Customer Reviews

Black & Decker CMD3500MBT 8-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker with Thermal Carafe

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

It's difficult trying to research coffee makers to purchase, I realized, after looking at various ones throughout Amazon. A few products had agreement in the quality, but for a lot, the reviews seemed to be all over the place. And the ones that seemed to have really decent reviews were a bit out of the range I wanted to spend on an office coffee pot. Then I discovered this Black & Decker one that had absolutely no reviews, was in the price range I was looking for and had all the extra features (like a thermal carafe) and decided, why not? It's been a good purchase so far.

Reviewing appliances like coffeemakers is a bit outside of my normal purview and most of what I'd write about (the features) are listed above, so I'm going to make this short and sweet. The thermal carafe works wonderfully and we typically brew a pot, bring the carafe into our section and it keeps hot for the morning. The last cup feels as warm as the first, which is nice. It's only an 8 cup carafe, which could be problematic for those looking for a big pot, but it's the perfect fit for us.

One feature not listed is that it uses a charcoal filtration system. This is good and bad. The good is the filtration is a nice feature and it comes with one little charcoal patch, but after reading through the manual, it looks like the only way to order more is to go directly to Black & Decker. I noticed that Amazon has the Black & Decker TWF50 Water Filter Basket & Replacement Filter for sale via some other vendors. It's not the same model number, but the picture looks exactly like the one used in this coffeemaker (minus the color) and the replacement filters will probably fit. Unfortunately, it could become a hassle for those who want to keep up with their filter (which needs to be replaced every 60 brews/2 months).

Looking at the other features, there's a digital clock, with a screen that indicates the coffee is fresh and ready, a mechanism to choose your coffee strength that definitely works as advertised, the ability to "sneak a cup," and the carafe (unlike others we've used) pours perfectly without making a mess. All of this comes in a stylish package complete with blue lights along the side where the water level is read.

This makes for an attractive package that works perfectly and has a lot of additional features. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

This coffee maker makes a good cup of coffee and if all you want is a good cup of coffee then this might be the machine for you. Unfortunately, half the time you will be mopping that coffee off of your counter tops or worse yet, your floor.

I bought this machine in June and had such high hopes for it. The design is nice and programming is a snap and oh you just have to love that thermal carafe. I was able to overlook the fact that when pouring there was a slow but steady drip coming from the joint where the stainless meets the plastic. I reasoned with myself that this was a small price to pay for a good cup of coffee. I kept a towel over the pot when pouring. A small inconvenience I told myself. By the end of July I was a commited Black and Decker coffee drinker and called the company to order a two year supply of the silly filter system.

Have I mentioned the silly filter system? The filters are near impossible to find, even when going to Black and Decker's own website. Again, I told myself this was simply another small inconvenience on the road to good coffee. Besides, I am sure some happy black and decker owner will counter my review here by providing copious links to the filters and their holster.

It was about three months into my relationship with this coffee maker that I awoke one morning to the wonderful smell of fresh perked coffee that I'd grown accustomed to. My taste buds were poised at the ready for that first heavenly sip as I entered the kitchen to find fresh brewed coffee had taken over the countertops and the floor. Snapped from my reverie, I had to admit that perhaps something was wrong. Still I tried to be cheerful as I mopped up the brew and made a fresh pot without incident.

All was good again for about 2 weeks until the same coffee flood occured again. I spoke with other drip coffee maker friends and got the same advice all around... DON'T USE PAPER FILTERS. I was relieved to hear there was a solution to my problem. I invested in a gold filter basket and brewed coffee without incident for about a month. But my joy was short lived.

By the end of September, coffee floods became a routine occurance around here. I begged and pleaded with my silly little machine to come to its senses and just brew coffee, but it was useless. No amount of cleaning, begging, cajoling, handholding or pot watching was able to make this system work for more than a day without flooding. The balloon of my denial was finally punctured and I had to admit that this just is NOT a good coffee maker. Sadly, I retired it in early october and purchased a Keurig Machine instead.

Sorry Black and Decker... I normally sing your praises but not in this case.

