I need coffee maker recommendations

March 5, 2014 9:14 AM

I need a new coffee maker. Here are my requirements, in order of importance:

1. Needs to make good, HOT coffee
2. Needs to have auto-start programmable timer
3. Needs to have a carafe that holds 52 ounces minimum
4. Needs to have a small footprint (we have limited counter space)
5. Carafe needs to pour without any spills
6. Reasonably priced (under $100 would be great, under $50 even better)
7. Basket-style filter (we have a lot of them; but this is not a dealbreaker)

BONUS: It would be a dream if it was one of those grind-and-brew types, since right now I'm using a coffee grinder every day.

What should I get?

posted by rabbitrabbit to Shopping (10 answers total)

I'm very happy with my Cuisinart (also comes in purple!). It fulfills all of your requirements except I don't think it has a particularly small footprint.

Keeps coffee nice and hot - I only use the medium heat setting and that's plenty hot for me.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:37 AM on March 5, 2014

Response by poster: Just a clarification: it doesn't need to KEEP the coffee hot, it needs to MAKE the coffee hot. Our current coffee maker does not make HOT coffee, so I always have to put it straight into the microwave when it's done brewing to get it hot enough.

(I don't need the coffee maker to keep the coffee hot at all for any length of time; as soon as it's brewed we drink some and put the rest into thermal mugs for our commute.)
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:47 AM on March 5, 2014

I have an older model Capresso.

My wife works in kitchen retail so we've tried several. All the Jura Capresso products have been solid performers.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:00 AM on March 5, 2014

I have the same Cuisinart model and I got it specifically because it brews hot. Highly recommended.
posted by Jairus at 10:11 AM on March 5, 2014

I also have the cuisineart and have no complaints, but you might want to double-check on the carafe size --- I measure out 20oz of water in mine every morning, and I believe it ends up being a little under the 5-cup mark on the carafe. Which would imply 48 oz for the full 12 cup capacity, though there is a bit of headroom. Also, the grinder is pretty loud.

Makes a fine cup of coffee, though -- grinder works great, coffee's hot, plenty of room for beans to make a strong cup of coffee even if you're doing a full pot.
posted by Diablevert at 10:20 AM on March 5, 2014

The only automatic coffee maker that I've had that makes truly hot coffee is by Bunn. Bunn coffee makers are different in that they have a heated reservoir. It makes a huge difference. Mine isn't programmable, but they do make programmable models.
posted by Wordwoman at 11:01 AM on March 5, 2014

I love my percolator. I've never had another coffee maker that made a perfectly hot cup of coffee. You can't beat the footprint, either. It isn't programmable, but since when it's plugged in it is on, it would be easy to set it up with a programmable outlet timer.
posted by Kriesa at 11:27 AM on March 5, 2014

I just bought the model up (DCC-2600) from the Cuisinart mentioned above (DCC-1200) at Costco for the same price as the lower one. Nice unit.
posted by Big_B at 11:45 AM on March 5, 2014

Datapoint on the Cuisinart:
Ours only lasted about a year and a half until the carafe's heating plate burned through the plastic tube that ran pressurized water from the reservoir to the grounds.
We replaced it with a Chemex, which is exceedingly low tech, so not much help to you.
posted by qnarf at 9:13 AM on March 6, 2014

Response by poster: Yeah, that's my hesitation with the Cuisinart, the negative reviews complain about it not lasting very long and problems with the hot plate. I did go to Costco yesterday to see if they had the model Big_B bought, but alas they did not.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 10:48 AM on March 6, 2014