DeLonghi Gran Dama 6700 Espresso Machine

I have owned three super automatic machines. This one is the worst. The water tank almost always needs to be refilled and I'm the only user of the machine. This is because of all the water that it used during start up and shutdown. As far as programming, it makes a very watered down second shot when you make a double shot latte. Also, it constantly beeps at you that it needs to have its tray emptied. We joke that this is more needy than a newborn. This is a terrible machine.

I must say that after a month's ownership, I'm really impressed with DeLonghi's product quality and the delicious, consistent espresso. This machine is incredibly easy to use and maintain. Despite some other comments to the contrary, the milk pitcher slides in and out of place relatively easily. You just need to make certain that you have lined it up with the socket before you slide it in to place. The milk comes out hot and with a nice foam consistency. Love this machine!!!

I have been looking for the perfect automatic coffee/espresso machine for a long time. I have been to the big coffee websites. I've read all the reviews. And finally, with some trepidation, I laid down half my children's inheritance to purchase this DeLonghi Gran Dama machine, based on the couple of reviews that I found that placed it in a positive light. Was it worth it? Is it right for you? Well, read on and learn everything there is to know about it from a guy who has put this machine through its paces for two months. The Pros: - Automatic burr grinder built in that grinds from a pre-filled bean reservoir. This is very convenient and it makes a fresh and fragrant cup of stuff. - Good temperature on the coffee, and it gets to that temperature very quickly. Never overly hot. Never tepid. Just right. - The unit is surprisingly small and compact considering all that it is capable of. It fits perfectly into the slot that my old Capresso coffee pot occupied -- a machine that only made coffee, nothing else. - Does it make a good cup 'o joe? Answer: Yes. It makes just as good a cup of regular coffee as what I get from the Peets store down the street. And this is what I was ultimately looking for. For the coffee alone, it is great. Far better than any machine I have ever owned previously (I have owned, I think, five machines from three manufacturers, at this point). The Cons: - Not really a very big deal, but the machine is pretty loud. It buzzes really, really abrasively when it is heating and grinding. I had seen this issue mentioned in other reviews, so I was prepared. But you should know that it is LOUD. - The machine is not well designed. It is very difficult to get into in order to empty the grounds, fill the water tank and to clean. You have to really go through quite a bit of shenanigans to get inside. To dump the grounds, you have to remove the drip tray (which doesn't just slide out simply as one would expect, you kind of have to wiggle it to get it to come loose). Then, you can't actually pry the door open with your hands, it just kind of flops open when you pull out the tray, which feels ungainly and incorrectly seated, somehow. But that's how it works. Then, you continue to pull the drip tray toward you and the ground container tries to come out, but gets stuck on one corner. You have to reach in, grab the grounds container and maneuver it out of the compartment. At this point, you've pulled out the drip tray (which has a floppy piece that has probably come loose at this point, more on that later), the door is open exposing the entire inner portion of the machine and all it's mechanical stuff, and then there's the very hard to get to grounds container. Assuming you can hold all this stuff in place or have the counter space for it all, you can go and dump the grounds and then just muscle everything back into place again. It's really, really inconvenient and ungainly. And if you have the milk container installed, you have to first remove that in order to access the door -- and that is a whole other issue as I will detail next. - The milk frothing container is very flimsy and feels cheap. Mine hasn't broken yet, but I am absolutely convinced it won't make it through another two months, and here's why. It's made of a lot of plastic pieces that sort of don't really fit together well. It is rickety. All in all, it works pretty well at making hot and frothy milk (I stress pretty well, because it is kind of hit and miss as to whether it decides to behave each time -- mine isn't working at the moment which I will also address shortly). But it is really, really hard to push the container into its little valve connection on the front of the machine, and even harder to pull out, again. In fact, my wife refuses to install and uninstall because it takes so much muscle. She just can't do it. It should just slide easily in and out. But it definitely does not. You really have to push hard to wedge it into place, and unless your machine is up against a wall, it will be pushed right along with it. And when you pull the milk container out, you have to seriously jerk the container to get it to come out -- I'm not kidding here. And the flimsy handle on this container is going to break off, I just know it. I almost feel that this is by design so that I will have to buy a new one from DeLonghi at forty or fifty bucks, or whatever they charge. This is a negative viewpoint, but why else would they stick such a crappy attachment onto such an outrageously expensive machine? Up sales, I think they call it in the business. Anyway, when you jerk the container out, if there is any amount of milk left in it, it is going to slurp out onto the floor. The top of the container is not sealed well. And many a mess has ensued. And lastly, this container three times out of ten does not register on the machine as being properly seated. And then you have to jerk it out and shove it back in sometimes three times before it beeps to say you have put it in properly. The funny thing is, there is only one way to put it in. So for the machine to say it is not installed properly is absolutely incorrect. It is aggravating, believe me. - After only two months, the milk container (which has two settings, hot milk and hot frothed milk) only registers one of the settings. I can no longer make frothed milk, only hot milk. The microwave does this