The full story
By the Espresso Rated editors · Published Nov 12, 2026 · Updated Nov 13, 2026
The Dinamica is a compact super-automatic with a 13 setting steel burr grinder, 5 drinks on the panel and a traditional milk frother on the side. Praise gathers around what ends up in the cup and how little cleaning it asks for. The complaints are about the milk wand, the first days of setup, the noise and the plastic.
Smooth, hot espresso and an iced coffee that is not watered down9.1/10
The coffee is the reason to buy the Dinamica, and it is praised almost without exception. Coffeeness got an espresso showing "all the notes of chocolate, caramel and nuts" from its test beans.1 Seattle Coffee Gear, a store that sells the machine, calls the shots "quite good, and quite hot" after some dialing in.2
The iced coffee setting is the feature that sets it apart. It changes the brew temperature and the amounts of coffee and water to suit pouring over ice, and Home Sweet Table found the result "full-flavored and not watery".3 The long, drip-style coffee is closer to a filter brew than most machines of this kind manage, though not the same thing.
The limits are those of any automatic. Balance Journal describes the espresso as "rounder and less layered" than a shot from a manual machine with a separate grinder, with a ceiling on how far you can tune it.4 Expect to adjust the grind for each new bag, and to get a weak, watery long coffee if the settings are left wrong.
Latte foam from a short manual wand, thin for cappuccino and slow for practiced hands7.5/10
The traditional milk frother is widely liked by first-time users and less so by anyone who has steamed milk before. You press the steam button and froth in your own jug, with dairy or plant milks, and you decide how hot it gets. Seattle Coffee Gear sums up the result as "fine foam for a normal latte", and adds that it is hard to pour latte art or build a cappuccino with it.5
The wand is short, and it is not strong. Balance Journal finds the foam acceptable and quick for a cappuccino but short of silky microfoam, and is blunt about who will be disappointed.
“If you have been steaming milk by hand for years, you will find the Dinamica’s wand under-powered and slow.”
Two habits matter. Learn the difference between steam and hot water before you aim the wand, because it can spray while you work it out. And wipe it after every use: Home Sweet Table forgot a couple of times, and crusted milk inside caused an error.6 The silkiest foam on record comes from the carafe on the Dinamica Plus, which is a different milk system from this one.
Touch icons that start a drink at a brush, after a setup that needs the manual6.0/10
Daily use is easy and the first days are not, which is why ease divides opinion. Once it is running, the touch panel is plain: Cafelista Coffee credits the touch buttons and "intuitive pictograms", and strength and cup size change with a tap.7 It heats quickly, takes ground coffee through a bypass chute, and fits under most cabinets.
Getting there takes patience. The manual is needed for the initial programming, and Our Daily Tribe says working it out "can feel like rocket science", with a weekend gone before the household had it down.8 Cup sizes are shown as small to largest with no volumes attached, and there are few advanced settings to explore.
The touch panel has its own catch, which Tom's Coffee Corner puts plainly.
“This one I don't like as much because if you just brush against any of these symbols here, it's going to start your drink already.”
The rest is housekeeping. The 1.8 l tank pulls out from the front, which is handy, and it is on the small side for a busy household. The bean hopper fills from the top, so a machine tucked under cabinets has to slide out. The grinder is loud for the few seconds it runs.9
A brew unit behind the tank, a dishwasher tray and gloss that shows every fingerprint6.9/10
Routine cleaning is quick, and most of the praise here is for how little it asks. The drip tray lifts off and can go in the dishwasher. The brew unit is reached from behind the water tank and rinses under the tap, and a rinse button on the front flushes it on demand.10
The machine also rinses itself when it switches on and off, sending a little hot water out of the coffee spouts each time. Keep a cup underneath or the tray fills faster. It prompts you to descale roughly monthly, and the bypass chute for ground coffee can clog if it is neglected.
The outside is the chore. Cafelista Coffee calls cleaning "a little bit of a pain, especially with the glossy black plastic", which marks with fingerprints and dust and scratches easily.11 A soft cloth nearby is part of owning one.