We bought this to replace our previous B&D Thermal Carafe coffee maker, which, after several years of heavy use, gave up the ghost.
The CDM 3500 is working out great. The blue LEDs are a little odd, but helpful when filling the tank. Programmable feature is accurate and allows for fresh-brewed coffee when we wake up. The only drawback is the way the cap of the carafe was designed: when turned to the "pour" mark, it pours very slowly. If you open it much beyond that, it'll come off. So, get used to a slow pour!
Overall, a great machine

For the time I had this, it was slick! Yes, it has the groovy blue light on the sight gauge. Yes, you can easily see the water level in the tank. Yes, you can actually stop the brew cycle by just hitting the button, again. Yes, it is aesthetically appealing.

But, after a couple of days, the carafe started leaking at the seam between the metal and the plastic on the carafe. I didn't feel like continually wiping up a mess after pouring each cup of coffee. I sent it back.

Over all, we like this coffee maker. Looks cool, blue lights and all. But, along with other reviews I just read, the carafe leaks at the seam between plastic and stainless. At first we thought it was the pour spout, but I looked closely, and it is the seam dripping. We had registered the item at B&D on line, so we called, and they are sending a new carafe priority mail. They are familar with the issue and apologized. Other than that, nice coffee pot.

We like the coffee pot very much. The wife especially likes the fact the pot is not heated by the plate keeping the coffee flavor better and longer.

We would recommend the maker to our friends.

I really like my new Black & Decker CMD3500MBT 8-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker with Thermal Carafe. My only complaint is that it only makes 8 cups of coffee. I would prefer a 12 cup machine.

The coffee maker is very user friendly. Clock and program EASY!!! Filter is very accessible. The BLUE lights make a great night light too.

The carafe keeps the coffee hot for up to 4 hours. The flavor remains good and does not taste burnt as it might if left on direct heat.

I highly recommend this coffee maker.

This coffee maker seems pretty good so far. I like the thermal carafe.
I wish it used a cone filter, or was built to use a cone filter though.

Lots of bells and whistles on this thing.

I bought this for my dad at Christmas. It performed very well for about five weeks. Then it died. Black and Decker said the s/n is out of warranty, so now we're in the process of proving it was purchased just a few weeks ago. Hopefully we'll see a replacement, and hopefully it will last more than a few weeks or months. My dad was really happy with it. It was easy for him to program, it made decent coffee, and it kept it warm without compromising the flavor. He never had any overflow problems. From what we could tell, there is a hotplate, but it only comes on to warm the thermal pot at the beginning of the cycle. Then it turns off. Hopefully we'll be able to give the replacement unit a better review!

We've had this about a month and for our needs it works great. It's a straightforward 8-cup automatic drip coffeemaker with a thermal carafe. Easy to use, does exactly what you expect.

The thermal carafe doesn't actually keep the coffee hot for hours on end. But after breaking several glass carafes in our household, we're happy to make the switch to an unbreakable steel one.

You're NOT going to get a truly amazing Peet's Coffee cup of coffee out of it because it doesn't get the water hot enough for professional-quality extraction. But for that "standard" every day cup of coffee most of us are used to brewing at home, it's perfect.

PROS:
1. Easy to use
2. Unbreakable carafe.
3. Thermal carafe means it shuts off after brewing: saving energy *and* not "cooking" your coffee.
4. I like that it has a button to set the Brew Strength. We switched it from medium to strong and it actually worked; presumably, it just slows down the the brew cycle a bit.

CONS:
1. It emits 4 beeps when it's done brewing. Not super loud, but it's an unnecessary feature.
2. Glowing blue lights on unit are always on. I find this really annoying: at night, it bathes our kitchen in a bluish glow. The only way to turn off the glowing blue lights would be to unplug the unit, but then you wouldn't be able to use the timer feature to auto brew a pot in the morning.
3. The thermal carafe keeps coffee hot for maybe 30-40 minutes: That's more than enough for our needs, but don't plan to make one pot of coffee in the morning and be able to pour yourself a hot cup 2-3 hours later. Of course, the more coffee that's in the pot, the hotter it will stay. When you get down to that last cup or so, it cools down pretty quickly.
4. Sometimes at the end of the brew cycle, there's an odd clicking sound as the last of the water runs through the system. Really not bad, and it's nothing like the loud volcanic gurgling some automatic drip machines make.

NOTE: At first, i bought a $200 Capresso unit. After a week of nothing but botched cups of coffee (I think it was a defective unit) I returned it and got this much cheaper unit instead. Couldn't be happier!