Customer Reviews

KitchenAid KCM055 4-Cup Ultra Coffeemaker, Empire Red

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

like this coffeemaker. It's a basic, simple machine that I expect to last more than the few years that my Mr. Coffee, Melita, and Braun machines have lasted.

But it has fewer features than you might think -- probably fewer than most other 4-cup coffemakers. [I think some of the people writing reviews are not actually using the product but writing from the product literature!]

The Kitchenaid literature says the coffeemaker has concealed cord storage in back of the machine but I was hard pressed to see how that worked. For most coffeemakers you can either wind the cord around some prongs located on the back or bottom of the machine, or stuff the cord into a hollow section of the coffeemaker. On this machine you stuff the cord, but because a very heavy duty grounded (3-wire) cord is used, which is very stiff and difficult to bend, you can only perform the "disappearing act" one way slightly unintuitive way. Quoting Kitchenaid's reply to my query on this point:
"You will need to sit your coffee maker on a flat surface with the back hanging slightly off the edge, letting the cord dangle over the edge. You will want to grab the cord about an inch or two at a time and push upward on the cord. The cord will feed into the bottom of the coffee maker.
If you do not have the cord positioned correctly while trying to feed the cord up, it will not go." It works, but only that way -- and there is nothing about this in the instructions that come with the coffeemaker.

This coffeemaker does not have any control device to determine the right temperature at which to let the water over the grounds. It works just like most of the others -- it boils water in a heated tube (which is actually the bottom part of the heating plate), the boiling bubbles cause the water to rise several inches through a tube that lets out over the coffee basket. The only "control" is the fact that water boils at about 212 degrees Fahrenheit and how much the water cools while it travels the several inches up the riser tube and is let out over the grounds. The warmer plate, however, does keep the coffee at a slightly lower temperature than other coffeemakers I have used -- while the others were close to 200 degrees F, the Kitchenaid is closer to 185 degrees F. This means you can pour a cup and its cool enough to sip (carefully). It also means that the coffee in the pot, sitting on the warmer plate, won't burn (or turn bitter) as quickly as on other machines. Still, you don't want to leave coffee on heat for more than about 15 minutes unless you don't mind the pot beginning to turn bitter.

There is no sprinkler setup for sprinkling the water over the grounds. It comes out of a hole and that's it. If the water is coming too fast, some comes out an overflow hole -- but this is not the five, six, or seven hole design some coffeemakers have used in the past.

The water level gauge is a mark inside the water holding tank. Others, such as Braun, also have a clear tube external to the tank that shows the water level at a glance without the need to lean over and peering into the tank. Seeing the water level gives you an idea how far along the coffee making process is. So this is less convenient on the Kitchenaid.

I have two carafes, from two 4-cup Ultra Coffeemakers. Both do not dribble under normal use. That's not true for all coffee pots I have used. However, you can make the pot dribble if the pot is very full and you pour so quickly that the coffee pushes up against the lid. That's true for every pot I have ever used.

The heating plate is non-stick coated -- try to find a coffeemaker without that feature! Non-stick coatings are a kind of paint, and it begins to peal and flake after repeated heating and cooling. I don't expect the coating here to be any different, but while it lasts it's easier to clean, and when it peels it won't get into any food.

The pause/drip-stop valve (that let's you remove the pot mid-cycle) works as well as any. If anything, even a single ground) gets into the valve (say your grounds float over the edge of the filter) then the valve won't work. Otherwise, it works well and only a few drops will hit the heating plate before you return the pot under the basket. I have tried many coffeemakers, and in this regard they all seem the same. None works perfectly all the time. Most work well most of the time. They work better when they are new than when older.

The coffee basket is V-shaped to hold a #2 filter and it is held in place by a non-detachable, swing-out holder. On other coffee makers, the swing-out portion and the coffee basket are one integral piece that can be removed from the coffee maker. ON the Kitchenaid, only the V-shaped basket can be removed -- who cares? Well, if you're used to carrying the basket from the coffeemaker, over to a counter to set it down and fill it with grounds, you can't do that. It's V-shape means it can only be set down upside-down or on its side. You have to put the grounds in the basket WHILE IT'S ON THE COFFEEMAKER.

This unit draws a maximum of 6.25 amps. So on a normal 110-120 Volt house circuit, it consumes electricity at a rate of 680-750 watts. That amount of energy use determines the speed at which it boils 22 ounces of water. Other, higher wattage coffeemakers will brew more quickly, and lower wattage ones more slowly. This one is well timed for extracting flavor from the beans without bitterness.

It comes in sterile white plus those pure "crayola" type basic red, blue, and green colors that were so popular about 40 years ago and have come back in fashion again. The white will show coffee stain discoloration over time -- how fast depends on how strong you make your coffee. On the other colors, the staining will be less noticeable. Note that staining is not unique to the Kitchenaid. Occasional bleaching can help reduce the staining; but I think the staining is unavoidable -- after all, this is coffee we're dealing with. ;-)

I ordered this coffeemaker initially for two reasons: #1, it's red and so is my kitchen, and #2, the Kitchen Aid name and quality.

