hard water like we have you’ll need to descale and replace the filters constantly. And to descale is a 15 STEP PROCESS. This is not an exaggeration. We made it less than two months between descales last time. You CANNOT disable the auto-shut off. You can only adjust the amount of time that passes before it shuts itself off every day. (While there is a vessel under the machine to catch this extra water it fills quickly and you have to empty it often. Even De Longhi suggests putting a seperate container under it to catch this bypass water.)What about the rest of the functions? Mercifully espresso is good. You can get a good cappuccino about 7 out of 10 times. Often you just get an espresso with a lot of hot milk and zero froth. Again you can’t adjust the size of the cappuccino because the puck size is always the same. I brew a small cup of coffee before running the cappuccino to get a remotely decent size amount.We have to leave the instruction manual out because this thing has so many codes and lights to interpret. “Simple One Touch” is anything but. We are both technically savvy people- it’s ridiculous.We recently went on a vacation where our hotel both had the most basic, old fashioned Cusinart coffee makers. Filter. Drip. We were SO happy we could finally, easily, get a decent cup of coffee. We have guests visiting soon. I plan to buy another cheap coffee maker to use rather than try to have a college course on making a cup of coffee if we aren’t around. Ridiculous. I splurged on this thing and (clearly) I regret it.

5 mo post purchase: A delicious upgrade from Keurig with ease
I love a great espresso, cappuccino and coffee but am often sleepy and on the go in the morning. This creates a delicious cup of freshly ground espresso or coffee. Or near-perfect froth for cappuccino or latte, and the milk attachment can store in the refrigerator ready for next use. Or hot water attachment for tea or cocoa.This machine is constantly cleaning itself which I love as a clean machine makes my coffee taste better and makes maintenance easy. There is a grounds bin that can easily hold many cups of used coffee grounds, a water catchbasin, and an inner cartridge. I clean them every few days. I fill the water container every 2 days, or about 8-10 cups. There are multiple grind options and multiple coffee strength options.Additional options and descale/cleaning functions are available, however a lack of dedicated menu buttons and display makes access a bit less intuitive. If that is important to you, there are other DeLonghi models you might prefer but they come at a higher price point. I am ok with the compromise to save money.If you want to up your morning coffee game but with push-button ease, this machine is a perfect choice.

I had used my friend’s exact machine, over the summer while visiting her. Therefore, it was simple for me to set it up. But, had I not known the working of the machine before-hand, I think it would have been complicated to follow the hard copy directions. Be patient as you do it.The coffee is delicious.It is easy to make when all the parts are set up.It is quite a convenient size, even though it makes many different gourmet coffee options (or hot water).My cupboards are quite low since I have hidden lighting below them. So, I set up a coffee centre on a chest with a glass top, beside my counter.Now, it is very easy to access the top for the addition of the coffee beans.I purchased the machine with an automatic frother and it was worth the money. My husband likes lattes. I prefer black coffee. So, it suits us perfectly.I highly recommend this coffee machine.I wonder why I waited so long to buy a really expensive coffee machine?? We always get what we pay for. It is worth the dollars.

It’s a good coffee machine and makes excellent Americano and Espresso but milk froster isn’t that great to made amazing Latte. It makes decent latte not great. That’s why, I’ll probably be buying the next generation of this brand and hope they work on the froster.

I had wanted to purchase an espresso machine for a long time. Every time I’d visit a friend’s house and they made me an espresso or americano I would wish I had my own machine. I researched automatic, semi-automatic, manual, etc. and decided on the Delonghi Magnifica Start because I thought it would be simple to us and as I had never owned a machine before, that was important.Ive had the machine now for a few months and I couldn’t be more disappointed. I wake up and dread having a morning coffee (but need caffeine or the headache kicks in). I’ve tried tinkering with the settings: temperature, water amount, grind size, everything that you can control and nothing has come remotely close to what I would have at my friend’s houses. I have tried locally sourced, recently roasted coffee beans, lavazza and the like type beans, I’ve even tried cheap coffee beans and nothing seems to work.I tried reaching out directly to delonghi via their website chat to troubleshoot, and all they did was send me a pdf of the same booklet the machine came with.Having saved up for the machine and receiving some money from family as a gift to purchase, my biggest regret is giving this machine the benefit of the doubt and keeping it beyond the return window to try different beans and settings – hoping something would work out.Don’t make my mistake – avoid this machine.