De’Longhi Dinamica Series Espresso Machine Review 2024

Do you love specialty coffee? Do you find yourself spending more time and money than you’re comfortable admitting haunting your local coffee bar? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then you’re going to be impressed by what you read in this—our DeLonghi Dinamica review.

If you’ve spent any time at all browsing home espresso machines, then you’re probably already familiar with the De’Longhi name. What you may not know is that they are one of the biggest, best, and most respected brands in the industry. They have a reputation for building top-quality products, and they offer world-class customer service to boot.

In other words, if you’re serious about coffee and you want to replicate the Starbucks experience at home, whatever De’Longhi machine is in your price range belongs on your shortlist of options to consider.

The Dinamica is not a singular machine but rather an entire product line offered by the company.  

These are superb machines from top to bottom, and there are quite a number of models in this product line—ranging from a few priced below a thousand dollars to a deluxe superautomatic with all the bells and whistles that will set you back several thousand dollars.

The bottom line is that there’s something for everyone, whatever your budget, in this product line.

Here, we’ve decided to focus on the ECAM 35020B and the ECAM 35020W. 

Except for color (black or white), these are identical machines, and the 35020 sits on the lower-middle end of the price range.

We settled on this one in particular because it’s a machine robust enough to offer a good range of capabilities without being budget-busting for most folks.

In the sections that follow, we’ll tell you everything this model is capable of, and we won’t pull any punches when it comes to identifying the weaker portions of its design (and there are a couple).

If that sounds good to you, and you’re ready to get your coffee on, keep reading and prepare to be impressed.

An Overview of the DeLonghi Dinamica Fully Automatic Coffee Maker & Espresso Machine

Form Factor, Footprint & Aesthetic

Whether you decide you want the black version or the white, these are sleek, great-looking machines. 

Featuring graceful lines and European styling, an ECAM35020 is an absolutely awesome addition to any home kitchen.

The dimensions of the DeLonghi Dinamica bean to cup coffee machine are 9.45” W x 17” D x 13.4” H, and the machine weighs in at twenty pounds. The bad news here is that the bean hopper is top-loading, so while it may be possible to store the unit on your counter under your cabinets, you’ll almost certainly have to pull it out anytime you want to load the bean hopper.

The good news is that since it’s relatively lightweight (20 pounds), moving it about as needed isn’t a major pain.

Reservoir Size

This is a surprisingly strong segment of our DeLonghi Dinamica review. The reservoir has a capacity of 1.8 liters or 60.86 ounces and is front loading.  

Unfortunately, these units do not come with AquaClean filters like many of Saeco Philips’ products, which means that you’ll need to descale this model somewhat more frequently. 

This, more than anything, is a strong argument in favor of using distilled water in your machine—though that’s not an absolute requirement, of course.

We love the fact that the reservoir is accessible from the front of the unit. Just pull it out and refill as needed.

Sure, we’d prefer if this model could be plumbed with a dedicated water line, but there are actually very few models that allow for that. Since this one doesn’t, a sixty-ounce capacity is pretty good. We drink a ton of coffee, and we were impressed!

Final Note: The fact that since the reservoir is both transparent and front-loading, you can tell at a glance what your water level is, so you’ll be able to refill as needed.

Integrated Grinder & a Decently Sized Bean Hopper

A bit ago, we mentioned that the bean hopper was located at the top of the machine. When you open the top hatch, you’ll find that it’s fairly spacious, capable of holding up to 10.58 ounces of beans. We’d love an even higher capacity, but its size is pretty good. And it’s a decent match for the size of the water tank, so we don’t have any major complaints there.

The grinder, however, is, in our view, a genuine point of weakness in the design. At first glance, you may be disappointed in the number of grind settings because the dial only goes up to seven.

The trick here is that the grinder dial allows movement in half steps, which means that there are actually thirteen different settings on offer, and that puts the grinder in the top tier. While there’s no formal industry standard where the number of grind settings is concerned, overall, the average is about six. So in terms of the number of settings, this one is a cut above.