same task in a much easier fashion, so unless I can get the company to replace or fix it, I will probably just stop using the milk jug entirely -- which will make my wife happy. I imagine this is all due to the constant hard shoving in and out of the container. Frankly, I am surprised it lasted this long. Again, at this cost, I shouldn't be having problems after two months of use. - Okay, enough about the friggin' milk jug. My biggest overall complaint with this machine is that it has all kinds of sensors on it (hard water detector, milk container detector, etc.), but it isn't smart enough to tell you when it is low on water, when the grounds container needs emptying or when it doesn't have enough beans. And this creates a most frustrating scenario. It seems that every other morning, I forget to check all three of those things (and remember, it is REALLY hard to get to the grounds container, so there is no way to check its fullness without a major surgical entry.) The machine will actually STOP right in the middle of preparing a cup of coffee to tell me to fill the water tank, empty the grounds, put more beans in or to descale the device. Are you kidding me? With all those sensors that are already there they couldn't figure a way for one of them to show you before you start brewing that there is a work stoppage impending? And then, after filling the beans or dumping the grounds or whatever, the machine doesn't even start the coffee where it left off. You have to throw away your half cup of whatever because it probably is not strong enough or properly brewed, yet. And then you have to start the whole process over. You just wasted coffee beans, water and, most importantly, time. This is beyond frustrating. - As mentioned a moment ago, the descaling feature is really annoying. It pops up unexpectedly and won't let you do anything until the descaling is carried out. And you have to stay with the machine for the full thirty minutes that it descales because you have to fill and dump the water reservoir multiple times during the process. I walked away during the first descaling and the machine reset itself back to the very beginning of the process. I could not make a cup of coffee until I stood there for the full thirty minutes and let it go through its thing. And even more annoying, I only use distilled water, anyway. So, theoretically, I shouldn't have to descale at all, or not as often as it wants me to. In my busy world, this standing down to watch over a machine for thirty minutes completely discredits the "automatic" moniker. - Who at DeLonghi decided that two and a half ounces of coffee fills a coffee cup? They have five brew size settings, none of which fills my standard American sized coffee cup. Come on, sell us a machine in the USA that fills a cup in the USA! Granted, you can make one custom setting, referred to as 'my coffee' which allows you to fill a proper cup. And I use this setting solely in my world. All of the other settings are completely useless. - There is a so-called two cup setting (which barely fills two thimbles -- thimbles for six year old children, at that) and this procedure works fine UNLESS you want to use the milk jug in the drink preparation. You can't fit two cups and the milk container on the base at the same time, despite what the directions insinuate. So you can't actually prepare two cappuccinos or lattes. You can only make two thimbles of straight coffee with this configuration. Not a big deal for me. But beware. This really is a one cup at a time brewing device. - The drip tray that your cup sits on is very close to the coffee dispenser nozzle. Therefore, you can only use smaller sized coffee cups with the machine. DeLonghi has built in a very oddly shaped and poorly configured "trap door" thingy that folds up with some difficulty and then allows another half inch of clearance for your cup. However, the width of the trap door is so minimal that any slightly taller cup that I have doesn't fit into this depression. Basically, you can put a really tall demitasse type cup into there, but nothing else. It is nearly a useless scenario. They should have made it bigger. Not to mention, the trap door falls off and clatters onto the floor constantly when moving the drip tray, cleaning, etc. It is a poorly designed piece. -The coffee grounds container only accepts, roughly, seven cups of coffee worth of grounds material. Then it asks to be emptied. Interestingly, this amount of grounds only fills the container up to about a third of its capacity. You should be able to pound out another seven to ten cups before it forces you to empty it. And why didn't they provide secondary access to these grounds from a door on the side of the machine? It is such a ridiculous procedure to get to the container that this fact alone almost makes this machine not worth the purchase. I am trying to train myself to fill beans, fill water and check grounds with every two cups that I brew. But doesn't this defeat the whole "automatic" scenario that we are looking for? My old Capresso coffee pot with built in grinder was so much easier. Too bad the coffee wasn't robust. I'd go back to it in a sec. - It is irrelevant to mention the price. If you are in the market and able to pay this kind of dough in the first place, at some point money is less the concern. But this is a LOT of money and I expect more in the device. Here's the bottom line. Although the machine itself is compact and sturdy and makes a really decent cup of coffee, it just feels like a proof of concept model. It's almost as if the engineers brought this machine to the boardroom and said, "here is our next idea for a great coffee machine. This device, although a bit rough around the edges, is our blueprint for what will be a really great device. We just need to fix some design issues and work out a couple of kinks. What do you think?" The board members, being the clueless corporate wonks that one expects, mistakenly thought that this was the actual consumer device and put it on the market with no real world testing. Not to mention at a really high price. This machine just isn't ready for prime time. And it is way, way too expensive for a device with so many negative issues. I would wait for an upgrade in device or a serious downgrade in price. I feel that this machine, where it is now, is worth no more than $899.00, if that.

