De’Longhi Dedica Style EC685 Review: A Proper Espresso Machine in 15cm?
The Dedica has been the default first espresso machine in British kitchens for years, and it is still on sale from De’Longhi’s own UK shop in October 2026. An editorial test, the UK home-barista community and nearly three thousand Currys buyers broadly agree it is good — but the three figures on the box that people buy it for, 15 bar, “ready in seconds” and the frother, all need a footnote.
Where the reviews line up
The evidence comes from three different places: a hands-on test by TechRadar, the home-espresso enthusiasts at Coffee Forums UK and Tom’s Coffee Corner who have owned and modified this machine for years, and Currys buyers, who have left 2,904 ratings averaging 4.5 out of 5. They agree on more than they disagree on.
Three things come up everywhere. It is genuinely small — 149 mm wide, so it fits a worktop that cannot take anything else. It is quick: Tom’s Coffee Corner puts it at about 30 seconds to brew-ready from its thermoblock heater, although it suggests running a blank shot or two to warm the metal. And it makes a good cup out of the box, because the supplied baskets are pressurised and forgive pre-ground coffee and an imperfect tamp.
The footnotes. “15 bar” is the pump’s maximum, not what the coffee sees — espresso is brewed at around 9 bar at the puck on any machine, so the number is not a reason to choose this over a rival. The panarello frother is easy but makes bubbly foam rather than latte-art milk, and TechRadar found you cannot pull a shot straight after steaming. Enthusiasts change both the basket and the wand; most owners never need to.
The buying decision is really about what you will put in it. Supermarket ground coffee or ESE pods: the Dedica as sold is a strong, cheap choice at around £125–£149. Freshly ground beans and a desire to learn: it can do far better, but only with a proper burr grinder and a non-pressurised 51 mm basket, which together can cost more than the machine.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- TechRadarHands-on editorial test with measured shot time, milk temperature and noise. Published 2021; the EC685 has not changed since.
- Coffee Forums UK & Tom’s Coffee CornerUK forum thread (9 replies, 6.5K views) and a specialist blog. Long-term owners and modifiers.
- Currys buyers4.5/5 from 2,904 ratings on the EC685BK listing, checked 4 Oct 2026 — on a page that sells it.
Before the review: is this the right Dedica?
There are five Dedicas and they look almost identical. The EC685 Dedica Style reviewed here is still listed by De’Longhi UK in black, metal and blue. The EC885 Dedica Arte is the same size with a proper steam wand in place of the panarello and a metal tamper and milk jug in the box; De’Longhi’s own UK Dedica page did not list it when we checked, though other UK retailers still sell it. The newer EC890 Dedica Duo (£279.99 at De’Longhi) adds a 16 g basket and more cup height. If you plan to steam milk properly, the Arte or the Duo is the better buy; if not, the EC685 is the cheapest way into the range.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Pump pressure | 15 bar (pump maximum). Brew pressure at the coffee is around 9 bar on a well-set machine | 15 bar: De’Longhi. 9 bar: industry norm, not measured on this machine |
| Heater and heat-up | Thermoblock. About 30 seconds to brew-ready; a blank shot or two recommended | Heater: De’Longhi. Time: Tom’s Coffee Corner. De’Longhi’s UK page gives no figure |
| Water tank | 1.1 litres, removable, with level window | De’Longhi and Which? say 1.1 L; Currys says 1 L; John Lewis’s 5.48 L is plainly an error |
| Power | 1,450 W | De’Longhi and Currys. John Lewis lists 1,300 W |
| Baskets | 51 mm, pressurised (dual-wall): single and double, plus ESE pod use | Olive lists three; Currys lists “2 filters”. Non-pressurised baskets are an aftermarket upgrade |
| In the box | Portafilter, filters, plastic tamper/measuring scoop, instructions | Currys; no milk jug with the EC685 |
| Milk | Panarello (“Adjustable Cappuccino System”) with hot-milk and cappuccino settings | De’Longhi; settings per Tom’s Coffee Corner |
| Dimensions | 149 × 330 × 305 mm (W × D × H); maximum cup height 120 mm | De’Longhi |
| Weight | 4.22 kg | De’Longhi (Which? rounds to 4.2 kg) |
| Descaling | Red “descale” light; EcoDecalk recommended; about 25–30 minutes; hardness setting adjusts the interval | De’Longhi UK FAQ. Wrong descaler can void the guarantee |
| Guarantee | 2 years from De’Longhi’s own shop; Currys’ listing says 1 year | Disagreement — see below |
| Running cost | Roughly 2p of electricity per milky drink | Our arithmetic at Ofgem’s 26.32p/kWh cap — see below |
| Typical UK price | £125–£149; De’Longhi £179 (RRP £229.99) | PriceSpy, Currys and De’Longhi, 4 Oct 2026 |
TechRadar
TechRadar’s reviewer used the machine at home and, usefully, measured it. A single espresso came out at about 40 ml in 22 seconds. The panarello took 150 ml of milk to 59°C in around 30 seconds, and she found it easy to use. The noise readings are the only ones we found anywhere: 55 dB while pulling a shot, rising to 75 dB when steaming — the second figure is loud enough to notice in an open-plan room at 6am.
Her verdict is a compact, affordable machine that makes smooth coffee, with the caveat that serious coffee fans may want more control. The complaints are specific and fair: you cannot make espresso immediately after steaming milk (the thermoblock has to drop back from steam temperature), it is awkward to fit two cups under the spouts, and it drips after pouring. The review is from 2021 and quoted £199.99; the machine itself is unchanged, the price is not. Olive magazine’s 2021 test reached a similar conclusion at 4.5/5, praising the espresso as some of the best-tasting in its group, including machines four times the price, and marking it down only because parts are not dishwasher-safe.
