Seems all these $1000 espresso machines are fantastically tiny and well designed (and what exactly do they do for $1000? Heat water to 1000 kelvin? Blast steam through coffee grounds at warp 9.9? Must be an engineering marvel for all that money). Then I try to buy a normal coffee maker and it seems my only option was going to Target and spending $29.95 on a surprisingly gigantic monstrosity. Unfortunately my counter space is measured on the nanoscale, no way was I going to give up half of it to a coffee maker. That's why I was so excited to find this one at Bloomingdales - and then find it way cheaper here on Amazon. It looks great, and all the colors are fantastic in person (I saw all the choices at Bloomies).
Pros:
-Incredibly sturdy and well made. A pleasure to use every day. I anticipate having this a long time.
-Smallest footprint I've found.
-The 5-cup size is perfect for two adults to have a big, satisfying cup of coffee.
-You can use the included gold filter or use paper filters.
-Makes excellent coffee that is hot but still drinkable right away.
Con:
-See the silver top part? The whole silver top opens the long way (hinge at the back) to add water and the coffee. This means when you open it, it will not fit under your cabinets, so you have to pull it out to fill it, or put it somewhere that isn't under a cabinet. So while it is only 12" closed, it is 20.5" open, and you have to open it pretty much all the way to add water and coffee.
-It makes coffee pretty fast so the cup warmer thing doesn't really have time to warm your cups. This isn't really a con for me as it's not that big a deal, but if you care, then there you go.