How Long Have I Been Using This Product?

1 - 6 months

What's Best About this Product?

Automatic grinder Hot cup of coffee Robust cup of coffee All in all, best consumer machine cup of coffee I have had

Some Helpful Tips For Using this Product:

This machine, although small and compact and overall well made, needs some design fixes in order for it to be worth it's really huge price. My overall immediate fix would be to make the grounds easier to get to. Secondarily, I'd like them to have the sensors watch over capacities in a more helpful fashion.

My Experience With Using This Product:

Connoisseur

The Coffee I've Tried With This Product:

Primarily Peets

Some Improvements I Would Recommend for This Product:

The design is miserable. Dumping grounds, getting into the machine for cleaning and installing and removing milk jug are all exercises in difficulty.

Some of the Other Machines I've Used:

Capresso Krups DeLonghi

In my opinion, this machine is the best value and DeLonghi has amazing customer service. Our family uses this machine on a daily basis, typically cranking out 3 double cappuccinos each morning. I recommend this machine to everyone,

How Long Have I Been Using This Product?

More than 1 year

What's Best About this Product?

I love the heavy metal construction

Some Helpful Tips For Using this Product:

Run hot water over the milk container top to warm the plastic after it is kept in the fridge, so it will snap into the machine with ease. The cold causes the plastic to become rigid and it can be difficult to snap into place.

My Experience With Using This Product:

Professional

The Coffee I've Tried With This Product:

Peets, other local roasts

Some Improvements I Would Recommend for This Product:

There is only one thing I would improve, I wish there were a tablet available to clean the unit instead of liquid solution.

Some of the Other Machines I've Used:

Nespresso, Jura

Obviously, the machine is a bit pricey, but it is surprisingly easy to use and delivers some of the best espresso I've ever had (sorry to all my manual and semi-automatic friends and family members). I love my lattes, cappuccinos, and such, so I rarely drink straight espresso or drip coffee. With this machine I can now enjoy espresso straight up in all its delicious glory! The 6700 took very little time to set up and configure. It is also VERY easy to clean and maintain. There is a preprogrammed Long function for drip coffee lovers. I wish I could adequately review this function, but I do not drink much drip coffee. I have used it and can say that it does taste like drip coffee, but as to how good...?

How Long Have I Been Using This Product?

1 - 6 months

What's Best About this Product?

It really was easy to set up and get configured. I was skeptical at first after flipping through the instructions, but I had the grind, strength, temperature, etc. set to my liking rather quickly. I also love the customization functions of this machine. Just about everything this machine does can be customized to suit your personal tastes--temperature, strenth, even amount of milk dispensed when using the preprogrammed beverage buttons. The milk frother has a cleaning fuction that is indespensable! I also love the touch screen ability and the auto on/off function. The machine is automaticaly heated up and ready for use by the time I stumble into the kitchen in the morning! The stainless steel exterior of the 6700 is also just as sturdy as it is beautiful.

Some Helpful Tips For Using this Product:

When using the milk container, I tweak it in between the two positions to get that perfect microfoam. Once that sweet spot is achieved, the 6700 delivers beautifully. Before storing the remaining milk in the refrigerator, I always remove the tube from the container to prevent the unused milk from starting to taste off. Also, there is no water filtration system, so I always fill it with filtered water first. The 6700 really is a great machine to own!

My Experience With Using This Product:

Connoisseur

The Coffee I've Tried With This Product:

Whole bean Illy, WholeLatteLove, and Lavazza.

Some Improvements I Would Recommend for This Product:

The milk frother! While it has two positions for the beverages, making it idiot proof, I found that if you follow the instructions for the positions, it will create a beverage you weren't quite expecting--basically hot milk in one position or huge soap bubbles in the other. The preprogrammed beverage selections are somewhat disappointing--especially after viewing the DVD. Your mouth will water while watching the machine perform the Macchiato function on the DVD. But when you push the same button, instead of getting what you just viewed, you'll get a noisy burp of milk before the shot of espresso. Thanks goodness these functions can be changed! Also, the machine as a whole is also a bit on the loud/noisy side, but that's a DeLonghi!

Some of the Other Machines I've Used:

Bosch Tassimo Suprema, Cuisinart DTC-975