Breville vs De Longhi espresso machines: which should you choose?

Both brands appear in our espresso machine guide, and the published figures point at different design priorities. Breville’s two machines sit at opposite ends of the size range, from a compact body to a large one. The De’Longhi in our guide is published at 9.48 lb with dimensions of 13.5 in wide, 8.07 in deep and 11.22 in tall, which is the shallowest footprint of the three and the shortest. Our Best Espresso Machines compares the published figures of five of them.

What each publishes

Breville’s larger machine is published at 22.09 lb and measures 12.5 in wide, 13.8 in deep and 15.9 in tall. Its smaller one is published at 10.9 lb and 7.7 in wide, 12.6 in deep and 12.2 in tall.

The De’Longhi is published at 9.48 lb and 13.5 in wide, 8.07 in deep, 11.22 in tall. Read those two sets together and the shapes are different rather than one being bigger: the De’Longhi is wide and shallow, the small Breville is narrow and deep, and they occupy almost the same area in different orientations.

That matters for a real worktop. A machine 8.07 in deep sits comfortably under a wall cabinet and leaves room behind it. A machine 13.8 in deep eats most of a standard counter depth once you allow space to work in front of it, and at 15.9 in tall the large Breville may not fit under a cabinet at all.

What weight is telling you

On an espresso machine, mass usually correlates with thermal stability. A heavier body generally means a bigger boiler or more metal around the heating element, and that stored heat is what keeps brew temperature steady from the first shot to the fourth. A lighter machine cools between shots and wants a pause to recover.

So Breville’s 22.09 lb machine is the one to consider if two or three drinks get made in the same ten minutes, and the 10.9 lb Breville and the 9.48 lb De’Longhi are the ones to consider if one person makes one or two. That is a genuine functional difference rather than a question of build quality.

The questions the figures do not answer

Pump pressure, boiler type and heat-up time are rarely published at this end of the market, so anyone quoting a precise pressure for either machine is taking it from marketing copy rather than a specification. Where a figure is not published, the honest position is that it is not known.

What you can check from the listing is the practical set. Does it grind? One machine in our guide is listed with 44 grind settings, which tells you it does; a machine with no grind specification needs a separate grinder, and a grinder is often the more consequential purchase of the two, because espresso needs a fine and consistent grind that a filter grinder will not deliver.

Is the milk system a wand you control or an automatic frother? A wand textures milk for a flat white and takes practice. An automatic system is more consistent and gives you less say in the texture.

And where is the water tank? On a deep body a rear tank means pulling the machine forward to fill it every time, which is the sort of daily friction that decides whether an appliance keeps being used.

Which should you choose

Choose on footprint first, because it is the figure that cannot be worked around. If your counter is shallow or you need to fit under a cabinet, the De’Longhi at 8.07 in deep and 11.22 in tall is the most accommodating of the three. If you have depth but not width, the 7.7 in wide Breville is the narrowest.

Choose on weight second, because that is your proxy for making several drinks in a row. The 22.09 lb Breville is the machine for a household where more than one person wants coffee at the same time.

Then decide whether you want to grind and tamp at all. If the answer is no, a fully automatic machine does both at one button press, and that removes the main reason espresso machines stop getting used on busy mornings. Our Best Automatic Espresso Machines compares the published figures of five of them.

And if the short strong coffee is the real goal rather than milk drinks and crema, the whole category may be more machine than you need. A moka pot weighs about a pound and occupies no counter at all. Our Best Moka Pots compares the published figures of five of them.