Coffee Maker Review

Some coffee makers get mixed reviews

Consumer Reports reviews more coffee makers than any other professional review source. Their latest update covers about 30 automatic-drip coffee makers, including some models with thermal carafes. Cook's Illustrated tests eight inexpensive auto-drip coffee makers and eight auto-drip coffee makers with thermal carafes. But what they lack in quantity they make up for by going into far more detail than Consumer Reports, evaluating each coffee maker for brewing temperature, brewing time, features, build quality and ease of use along with coffee taste. Good Housekeeping also has a recent test of 15 programmable coffee makers, but only the top four are briefly highlighted.

Owner-written reviews at Cooking.com and Amazon.com proved extremely helpful, particularly because owners can comment on long-term reliability and features that prove useful or annoying only over time.

We found mixed reviews for many coffee makers. Notably, some are recommended in professional reviews, yet owner-written ratings for these coffee makers gave us pause. Some basic coffee makers, such as the Black & Decker DCM2000 (*Est. $20), get some good expert reviews, but owner reviews are lackluster. Many owners say it spits and leaks.

We also read negative owner-written reviews of some Mr. Coffee machines, including the Mr. Coffee TFTX85 (*Est. $60), a thermal-carafe model. Owners voice a range of complaints, from tepid coffee to lengthy brew times to breakdowns. And the Mr. Coffee VBX23 (*Est. $45) is recommended by Cook's Illustrated, but owners say it's hard to fill the water reservoir and the carafe is poorly designed.

The Hamilton Beach BrewStation (*Est. $70) brews 12 cups at a time, but holds coffee in reserve for on-demand dispensing. Although this feature prevents coffee from scorching on a hot plate, owners posting to Amazon.com say that the plastic holding tank imparts an unpleasant flavor. Editors at Cook's Illustrated also had trouble with the BrewStation Plus. It doesn't brew into a carafe, and the "landing pad" for your cup is small, so you have to hold the cup while dispensing, which editors say is "definitely not intuitive."

The ten-cup, thermal carafe Krups FMF5 (*Est. $100) gets a mild recommendation in one professional test. At Amazon.com, owners aren't as charitable: Many feel that this unit's build quality could be better, and they report that coffee can taste of plastic. We also read several complaints about the design of the water-level indicator, which some owners say fills with bubbles and becomes difficult to read. Although we've read good reviews for some Krups coffee makers in the past, this one isn't a standout.