Sturdy for a plastic machine, with tank-sensor errors and slow service on record6.4/10
The Dinamica feels solid and is mostly plastic, and opinion splits on how much that matters. Coffeeness calls it a sturdy machine to count on for the long haul, then complains that De'Longhi automatics use "too much plastic".12 Tom's Coffee Corner rates the housing above a rival's and the plastic as good quality.
Faults on record are small. Balance Journal notes occasional "water tank not detected" errors, nearly always cured by reseating the tank so its magnet lines up.13 The same source expects years of domestic use from it, which is a forecast, not a track record.
If something does go wrong, expect a wait. Coffeeness reports that De'Longhi's service sorts problems out in the end but takes a while to do it. ECS Coffee, a store, points to a longer warranty than a close competitor's.
A strong option at $899, with rivals at the same money and a milk jug to buy7.5/10
Value is widely liked. Seattle Coffee Gear calls the Dinamica "a strong option at its price point", and Cafelista Coffee sees a good balance of features and price.14 Balance Journal's advice is the most practical: for black coffee or one milk drink a day, buy this version and spend the saving on fresh beans.
The case against is about the competition. Coffeeness, which liked the machine, concedes that De'Longhi itself now sells better ones for the same money.15 Home Coffee Expert prefers similarly priced Philips and Gaggia machines, partly because this one leaves the frothing to you.
The box is well stocked, with descaling solution, a cleaning brush, a water filter, a measuring spoon and an ice cube tray. It has no milk jug, so add one to the bill at $899.
Our verdict
Buy the Dinamica if the household runs on espresso, long coffee and iced coffee, and a latte is an occasional extra you are happy to froth yourself. Skip it if milk drinks are the daily order, or if you want foam fine enough for latte art. Give it a weekend and the manual before judging it, and buy a small milk jug with it. In the shop, brush a hand across the touch panel to see how easily a drink starts, and compare the price with the carafe machines beside it.
6 sources quoted in this story (15 notes)
- 1coffeeness.de · written review “I was rewarded with a beautiful espresso that displayed all the notes of chocolate, caramel and nuts that I love about this coffee.”
- 2seattlecoffeegear.com · written review “With some dialing in, the shots this machine can produce are quite good, and quite hot.”
- 3homesweettable.com · written review “It makes a really smooth, good-tasting coffee in 2 minutes or less. The iced coffee is full-flavored and not watery.”
- 4balancejournal.co · written review “the espresso is rounder and less layered than a shot pulled on a manual machine with a separate grinder, and there is a limit to how much you can tune it”
- 5seattlecoffeegear.com · written review “it makes fine foam for a normal latte and because it's manual you can control how hot you want the milk.” but “It doesn't produce loads of foam, and doesn't produce particularly fine microfoam. That means it's hard to pour latter art or make a cappuccino with this machine.”
- 6homesweettable.com · written review “You can easily froth milk by pushing the steam button.” but “I forgot to do it a couple of times and milk crusted on the inside causing an error.”
- 7Cafelista_Coffee · 3:13 “If the ease of use is a priority, touch button, intuitive pictograms, it's wellmade.”
- 8Our Daily Tribe · 2:08 “another feature that i love is the water tank it's removable from the front yes so that is huge” but “the instructions are complicated like figuring out a new coffee machine can feel like rocket science so after a weekend we finally got it down”
- 9balancejournal.co · written review “The Dinamica’s conical burr grinder is loud.”
- 10seattlecoffeegear.com · written review “The brew unit is pretty easily accessible behind the water tank, and the drip tray is convenient and easy to clean.”
- 11Cafelista_Coffee · 3:44 “Cleaning can be a little bit of a pain, especially with the glossy black plastic.”
- 12coffeeness.de · written review “In general, the Dinamica is a sturdy machine that can be counted on for the long haul.” but “Perhaps this aesthetic issue with the DeLonghi Dinamica is part of a greater problem I see in DeLonghi automatic [Espresso Machine]: they have a tendency to use too much plastic.”
- 13balancejournal.co · written review “occasional ‘water tank not detected’ errors (almost always a magnet alignment fix, reseat the tank)”
- 14seattlecoffeegear.com · written review “In the end the Dinamica is a strong option at its price point.”
- 15coffeeness.de · written review “The truth of the matter is that even DeLonghi now offers better machines costing the same as the Dinamica.”
