De'LonghiMagnifica Start Automatic Espresso Machine with Auto Milk Frother & Built in Grinder - 5 One-Touch Recipes, Easy-to-Clean, Home Barista Coffee Maker for Lattes, Cappuccino, Iced Coffee

Why did you pick this product vs others?:I wanted to have a nice coffee machine, but I didn't want all the work that typically comes with them. I did my research and found that this model does most of the cleaning for you. It makes great cappuccinos, my favorite. Friends and family love the other coffee selections as well. I have not been disappointed. Functionality:So easy to use and keep functional.

I have had quite a few espresso machines over the years. I have assembled large commercial machines and used simple Vietnameese fins. I paid full price for this new machine. My last machine was a Gamea Revo and I got almost 20K cups of coffee out of it before it started to fall apart. I was on the fence between ordering the DeLonghi Evo or the Start. The Evo has been around for a while and is more expensive. But it is on sale for half price. The Start is a new machine that is slightly more than the Evo sale price. It has less buttons and bells and whistles. But it has several distinct advantages. First it comes with a 2 year warranty which can be extended to 3 years just by registering the machine. So no need to purchase an extended warranty. I did not opt for the automatic milk frother because my wife and I drink our coffees black. This machine was easy to setup and required only a few test cups to get the brew right. The grinder was set up perfect to begin with. I also programned the buttons for my preferences including strongest coffee setting. Once set it makes consistent great coffee. The crema is about .5 inches. The coffee comes out hot. There is an auto off feature which you can set from 15 min to 3 hours. My last fancy machine had all kinds of programming but no auto off. It is very valuable to save the life of your boiler. It holds lots of beans (1/4 pound) but not too much water (5-6 cups) but is easy to refill the water without removing the water tank entirely. There are visual warnings as well as beeps for any problems (like water low, beans low, tray missing, etc.) but not constant beeping just one beep and a red pictograph of the problem. So, I am very happy with the machine. My wife gets up at 4am and has her coffee before leaving for work. This machine does not have auto on but starts up in less than one minute (if you turn off the energy saving option). She is very happy with this simple to operate esperesso machine that makes great coffe or Americano. The design is excellent with less to go wrong. It is narrow but just as deep and tall as most macines. So it takes up less linear counter space. I hope it lasts as long as my last machine.An update after 3 months of daily use. We make at least 4 large cups of coffee per day. Usually more. Plus the occaisional Americano or Espresso. This machine has performed superbly. I use filtered akaline water which reduces the need for descaling. The descale icon comes up after 2 months of daily use. The engineering that went into this machine is really someting. The brew group is simplified and easier to clean. It has much less moving parts than the traditional brew groups. I am very impressed. The only negatives so far are: 1) If it runs out of water in the middle of a brewing cycle it does not resumme after you add water. It goes back to beginning and you have to manually add water to a half brewed cup of coffee. 2) The dark tint of the water tank makes it difficult to see the water level. Both of these are minor annoyances. But the ease of operation and consistancy of great coffee far outweigh these.

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.

Best purchase ever!!! Love everything about it.. It’s just the two of us so we’re comfortable with adding water and coffee beans when needed. Also fits nicely under the kitchen cabinet. So easy to use makes it a 5 star .