The downside is that the burrs are stainless steel. Stainless steel heats up when used, and if the burrs heat up too much, they’ll burn your beans and ruin the flavor of whatever drink you’re making.

We understand the company’s decision here. Stainless steel burrs are cheaper than ceramic burrs, and their inclusion here allowed the company to keep the cost of the machine a bit lower.

The trick, though, is that you’ll want to give the grinder time to cool down completely between each use. So if you live in a large household with multiple coffee drinkers, the delay may cause problems.

As long as you give the burrs time to cool down between uses, though, you shouldn’t have an issue, but you will need to be mindful of the limitations of the grinder here.

The Boiler System of DeLonghi Dinamica Plus

The DeLonghi Dinamica espresso machine utilizes a single stainless steel boiler. We prefer double boiler systems because they minimize the time you spend waiting for the boiler to shift gears between coffee brewing and milk steaming.

In this case, however, we’re willing to look past the limitation because the boiler on this unit comes to temp very quickly (in forty seconds or less!), so you won’t have to spend much time waiting on it. A double boiler would still be better but would also make this a much more expensive machine.

Telescoping Coffee Spigot

This will be a short section, but it’s an important detail, and our review will not be complete without giving the coffee spigots a quick mention. You can adjust the height of the spigots depending on the type of cup you’re using.  

The height range spans 3.5” to 5.5”, which is sufficient to accommodate most coffee cups. But if you’ve got one of the king-sized, super jumbo models, it probably won’t fit.

That’s not the end of the world, though. If that’s the case, it’s a simple matter to just brew into a cup that will fit under the spigots and pour your creation into your big cup.

The Control System of the DeLonghi Dinamica Coffee Machine

This is, hands down, the strongest segment of our DeLonghi Dinamica review because this model is the first of its kind to give you the option to brew iced coffee drinks on demand. As huge fans of iced coffee, we absolutely love that.

Before we say more about that, here’s the complete list of drinks you can make with this model:

TrueBrew Iced Coffee
TrueBrew Iced Latte
Long Espresso
Espresso
Cappuccino
Latte
Drip-Style Coffee
Double Espresso
Hot Water

This is a fairly impressive list for a machine in its price range. If you’re looking for a model that offers more, you’ll almost certainly wind up spending more money.

As we mentioned a moment ago, the DeLonghi Dinamica TrueBrew technology is the real headline here. And making a delicious iced coffee drink is as simple as putting a few ice cubes in a glass, selecting the TrueBrew option, then adding your milk, syrup, or sweetener—depending on your preferences—and enjoy!

As to the control system itself, it is a lesson in simplicity. Everything you need to make the coffee drink you want exists in the form of buttons on the front face of the machine (except for adjusting the grinder settings—the knob for which is inside the bean hopper).

Just give the user manual a quick read to familiarize yourself with what the various icons mean, and you’ll be all set.

Sure, it would be even easier if this model had an LCD touch screen, but that’s the kind of thing normally found on high-end machines with a significantly higher price tag than this one comes with.  

You can adjust the amount of coffee and water you want for each of the drinks you make and save those settings for one-touch convenience later. Coffee strength has five different settings:  extra light, light, medium, strong, or extra strong.

The temperature of your chosen drink can also be adjusted via four settings (displayed as 1-5 beans). 

Note: You can’t control the precise temperature, but the more “beans” you specify for temperature, the hotter your drink.

Finally, this unit does have an auto-shutoff feature. You can tell the unit to shut off after 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 3 hours depending on which option you select and what your specific needs are.

There are a few limitations to be aware of where this model is concerned, however.

First, burn-in. The company recommends brewing 4-5 cups of coffee to break the machine in before you actually start consuming your coffee creations. The first few drinks won’t be as good as the rest of those that come later.

Second, we prefer machines that offer precise temperature control, but since that’s not an option here, we found the “high” (three beans) setting to work best. You may prefer “very high” or one of the lower settings, so experiment to find your sweet spot.

