Customer Reviews

Braun KF600 Impressions 10-Cup Thermal Coffeemaker, Brushed Stainless Steel

5 star:		(319)
4 star:		(138)
3 star:		(52)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(55)

 

 

First of all, I am a well-informed coffee fanatic. I only use cold distilled water, freshly roasted and grinded beans, and now a thermal carafe!!! So please keep that in mind when you read and weigh the details in my review.

I am glad I ignored the--small number of--negative reviews on this model...I found them to be wrong. It works well, and does hold up to 10 cups without overflowing or causing any problems. Each brew is excellent, amazingly good coffee...forget the Mr. Coffee's or Cuisinarts. Braun is the real deal.

Very very happy that I got this one. Excellent thermal carafe. Prewarmed, it keeps the coffee hot for 4-5 hours and drinkably warm for about 2 more hours at least. No burnt coffee smell.

Very attractive package, has heft and is solid, yet svelt and attractive on the counter. Go no further if you want an attractive and excellent thermal carafe performer. Some may want one with a timer, since I grind my beans right on the spot, and don't trust a grind-and-brew for the consistent, excellent grind I am looking for this one was for me.

If I had a complaint, it would be that I would have liked the carafe to be dishwasher safe (for occasional good cleaning). However, I find when I do put my pots in the dishwasher the dishwasher soap can effect the next brew. For now, I put a small bit of dishwasher soap in at night and fill the carafe with hot water. In the AM I rinse the carafe out several times with hot tap water and then let it sit with hot tap water while I grind and get the coffee maker ready. Then I pour out the hot water and place the carafe on the coffee maker. The prewarming helps the coffee stay better, longer.

Note: for what it is worth, I use unbleached paper filters rather than the gold cone, because I do not like grinds finding their way through to the coffee. That is not the Braun's fault. I need to invest in a top grade grinder, my grinder still makes some small silt. Don't get me wrong, the gold cone filter is amazing and it makes great coffee. Many people like thick dark coffee...they should definitely use the gold cone filter.

Finally, those wanting a whole ensemble, should know that Braun has some sister appliances that match in color/style.

I was tired of burnt coffee so decided to buy one with a thermo carafe. I've been partial to Braun for several years so I selected this one. So far it's done everything it advertised and the coffee is excellent.

The instructions are explicit about facing the handle to point out over the switch, don't know why but since they included a separate instruction for this thought it might be important. It has the typical 40 to 44 ounce capacity of a ten cup coffee maker, but if you go any over the 44 ounces, which is dead on the bottom of 10 cup line limit, it will spill out on your counter. They say a cup is 4.4 oz. which I guess is kind of standard.

Other features I like are that the carafe is not glass lined and has a vacuum between the walls. When you make a pot of coffee the outside of the carafe stays at the same temperature it started so very little heat escapes through the wall. Also there is a water filter that you place in a depression at the bottom of the water reservoir that lasts 2 or 3 months, should help especially if you have hard water.

From what I've seen so far the coffee stays hot with no change in taste for at least 4 hours (especially if you preheat the carafe with hot water). After 8 hours it's still warm but needs a little nuking.

A few months ago i broke the carafe on my old melitta coffee maker. This machine was about 15 years old so no replacement carafe available which gave me the excuse to buy a new machine.

I'm a research fanatic so after much on-line research I decided to get the cuisinart 10 cup machine (not the grind and brew). My experience with the cuisinart was disappointing. To be fair i'm usually making small amounts of coffee (4-5 cups max) and the cuisinart just didn't come through for me (it has a small pot setting but that made the coffee worse). Generally the Cuize coffee was weak and bitter at the same time. Also their fill level indicator was very difficult to read for small pots. One nod i do have to give to cuisinart is the honesty of their user manual. They describe how to work the timer function and then essentially tell you that you shouldn't use it because leaving ground coffee exposed to the air overnight while you sleep will hurt the flavour. Then they describe how their brewstop function work but then tell you that you shouldn't use that either because it's going to make the rest of the pot of coffee taste weak if you go siphoning the strong coffee off the top. So kudos for the cuize in their honesty and kudos to Williams Sonoma for their return policy (ie no questions asked). But this is a braun review, so on to my new coffee maker.