This is a terrific little coffemaker. The coffee basket swings out for quick and easy loading, and has a removable plastic insert that can be removed for easy cleaning. Once you've loaded the ground beans in, you swing it back shut and it snaps closed.

The carafe has an attached lid that flips open for water filling at the touch of your thumb. The carafe lid and handle are the same color as the coffeemaker. I found it very easy and quick to use.

It brews quickly and makes very hot coffee. The burner plate keeps the coffee at the right temperature. It says it's a 4-cup coffee maker, which refers to the measurement of water. My mugs hold about two-and-a-half mugfuls of coffee, more than adequate.

This is a great coffeemaker for your desk, or for the single person or a couple. I recommend it highly!

The Kitchenaid coffeemaker is head and shoulders above the rest because of the superior heating element that keeps you from having cold coffee even quite awhile after brewing. It is also fashion forward and looks great in every kitchen due to the wide range of color choices. The other unique thing about this product is that its 4 cup capacity makes it easy to make a small amount of coffee without having to guess on the scoop measurements as it is geared to make 1-4 cups as opposed to 10 cups. I would highly recommend this product for it's accuracy and the fact it doesn't drip, and also it is a good way for a consumer to begin building a KitchenAid kitchen.

When we received this machine we were astonished at how good the coffee tasted. It is ten times better than our Mr. Coffee four cup model makes. I even went back to the Mr. Coffee and made a pot just to double check, and it still tasted like crud (using same brand of coffee). Maybe it is the cone filter design the KitchenAid uses, I don't know. I always thought making coffee was simply a matter of running hot water through the coffee grounds. Wrong.

If I had to say something negative, it would be about the decanter which has a permanently attached lid which swings up and out of the way when you push the tab down with your thumb. If you forget to push the tab, the coffee has a tendency to drip and run down the side making a mess. But with the high quality coffee, I can live with that.

The small capacity of this coffee maker is great for one or two people. It brews quickly and quietly. Nothing to special about over all but it gets the job done.

I have been using my Kitchen Aid 4 cupper for about two weeks now and it is not a bad little machine. I was using one of those free coffee machines you get when you subscribe to the coffee delivery service.....this one had the basket as part of the urn and when the coffee was done you had to twist off this basket full of steaming hot coffee grounds. Coffee would drip on the counter (which made my wife mad) and I would burn my fingers OUCH! This Kitchen Aid has none of that. It has the pour stop feature which is great, comes in nice colors (mine cobalt blue) it is a cone type and the coffee grounds stay in the top part of the machine until they cool off. Once in a while when I am pouring coffee the caraffe will drip pretty bad, haven't figured out what I do different........and they say it has cord storage but I have yet to figure out how the cord goes inside the machine and it does not explain how in the manual. An auto shut off would have been a feature I would have paid extra for. Overall I am very satisfied.

I bought this little coffeemaker less than a year ago .... At first it was great, except for the difficulty in pouring from the carafe. Coffee stayed hot and tasted great. However, in less than a year the warming plate has lost its non-stick feature and the machine started leaking dirty water from the bottom. This morning all it did was leak clean water and never brewed.

I've been in touch with Kitchenaid and learned this model is no longer being manufactured. They are replacing it with a 12 cup programmable model KCM400B. I'm just concerned about the size as the 4-cup fit in a small space.

This is my 2nd Kitchen Aid 4 cup coffee maker. It makes great coffee and just the right amount for two people. We like our coffee fresh so we make 2 pots in the morning, one when we first get up and one for the road. I also experienced the dribbling problem with my last pot but quickly figured out that if you lift the lid when pouring it doesn't dribble. This is easy to accomplish because the lid is attached to the pot. My husband still has not figured this out, however, he is willing to put up with a little dribbling because it makes great tasting coffee. I would buy another one.

Other reviews commenting on the fact that the carafe dribbles whenever you pour coffee are correct. We constantly have coffee puddles now on our counter and floor. This is shame too, as I like the coffee from this maker better than that from my old Mr. Coffee machine.

There aren't many options if you want a 4 cup coffee maker. This one matches my kitchen and looks really cool, so I went with it. I've been using it for a little over 3 months. It does make good coffee and it's easy to use. But, as an other reviwer mentioned, it frequently hisses and spits at random interval until it's turned off. This doesn't bother me too much (at least I'm in no danger of forgetting to turn it off). But don't even think about pouring a cup before it's done brewing...or 5 minutes after. The basket keeps on pouring coffee onto the hotplate. Even after the 5 minutes, it still drips. It's a mess! Yeah it looks cool, but unless you NEED the great colors, you'll get more for your money with another model.