Customer Reviews

Black & Decker SDC740B SpaceMaker 12-Cup Coffeemaker, Black

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

I've had a few different black and decker under cabinet coffee pots over the years and they were overdue for an update on the overall look of the product. I give the basic design 5 stars in that, the look is more current and if you have had the older version, you do get more noticable increase of counter usability space with this model. On the other hand, there are some annoyances with this new version. (I'm keeping the coffee maker)

For the overall rating that I provided of 3 stars, here is why.

Installation Template... JOKE
Missing measurement legends so was not usable. I held the coffer maker up to the cabinet to determine where I wanted it to be installed, measured from a few places on the coffee pot and cabinet and used the hanging bracket of the coffee maker as the template (pencil through screw holes).

Installation Hardware... screws wrong size
This is a design problem in concept, while having a bag of a bunch of different sizes solves the problem, or in my case, a hacksaw solved the problem. The ultimate reason is that there is no gap between the end of the screw when installed and the coffee pot to slide on. In older models if the screw went into the nut and came out the otherside by a 1/4 of an inch it was fine. In this model the screw must not go much past being flush to the end of the nut.... which is nuts!

Water Reservior... nice idea, but has challenges
a) Since the reservoir has such a large surface area, providing an exact amount of water is not easy. When you set it on the counter and fill it, it doesn't sit flat, etc, etc.
b) The top of the reservior is removable in order to clean it out. When you have the water around 10 cups, or more likely 12 cups, this lid doesn't seal the water in very good for a short walk from the sink to the coffee maker. Not a big deal, not a lot of dripping, but you have to pay attention to it.

Sneak a cup... Twice now we have had coffee overflow out of the filter area. This was due to the sneak a cup braket not designed very well. When you put the coffee pot into the unit, it pushes on a little handle/arm... barely. This braket opens/closes a door on the bottom of the filter. If the coffee pot is slightly off being place in properly, plan on a nice clean up of coffee on the counter. I added a little bit of bulk to the face of the bracket and I think it will solve the problem.

Removing top bracket... Geez, one of the first steps in the installation is to remove the top mounting bracket/piece from the top of the coffee maker... OMG, my wife and I were playing tug-a-war to get that dumb thing off. This should NOT come pre-connected to the coffee maker.

Handling of Water reservior and Filter. Neither have a nice handle or way to grip them. The filter part is more awkward to hold than the resourvoir, but it should be looked at.

I know I listed several things, but from the things listed, I don't think they are show-stoppers, I'll be keeping the coffee maker.

I'm one of the reviewers of the SDC 850 that had a leaky pot. Thankfully, this one doesn't leak and indeed uses the same holes as the SDC 850-I even kept the screws I had to hacksaw for the SDC 850 and used them on this one. Works well, doesn't leak. Wish it had the stainless steel trim of course and also wish it were thermal like the SDC 850 because on my last two B&D ODC440B's the warmer plate rusted out in a few months. If the warmer plate does not rust out this is indeed a viable alternative to the SDC 850. Hopefully B&D reads these.

Update: Feb, 2011 and the baseplate has NOT rusted out. Still works great however, the timer/clock readout went extremely dim a couple of months ago.

Second update: April 7th, 2011 it quit working completely.

Black & Decker SDC740B SpaceMaker 12-Cup Coffeemaker, Black I purchased this coffeemaker a month ago for my very small RV kitchen. Virtually no countertop at all. It has worked out wonderfully, giving me a full sized coffeemaker that eliminates the need for countertop space.
The only problem I've encountered is the "SNEAK-A-CUP" feature that enables you to get a cup of coffee before it has finished perking. The spring that activates this feature is too strong and pushes the pot back, causing water to overflow onto the countertop below. We eliminated that problem by removing the spring.

We've had a 2 previous B&D under counter coffee makers. All made good coffee but all had serious quality issues.

