High-quality, low involvement machine for medium roasts [£500-£1,000]

TL;DR: Considering a Bambino Plus but wondering what a good, low-effort upgrade would be and if it's worth making.

I've only ever used a Delonghi EC270. Now I'm looking for a good, reliable and relatively compact machine that will make coffee shop-quality flat whites out of the box, and (optional) perhaps offer the scope for some customisation later if I feel so moved. I have a reasonable blade grinder (I know, burr is better, shoot me) so not too worried whether it's bean-to-cup.

Here's the kicker. I much prefer medium to full/high roasts and I understand not many home machines handle them brilliantly. I'm willing to try out little tweaks - I'll run blank shots, perhaps explore unpressurised baskets, etc - but realistically I'm not going to invest hours and £s into dialling in a perfect shot, so I'll settle for good if not great, if I can get that in a repeatable way without a lot of manual faffing.

I've heard very good first-hand reports about the Bambino Plus, so that's my default choice, but as this is a big birthday present, I thought I'd solicit advice on what I could get for a few hundred pounds more. We could afford something £500-£1,000ish, but only if there's any point to it, based on all I've said above.