Coffee Makers Reviews

Consumer Reports reviews more coffee makers than any other professional review source. Their latest update covers almost 30 automatic drip coffee makers, including some models with thermal carafes. While editors at Cook's Illustrated only test eight auto-drip coffee makers, they go into far more detail than Consumer Reports, evaluating each budget coffee maker for brewing temperature, brewing time, features, build quality and ease of use. This ConsumerSearch report covers full-size coffee makers. Note that one-cup coffee makers (which include pod coffee makers) and espresso machines are covered in separate reports.

The Wall Street Journal specifically reviews five thermal-carafe coffee makers with the help of three Seattle roasting experts, rating the machines on looks, flavor and ability to retain heat over a period of four hours. Plenty of other magazines and websites, including Good Housekeeping, About.com, Real Simple and Bon Appétit, make recommendations, but they don't demonstrate the extent to which each coffee maker was tested, so we rate these reviews as less useful. 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 themselves either useful or annoying only over time.

We found mixed reviews for some coffee makers. Notably, some are recommended in professional reviews, yet owner-written ratings for these coffee makers gave us pause. In a review of thermal-carafe coffee makers at The Wall Street Journal, the DeLonghi DCM485 (*est. $80) earned testers' best-value award, but this machine receives only a mediocre average rating from more than 80 owners posting to Amazon.com. The complaints don't center on the quality of the coffee so much as the design: according to owners, the poorly designed carafe tends to spill coffee. Some also complain that the coffee is tepid.

We also read negative owner-written reviews of some Mr. Coffee machines, including the Mr. Coffee TFTX85 (*est. $60) , a thermal-carafe model. This model seems to be a 'love it or hate it' model. While about half of owners are happy with it, the other half voices a range of complaints from tepid coffee to breakdowns. The 12-cup Mr. Coffee FTX23 (*est. $70) doesn't have a thermal carafe, but it can be programmed to schedule coffee making. However, this model also receives questionable scores in dozens of reviews at Epinions and Amazon.com. Owners say leaks are a problem. If you manage to keep the coffee in the carafe, owners say, the warming plate will not keep the brew hot for long.

The Hamilton Beach BrewStation (*est. $40) brews 12 cups at a time, but it 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. Because it doesn't brew into a carafe, and because the "landing pad" for your cup is small, you have to hold the cup while dispensing, which editors say is "definitely not intuitive."

The 10-cup, thermal carafe Krups FMF5 10-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker (*est. $90) also gets mixed scores from owners. At Amazon.com, many owners say that this unit's build quality could be better and 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.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

Among standard drip coffeemakers, the Cuisinart DCC-1200 gets the best reviews in the full-featured category. The Braun KF510 is a good, no-frills machine. While the Black & Decker DCM2000 is recommended in a couple of professional reviews, owners don't rate it nearly as highly. The mid-priced Capresso MT500 is the highest-rated thermal-carafe model, while the Zojirushi Fresh Brew is less expensive. We also found good user ratings for the Black & Decker TCM830, another thermal-carafe coffee maker that's even less expensive.

We found a few recommendations for the Cuisinart Grind and Brew, which has an integrated coffee grinder, but we also found many detractors for this particular model. The Technivorm Clubline is expensive, but this Dutch coffee maker gets high scores from connoisseurs, who say it's one of the few home coffee makers that brews at a hot enough temperature and for a short enough time.