De'Longhi Stilosa EC260 and EC230: what the manual confirms

What the manual confirms

For a machine at the foot of De’Longhi’s portafilter range, the essentials are on firm ground: a single manual for the EC230, EC235 and EC260 prints them.

• Size. 21 cm wide, 29 cm high and 26 cm deep.
• Weight. 3.5 kg for the EC260, the version our figures describe; 3.2 kg for the EC230 and EC235.
• Power. 1,100 W, the lowest stated figure among the nine espresso machines we list for the UK. It is not a measure of how fast the machine heats: no heat-up time is published.
• Water. A 1 l tank, which is sixteen 60 ml doubles at best. One or two espresso drinkers will fill it every few days; steaming milk for a family empties it far sooner.
• Cups. Up to 11 cm under the spouts, a centimetre less than the Dedica allows.

Add a pump with the standard 15 bar rating and a manual steam wand, and that is the machine: nothing automated, nothing unusual.

EC230 or EC260: the code decides the pods

“Stilosa” is a name shared by several codes. De’Longhi’s UK site lists the EC230 in black and the EC260 in cream and in green. For a buyer the difference that counts is pods: ESE compatibility is stated for the EC260 and the EC235, and not for the EC230. If paper pods are how you mean to start, the code on the listing matters more than the colour.

Whichever code you choose, there is no grinder. Should you move to whole beans later, the De’Longhi KG79 is in the same bracket, and our budget machine-and-grinder pairings show what it can and cannot do for espresso.

A shallow machine: 26 cm front to back

The Stilosa is squat where the Dedica is slim. Against the Dedica EC685 it takes about 6 cm more width and 7 cm less depth, and of the espresso machines whose depth we could verify it is the shallowest.

• De'Longhi Stilosa Manual espresso maker EC230.BK / EC26026 cm
• De'Longhi Pump Espresso Coffee Machine Dedica EC685.M33 cm
• Ninja Luxe Café Premier (ES601UK)34.4 cm
• Sage the Barista Express (SES875)35.1 cm
• De'Longhi La Specialista Arte Manual espresso maker EC9155.MB36.5 cm

So the rule of thumb is simple: on a shelf, a trolley or a shallow worktop, the Stilosa is the De’Longhi that fits; in a narrow gap between two appliances, the Dedica is.

The short list of unknowns

Four things are missing from the sources we read: the heating system, the type of basket (pressurised or not), the portafilter diameter and a heat-up time. The manual is largely drawings, and the product page does not fill the gaps.

For pre-ground coffee or pods, none of that need hold you back. It does make the Stilosa a poor base for learning espresso with a grinder: you would be buying baskets and tampers for a portafilter whose size and type nobody has put in writing.

Same bracket, more on record: the Dedica EC685

If a blank heating row bothers you, the Dedica EC685 is the direct alternative. It is in the same entry-level bracket and states a thermoblock, 1,450 W, a 1.1 l tank, a cup warmer and ESE compatibility, in a body 14.9 cm wide. Its baskets and portafilter are no better documented than the Stilosa’s, and its weight is not published.

The Krups Virtuoso also names a thermoblock in this bracket, but its dimensions cannot be used. For documented baskets you have to go one bracket up, to the Sage Bambino. The first espresso machine comparison has all of them in one sortable table.

As a coffee machine, the Stilosa falls under the two-year minimum guarantee announced on De’Longhi’s UK site. And if cost is what brings you to this bracket, put your own figures for pre-ground coffee, pods and beans into the cost-per-cup calculator before you decide.