The last SDC740 we had was not like the current model visually. It was more square and had a more vertical water box. I purchased it despite overwhelming an avalanche of negative reviews on amazon. The reviews indicated several problems:

1. The coffee basket popped out after several days of use, because the snap in feature had been poorly designed and used ABS plastic that was too thin and lost it's shape under the heat generated by the coffee maker. This caused coffee and grounds to spill all over the counter. I solved this problem by plastic welding 1/16" ABS strips in the appropriate places, using MEK solvent. It seams that this problem is fixed in the current model.
2. The coffeemaker's electronics caused a reset in our microwave oven's timer repeatedly. I put up with this inconvenience, since it only occurred once or twice monthly. It seams that this problem is also fixed in the current model.
3. The carafe had a spout that was poorly designed. It was almost impossible to pour coffee when the carafe was over half full, without spilling coffee all over the counter. It seams that this problem is also fixed in the current model.

When I saw the new Spacemaker SDC740 coffeemaker, during a recent visit at K-Mart, I could not resist and bought it. Installation instructions as on previous models, were a travesty. My cabinets have a frame with a 9/10" front overhang. The screws and spacers provided are useless. No combination of spacers can make up 9/10". The long screws are too long and the next shorter size are too short. The supplied mounting template is useless. It has no measurements on it and does not take into account a vertical frame rail with mounting brackets that protrude behind it above the cabinet floor. It should have included a half circular dotted line to be cut out between the 2 forward facing mounting holes. I could have made the required cutout myself, but did not have the confidence in the accuracy of the supplied template due to previous experience in with B&D coffeemaker designers and manufacturing implementations. I knew I could trust my own measurements more and therefore measured the distances between mounting holes of the mounting bracket and transferred them to the inside of the cabinet floor. I made my own rear spacer by taking a piece of 2x3 wood and sawing it down to the required 9/10" thickness.
My previous experience with under counter coffeemakers pointed out a potentially serious problem as follows:
Do not install it too far back. After some use, when the coffeemaker requires cleaning, it emits a substantial amount of steam. This steam will dry out and damage the finish on your cabinets. I installed mine so the forward most 2 mounting holes are located just behind my 3/4" cabinet frame. This will keep steam as far forward of the cabinet doors as possible.
At this point my biggest complaint about my new Spacemaker SDC740 coffeemaker is that the clock gains 71/2 minutes a day. That means after a week, our coffee gets brewed 521/2 minutes too soon. I just went to K-Mart and bought a second SDC740. Unfortunately, every SDC740 they had, had a broken seal on the box. Does that mean someone had returned it already? The jury is still out. I'll check the clock tomorrow. I know that B&D was bought by Stanley recently. I hope they read these posts and do something about quality control.

I'm from the old country where they had no tolerance for defective products and defective quality control. They used to say "In zee old kontry vee shoot zem for zis"

PS. I don't believe in the death penalty, but could dismemberment or at least a public beating be appropriate?

A nice product but this one was even tougher to follow the instructions with than the toaster oven. Again, NO SCREWS fit. There were long enough screws but they were too long and the unit would not slide back onto the top mounting piece. And the template didn't have the measurements on it again. Had to get via email again b/c couldn't find on their website. You really have to figure this out on your own. I think what worked for me was once you determine which line pertains to the depth of your front hangover, fold on that line and place the folded template behind the overhang up against the bottom of the cabinet. Hope you have a hardware store nearby to run out and get screws in the middle of the installation...or maybe your overhang is less than 1". the difference in length between the middle screw and the longest screw is an inch if i'm not mistaken. for me, I needed it to be 1/2 longer than the middle one, or 1/2 shorter than the longer one. snipping the longer bolts didn't work. just screwed up the threads. I guess it would work if you installed the top piece then snipped but once you take it off, you won't be able to re-install it. plus taking it off my cross thread the nuts then you're worse off. if you need bolts, suggest just biting the bullet and going to the hardware store.

09/12/09. Tobin's review is right on. I will add, that I have finally gotten to the point where I am tired of cleaning up water or coffee from my counter. the idea was to keep things off of the counter. it either leaks from the water reservoir or it leaks coffee all over the counter. going out and buying a new coffee maker today.