What i like: It makes good coffee. Overall style is sleek and relatively compact (though i still miss the tiny footprint of my old melita). Detachable filter holder is handy for dumping old grounds and filling new ones. It's simple - just an on/off switch. Carafe is shaped so that you don't have to turn it basically upside down to get the last few cups (many thermal carafes have a big lip at the top which make it difficult to pour the bottom half of the pot.

What i'm not so wild about: Well i'd like it if it kept the coffee hot for a bit longer, but my experience may be unique since i'm making less than half a pot of coffee. To be fair i haven't noticed the coffee actually getting cold, it's just a matter of getting used to the fact that you don't burn your tongue on the second cup the way you do when it's coming off a heater - so maybe that isn't a bad thing. prefilling the carafe with hot water helps. Another minor design flaw is that the window for the reservoir is on the left side of the machine, while the coffee hopper swings out to the right. I'd like these both to be on the same side of the machine to make it more feasible to keep the machine pushed up sideways against the counter wall. As i say, it's a minor flaw. Finally, the brew stop feature is not that reliable (ie sometimes it doesn't stop); but since i don't (and you shouldn't) use this feature (see cuisinart comments above) it's not a big deal.

Comments on other reviews: To the guy who gave it one star because he felt it only made 8 cups rather than 10 - who cares. These cup measures are really only graduations on the water reservoir to help you get the right coffee water mix anyway.

Several people commented on overflows. The coffee maker can take a brita type filter and it has a plug you can put in if you're not using a filter to take up the filter volume. This plug needs to be snapped into place. So just a guess that perhaps these people didn't have the plug in, or it wasn't snapped in, and so they were getting extra water in the resevoir.

Someone commented about the manual telling you to line up the carafe just right when brewing and wasn't sure why. Reason is that the lip of the carafe holds open the lever which controls the brewstop feature. The front of the carafe has a bigger lip and therefore holds the lever more open allow faster flow. I haven't noticed overflow if you have the carafe sideways, but once again, i'm not brewing full pots.

Finally, why didn't i give it 5 stars? Because that would imply perfection and nobody has made the perfect coffee maker yet. If Amazon had allowed it, i would have given this machine 4.5 out of 5.

I am a coffee addict age 70 and have never had a better coffee maker. Even without pre-heating the thermos it never needs more than a few seconds in a microwave after 2-3 hours. No more burned, overcooked taste. The 45 oz capacity is low, (since when is a cup of coffee 4.5 ounces?) However, since the brewing is over in 7 minutes, as soon as the cycle is completed, the next pot can be started without waiting for cool down. Friends who have seen it have already purchased theirs. I started out looking for Krups makers but the reviews on Amazon sent me to Braun.

I wanted a basic coffee maker which would make good coffee and would be easy to use and clean. I didn't care very much about all the fancy features like timers and the likes. I couldn't have found anything better than this Braun coffee maker in the budget I had. Here are the things I like about it:

(1. Very simple to use. A 5 yr old could do it (not advisable though)

(2. Permanent Gold tone filter. No need to change filters.

(3. Good tasting coffee.

(4. Thermal carafe. It stays hot for at least 2 hrs. Thats the most I've tried.

(5. Looks very pretty and sleek.

(6. Very easy to clean/maintain. This is a huge plus for a bum like me :)

(7. Features like auto-shut-off and Built-in Brita Filter are very nice to have.

All in all this is a product with a unified philosophy unclutterred with all kinds of paraphernalia.

I sincerely have no Cons to report so far.

I'll qualify my review with the following facts:
1.I owned a Krups Aroma Control for 10 flawless years until it finally died. I liked the coffee it made.
2.I have owned three more coffee makers in the last 6 months.
3.I enjoy a hot, strong, fully extracted cup of coffee but I am not a coffee guru- typically grind my coffee at the store, buy in bulk at Costco, use paper filters etc.

OK- now that you understand that I am, what I would classify as, a typical coffee drinker, here is my review.