Watch: De’Longhi Dedica EC685M Review - Compact Espresso Machine Review
A straightforward review of the metal-finish EC685M — the closest video match to TechRadar’s everyday-use test.
Watch on YouTube ↗Coffee Forums UK and Tom’s Coffee Corner
This is where the honest answer about the baskets lives. The stock baskets are pressurised, dual-wall: the coffee is forced through a single small hole, which makes crema-like foam whatever you put in. That is why the Dedica is forgiving with supermarket ground coffee and pods — and why enthusiasts say it hits a ceiling. The forum’s advice for anyone wanting more is consistent: a 51 mm non-pressurised basket, a modification to the plastic insert in the portafilter (one member cut it down with a craft knife in about ten minutes; another blanked the hole with a countersunk screw), and above all a burr grinder — a blade grinder, as one member put it, “doesn’t so much grind as randomly hack at the beans”.
Tom’s Coffee Corner, a long-running specialist blog, adds the timing (about 30 seconds to brew-ready), the volumetric programming of shot sizes, and the weak points: no group preheating, no three-way solenoid valve to release pressure on the puck (so the grounds come out wet), and some owners finding drinks not hot enough. It also confirms the EC685’s panarello has two settings, hot milk and cappuccino, and recommends the EC885 Arte for its proper steam wand. Swiss specialist Kaffeemacher, testing the same machine, recorded brew temperatures between 92 and 94°C and found even the stock wand could make latte-art milk with practice.
Watch: Delonghi Dedica Comparison - EC680 vs EC685 vs EC885 vs EC890 vs EC950
The whole Dedica family side by side — the video to watch if you are deciding between the EC685 and the Arte or Duo. A TikTok post with the identical title is from Tom’s Coffee Corner.
Watch on YouTube ↗Currys buyers
Nearly three thousand ratings is a big enough sample to take seriously, though it sits on a page that sells the machine and most buyers write within weeks of unboxing. The recurring praise is the footprint — it fits even the smallest kitchen — and that it delivers barista-style coffee at home. That matches what TechRadar found. The page did not surface a detailed set of complaints, so we have not invented any; the drips, the steam-to-shot wait and the bubbly foam are documented by the editorial and community sources above.
Two things on the Currys listing are worth flagging. It lists the tank as 1 litre where De’Longhi says 1.1, and it states a one-year manufacturer’s warranty where De’Longhi’s own shop says two years. If the guarantee matters to you — and on a machine with a pump and a thermoblock it should — confirm the term with the seller before ordering, and register the machine with De’Longhi after it arrives. John Lewis, for what it is worth, has stopped selling the EC685 and says it is unlikely to get more stock.
Watch: DeLonghi Dedica Style EC 685 - espresso machine consumer review
An owner’s-eye review, which suits the buyer-ratings source: everyday use rather than a lab test.
Watch on YouTube ↗What it costs to run
The electricity is trivial. At 1,450 W, a session of heat-up, shot and milk steaming of about three minutes uses roughly 0.07 kWh; at Ofgem’s 1 October–31 December 2026 cap of 26.32p per kWh that is about 2p a drink, less for a straight espresso. The machine switches itself off after a period of inactivity. The real running cost is coffee and descaler: the guarantee is conditional on using a suitable descaler and doing it properly, and in a hard-water area the red light will come on often. These are our sums, not a published figure.
Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- 149 mm wide — fits where nothing else will.
- About 30 seconds to brew-ready from the thermoblock.
- Pressurised baskets make a good cup from pre-ground coffee and ESE pods.
- Brew temperature measured at 92–94°C by one specialist; three temperature settings.
- Upgrade path: 51 mm non-pressurised baskets and wand changes are well documented.
- Pennies per drink in electricity.
What people complain about
- “15 bar” is pump maximum, not brew pressure — a marketing number.
- Wait needed between steaming milk and pulling a shot.
- Panarello gives frothy rather than silky milk; no jug in the box.
- Drips after the shot; two cups are a squeeze under the spouts.
- Wet puck (no three-way valve) and no group preheating.
- Steaming is loud — 75 dB in TechRadar’s test. Parts are not dishwasher-safe.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you want real pump espresso and the odd cappuccino from pre-ground coffee or pods, in a small kitchen, for well under £150. For that, the reviewers and the buyers agree, it is hard to beat.
Look elsewhere if you mostly drink lattes and want silky milk — the Dedica Arte EC885 or Dedica Duo EC890 have a proper steam wand — or if you plan to buy fresh beans and a grinder anyway, in which case budget for the basket upgrade or look at a machine designed for non-pressurised baskets from the start.
What we could not check
- The videos were confirmed by search listing, not by opening them. YouTube would not load through our research tools, so each video ID and title was matched in two differently worded searches. No listing named the channels.
- Actual brew pressure. Nobody we found has put a pressure gauge on a stock EC685. One upgrade guide says the over-pressure valve is set at 15 bar, which we could not confirm.
- The Which? verdict. Which? tested the EC685.BK (first reviewed April 2022, last checked August 2024) but its score and Best Buy status are behind the paywall.
- Guarantee length and registration. De’Longhi’s shop says two years, Currys says one. We could not find whether registering with De’Longhi extends or changes it.
- Exact box contents. Sources disagree on two filters or three; De’Longhi’s UK page links a “What’s in pack” section we could not read.
- Amazon UK and Argos ratings. Amazon blocks our tools and Argos did not appear in our searches, so neither sample size is shown here.
- Standby power and the exact auto-off time are not published on the pages we could read.
- Long-term reliability. No source gave failure rates for the pump or thermoblock.
Sources last checked 4 October 2026. Prices change daily on this machine — check the listing in front of you, and the guarantee term, before ordering.