This is the worst coffee maker I have ever used. It is annoying and dangerous.

We dare not use this coffee maker without standing right there watching it through the whole brewing process, towel in hand.

1. The "sneak a cup" feature is mis-designed and dangerous. The lever that the coffee pot pushes against to hold the water escape aperture on the filter basket open will (with nearly 100% predictability) actually push the coffee pot 1/4" out towards the front of the unit, causing the aperture on the filter basket to be closed. The filter basket will then overflow, dumping the coffee all over the counter (and everyone on the counter) instead of into the pot.

I ripped the whole silly "sneak a cup" mechanism off of the unit. Originally I planned to try replacing the spring with a weaker one, but decided that it's just too dangerous to leave in place.

If you buy this coffee maker, I HIGHLY recommend that you remove the "sneak a cup" lever and spring before you install the unit, or you will be likely to get a very bad surprise.

2. Even with the "sneak a cup" mechanism removed, the filter basket still overflows unpredictably and dumps boiling coffee all over the counter. We have not been able to figure this one out -- we think that perhaps the water flow is very poorly regulated, and it sometimes dumps water in the filter basket faster than it can filter the coffee into the pot.

For my next step in re-engineering this monstrosity of a consumer product, I plan to use a (Makita, not a Black & Decker) drill to enlarge the hole in the bottom of the filter basket, hopefully increasing the speed at which the filter basket empties and thereby preventing overflow.

Of course, then we will also have to experiment for as long as it takes to learn the new quantity of ground coffee to use with the modified filter basket.

3. The installation process is a terrible experience. I'm very handy, and this is not the first under-cabinet coffee maker I have installed. The poor instructions, useless mounting template, and inadequate hardware made a frustrating 4 hour job out of what should have been a straightforward 45 minute job.

4. Overall, the unit is very poorly constructed, mostly of cheap easily-bendable polyethylene.

I cannot recommend too strongly against this coffee maker. Buy almost any other available alternative. The quality of Black and Decker products seems to have gone completely down the drain in recent years.

I initially had a lot of trouble with this unit. But read on...this gadget has levers that are interlocks (so you can pull the pot off while it's brewing and steal a quick cup). The levers are spring loaded and when you have it on auto brew, (if it's not installed correctly) the springs will occasionally push the upper coffee/filter holder out enough to close the outlet but not stop the flow of water so you end up with coffee and grounds all over whatever is under it. What a huge mess.

Here's the secret. They really don't say how critical this is...get out your level and make sure it's perfectly level or even just a hair sloped to the back. If you intall it sloped forward (so the front is low) you will have trouble.

Once I redid ours with just the slightest slope to the rear, we have not had any further trouble.

This is a nice looking coffeemaker but the plastic is highly breakable. Do not accidentally drop any parts or you'll hear chunks of plastic flying across your kitchen! Don't even drop it in the sink. The filter came apart in three pieces. Please make one more sturdy since it's an item that people handle everyday. I'm a nervous wreck whenever I set the coffee!

I had an old B&D Spacemaker coffeepot in my motor home, but it died. I was really glad because the clock had broken anyway.

I searched everywhere for another one because a Spacemaker is really the way to go.

Amazon had the best price of anyone, so I ordered it. Little did I expect the quality of the new one I bought. It looks great, has wonderful features, was easy to install, and makes great coffee.

I recommend this Spacemaker to everyone, and of course, Amazon is the best!

We just received the SDC740B Black & Decker Spacemaker 12 cup programmable Under The Cabinet Coffeemaker.

The directions did NOT work for us and we are very experienced Do-It-Yourself homeowners! We have an overhang with our kitchen cabinets and NOTHING!, per Black & Decker directions worked!!! We had to come up with a completly different way of attaching to cabinet. The METRIC!!!!!, screws were NOT long enough and we could not find any metric, that were the right length. We FINALLY did get the unit up but unless you are VERY experience in coming up with different ideas, DO NOT order this unit.