I like this coffee maker! It is simple and works as advertised. On top of that, it is well made and brews a perfectly good cup of coffee. The carafe keeps the coffee plenty warm for several hours. I have not had any issues with leaking, filter overflow, carafe breaking, weak coffee, or failures in the 4 weeks of ownership so far (unlike my previous purchases-see below).

Though the unit comes with a gold tone filter, I choose to use paper filters as I don't like the flavor/muddiness that a permanent filter lets through. I grind my coffee on the finer side for drip and this hasn't presented an overflow problem. THe anti drip (brew pause) feature works well as long as you don't remove the carafe too quickly. (I don't use the brew pause feature as it weakens the coffee, but it comes in handy when dumping grounds.) The filter basket swings out for easy filling and can be removed to dump grounds without leaving a coffee trail to the trash bin. THere isn't a timer function, but so far, I don't miss it. Filling the unit is easy since the fill door, though located in the back of the unit, is large and the cup indicator is easy to read.

Some minor issues: The carafe won't fit under my refridgerator water dispenser (Typical of all carafes) so I use a measuring cup to fill the reservoir. The stainless finish is beautiful, but leaves water spots if you don't wipe it dry after washing.

As I mentioned above, I have owned three coffee makers in the past 6 months. I'm not a nut (though my wife claims I was obsessed). It's just that the other brands that I bought were difficult to use, didn't work well or at all or both!

After much research (I'm an engineer-sorry)I bought a Bunn BT-10B thermal carafe. I liked its simple operating principle- keep water hot in a reservoir, add the appropriate amount of cold water to displace the hot water into the coffee grounds to make coffee. Ummm, better on paper than in practice- at least at less than full pot quantities. If you want, say, four cups, then the consistency is poor and coffee is weak. Even at a full pot, the coffee wasn't as strong or rich in flavor as I like. This has much to do with its lightening quick brew time of three minutes for a full pot.(I even tried the reduced flow head from Bunn-for free I might add-. Helped, but still not good enough.) THis unit is now in my office and seems to work for the masses.

The second unit was a Presto (I know what you are thinking)Scandinavian Design. I bought this because of, again, research that suggested that due to it's unique three element heating system, would brew exceptional coffee. Plus, after being burned on a rather expensive Bunn, I decided to go the other direction on the price scale. This unit was $50 shipped from Costco. Bummer that it never tempted me with it's remarkable coffee. I never got it to actually brew and upon calling Presto customer service, was told that the unit was defective. Back to Costco for a full refund.

Hence, we are here with the Braun. For only a few dollars more (thank you Amazon for free shipping!)I bought this unit and have been very happy.

Bottom line: if you like rich coffee, (Tastes very much like coffee house brews, that is hot, has a high build quality, and looks good on the counter, buy this unit.

I'm very pleased with the Braun KF600.

First, let's get one issue out of the way: Rated cup capacity: This is a standardized measurement system manufacturers' use. It's based on a small cup size. You should use this rating to select and compare models. You SHOULDN'T use it to determine how many big mugs of coffee it will brew. If you're disappointed with Braun's 10 cup size, you'll be disappointed with other 10 cup size machines as well.

Now, specifically about the Braun KF600: This is the third thermal coffee maker I've owned. (I DO wish they lasted a little longer. Seems that two years is about the expected lifetime for any electric drip coffee maker.)

The Braun compares very favorably to the others in terms of:

1) Simplicity: Braun has left off the 'programmable timer' that just about every other model has. I prefer to grind my beans and start the brewing when I get up, so the programmable function isn't missed. It also seems that the timer is the first thing to malfunction on a coffee maker, so leaving it off is a smart thing in my view. The on/off switch at the base of the Braun has a nice feel and leads me to believe it will last a while (despite the fact the switch swivels to turn on and automatically swivels back when it turns off).