Third, be aware that this model doesn’t come with a cup warming tray. Given the design, there’s simply not any room for it. The recommended workaround is to dispense a bit of hot water before you brew as a means of pre-warming your cup. It’s not a perfect solution, but it works well enough.

What You Get

De’Longhi takes good care of its customers. In addition to the espresso machine itself, if you decide you want one of these, you’ll also get:

Descaling Solution
Cleaning Brush
Ice Cube Tray (coffee bean-shaped)
1 Water Filter
1 Measuring Spoon
The requisite Instruction Manual & Quick Start Guide

It’s also worth mentioning that while most espresso machines only offer a one-year warranty, most of the models De’Longhi sells—including this one—come with a two-year warranty, which is superb. Even better, you can extend the warranty by an additional year simply by registering your product.

The Milk Frothing System

Where milk frothing is concerned, there are two possible options: an auto-frother or a steam wand. This model uses a steam wand. If you’re looking for maximum convenience, you’ll probably want a machine with an auto-frother.

The steam wand offered here isn’t best in class, but it’s not bad. Odds are, the quality of the foam you can get from it won’t be sufficient to do fancy latte art, but it’s fine for producing tasty drinks. This is a limitation born from the relatively modest price of the machine and isn’t surprising in the least.

Easy to Use and Easy to Clean

This will be another fairly short section. We’ve already talked about the control system and how it’s easy to use and intuitive. 

The same is true of keeping the unit clean. Again, just spend some time browsing the user manual, and you’ll get full details on the various cleaning and periodic maintenance tasks you’ll need to perform.

The DeLonghi Dinamica plus coffee machine even tells you when it’s time to empty the grounds tray, and here, note that it’s set to a 72-hour timer. So if you’re more of a casual coffee drinker, the grounds won’t mold in the tray until it begins to fill. 

You’ll get a reminder at the 72-hour mark and can keep it clean and ready for its next use. Very handy.

Pros and Cons of the De’Longhi Dinamica Coffee Machine 

If you’ve read to this point, we think you’ll agree; the Dinamica DeLonghi has a lot to offer. Rather than repeat all the strong points we’ve mentioned so far, we’ll simply summarize the few weak points in the design you need to be aware of. In no particular order, these are:

The grinding burrs are stainless steel. Overuse can burn your beans.
This unit only has a single boiler. This is partially offset by the fact that the unit heats rapidly but is still something to bear in mind.
While it is capable of making a surprising variety of drinks, your favorite may or may not be listed here.
It doesn’t allow for precise temperature control.

We don’t consider any of these to be deal breakers, but they are points to be mindful of.

DeLonghi Dinamica Review Conclusion

For the money, this is a great machine that provides a ton of value for the money. Ultimately, it depends on what you’re looking for. If you want more drinks and higher quality milk foam, you’re going to want to spend a bit more money and get a more robust machine. But for the price, this is a superb option, and we recommend it.

Other Options to Consider

If the DeLonghi ECAM35020B isn’t the machine you’re looking for, as we said at the start, there are tons of other options in the Dinamica product line. Here are a couple of other options that may be a better fit for you:

This machine sits at the extreme high end of the Dinamica product line. It’s a superauto that can do almost everything, and it has a vastly superior control system with a touch screen and full-color pictures of all the drinks you can make with it.

Here, you get more of everything and an auto-frother to boot. Unfortunately, it’s significantly more expensive than the model we just reviewed but this is very much a case of “you get what you pay for.” This is a world-class machine you’re sure to love…IF you can afford it.

This model is a solid step-up from the one we just reviewed. It comes with an auto-frother and includes a whopping eighteen specialty coffee drinks. If you want more options and the added convenience of an auto-frother, and you’re willing to spend a little more, this is a great alternative to consider.

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Official Manufacturer Support

Sources & Resources

• DeLonghi, Official Brand Website.
• DeLonghi ECAM35020B Dinamica User Manual.
• 5 Reasons Why You Should Be Brewing Coffee At Home, Spoon University. 
• 24 Starbucks Recipes to Make at Home, Insanely Good Recipes. 
• Copycat Coffee Shop Drinks, Taste of Home.