2) Caraffe Design: Thermal pots are still a young science and it seems everyone has their own design. Some use a spring loaded spout closure; the last model I had (Krups) had a top that had to be screwed off and on, and you had to screw it down tight to keep the coffee warm between pours. None that I've used up 'til now has been very impressive. I love Braun's design: The lever action flip up top is very easy to manipulate and pour with; it also pours a narrow, gentle, directed flow so spills are pretty well eliminated. The top returns to position after pouring simply via gravity, and the pot maintains temperature better than any I've used (especially since it's easy to forget to 'close' a manual close model after pouring).

3) Ease of use: Both the reservoir and cone holder are easily accessed and easily filled. Believe me, you can't always say that about other models.

4) Overall looks: A nicely designed unit that will compliment most any kitchen.

5) Most importantly, the coffee it makes!: Coffee temperature is perfect when brewed (and holds up well for hours in the thermal carafe). Flavor extraction is also excellent. Once you've determined your grind consistency and quantity, you'll brew a perfect cup of coffee with this machine.

Good coffee is an important part of my morning routine and the Braun Impressions made a tasty cup. I also liked the fact that it had a thermal carafe. It kept the coffee hot for 4-5 hours without the burnt taste of a hot plate.

Now the bad news... After a year of use, it started leaking from underneath the base. For $80, this coffee maker should have lasted longer.

I admit that I'm not a coffee snob, but with this coffee maker I may become one.

1. We have pretty good tasting well water, but the water filters do make a difference in the taste of the coffee by removing a mild but noticible hard water taste. I had thought that the (optional) water filters were a nice extra. Now I know they are a necessity for great coffee.

Beyond that, here is a quick list of the other things I like about this coffee maker.

2. It is bonehead simple
3. Included gold tone filter
4. Very easy to remove and clean the basket and replace -- it just lifts off -- no "fishing" to get it back in place. Opens with a push button anc closes firmly with an easy press.
5. Easy to use "water window" is actually a frosted plastic part of the resevoir so it is really accurate.
6. Feet on the bottom of the carafe fit into a groove on the bottom plate -- makes carafe placement foolproof.
7. Carafe pours without spilling, and the lid is easy on and off.
8. Coffee is hot (a tongue burner if not careful) and is still warm up to 6 hours later, with no burnt hot plate taste
9. Coffee brews quickly and coffee maker shuts off automatically.
10. Beautiful, sleek design.

I did my research and thought I would like this coffee maker, but I had no idea of just how much I would like it. It is a winner.

After reading the couple of "negative" reviews along with many more very positive ones, I decided to check this coffee maker out for myself. I have owned many different machines over the last few years and this one fits my needs exactly.

Although the carafe at first looked small, I found that it holds exactly the same amount of water that my previous Bunn coffee maker held. For us, the "10 cups" (48 ozs) turns out to be about 6 mugs full. If we were serving coffee in formal coffee cups, then it would yield a lot more cups. And if you follow the very clear instructions about either installing the water filter or the plastic plug that can replace the filter if you choose not to use it, it will NOT overflow the carafe. As a matter of fact, they have built in overflow protection on the filter basket so that water will not back up if the grounds are too fine - there are holes near the top of the basket that provide an overflow path if the water gets that high.

As far as the temperature of the coffee - there will always be a trade-off here. You can use a glass carafe with a heater that will eventually cook the coffee until it's not fit to drink, or you can take a few moments to fill the carafe with hot water to pre-heat it before you make the coffee. Since my wife and I both use insulated mugs, this has been a standing practice for us for many years. And running very hot water into our mugs and the carafe seems to me to be the easiest and best way to clean them based on the taste of the coffee we enjoy every morning. This certainly beats the fine film of soap residue that I have found in mugs and carafes that have run through the dish washer. And any stainless steel container will darken over time, although that has no ill effect that I can discern.

For our preferences, the coffee is hot enough for the first hour or so. After that, 20 seconds in the microwave gets it right back to temperature and does not destroy the flavor of the coffee like a heated carafe will. Having owned a coffee maker with a variable temperature setting on the warmer, we had to either settle for lukewarm coffee that would last longer or hotter coffee that tasted "off" after the first 30 minutes.

My experience is that the best coffee is the first cup poured in any machine, but this one gives us perfectly acceptable coffee all morning long.