Customer Reviews

Mr. Coffee VBX23 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, Black

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I love coffee! Coffee, coffee & more coffee! For as long as I can remember, I have owned the basic, easy-to-use, bell and whistle-less Mr. Coffee Machine.

Early one morning, I was horrified to discover that the heating elment on my then current machine had committed suicide the night before. It was an ugly morning of bumping into walls and uttering quite a few ugly little sentences. Avid coffee drinkers will understand.

So I head over to the local "Linnens-and-Beyond" type place,(what exactly is the "beyond" part anyway?)and I found it. The basic, black, 12 cup, on/off, timer if I should ever decide to use it, under $30.00 Mr coffee. Yay! Oh the rejoicing!!

Until I got it out of the box. The horror! They had changed the design of my beloved basic machine!

It used to be that just the back water chamber lid opened. Now the whole top of the machine is lidded. The problem? I have to pull the machine all the way to the edge of the counter to pour the water in. Then I have to push the whole thing back after it is full. Splash!! Ok not so big a problem, right?
Wrong!! And now for the idiots of the world, they have introduced two sunflower seed sized holes on the back wall of the water chamber. I suppose this is so he chamber is not over-filled. Great. So any water that I may overpour goes all over the counter. Or when I push the machine back into place, the splashing water in the chamber comes out - you guessed it, all over the counter. Hey guys, thanks. What a brilliant idea.

Oh, did I mention that the pot itself is it's own little nightmare and a half. This pot spills, spills, spills and spills some more. When filling the chamber, it dribbles. When I am pouring a cup, it dribbles all over, you guessed it, my counter. Gee, I sure am getting sick of wiping up the counter.

Open up the top of this machine and you will find the filter basket which has above it, a pivoting water arm. Ths arm must be moved anytime the filter is to be removed or replaced. Did I mention I wanted basic? Why am I delaing with moving parts at 5am? Oh one more flaw with this design. Remember our dribbling special-ed pot? Well if any water you are pouring into the chamber hits the axis point of the pivoting arm (ooh fancy!), said water will dribble instantaneously onto the heating element below (where the pot sits). Yay! More to wipe up!

Ok, so the bottom line is, pass on this design. I don't know why the original design had to be changed, but change is not always a good thing.
The company should reimburse me for all the paper towels I have to use EVERY day.

I would like to see the machine go back to its previous design so I may be able to start my day NEATLY and happily with my oldest friend, Mr. Coffee.

This maker does a good job brewing the coffee. It is easy to use and make s a HOT cup of coffee. However, you would think after all these years of designing coffee pots, Mr. Coffee would have the best design. Nope, not even close.

No matter how slow I go or hard I try, the coffee pot ALWAYS "dribbles". To put it simply, it is a very bad design. If you pour a cup of coffee, do it on a napkin.

Unfortunately (for me) I largely agree with The Electric Rat's review. I wanted a basic coffee maker (so many others have very complicated-looking features, or add-ons like grinders and filters that I already have separate from my coffee maker, and they add a lot to the price). This one is basic but the design could be better. I'd say this coffee maker is OK, but research others before you buy it, maybe you can get something better for the same price.

Pros:
-Makes good coffee.
-I'm happy with the temperature (I'm also not a fan of coffee that you have to let sit for 20 minutes to avoid 3rd degree burns).
-Looks nice on the counter.
-Can set to brew in advance.
-2-hour shutoff.
-Contrary to other reviews I have not had any problems with the pot itself spilling when pouring. I am careful when pouring, but with my old coffee maker, even when I was careful it would spill.
-I only have to clean the removable parts. My old coffee maker used to get very dirty on the top and I would have to scrub it with a paper towel, and never could get it fully clean. With this one I don't have to do that. I think a couple of the bad features below are what make me not have to clean that piece, so I'm a little torn on how I feel about it.
-When I open the lid after brewing coffee, the water clinging to the top funnels neatly back into the reservoir (where it evaporates after a while left open), and does not spill onto the counter.

Cons:
-The entire top flips up to put in coffee and water, so I have to pull the whole coffee maker to the edge of the counter, because it flips too high for the cabinets.
-There are holes in the back of the water reservoir, so if I pour too much in it'll leak all over the counter. The holes are only just above the 12-cup mark so I haven't spilled yet but it makes me nervous every time I make coffee (which is often). I would much rather not have those holes, and have to pour the water out of the coffee maker if I were to put too much in.
-When pouring water into the reservoir, if you're pouring on the left side (you can use either side), you have to be very careful not to pour onto the water arm and splash.
-I've had trouble with the sneak-a-cup feature. I haven't gotten it to work without a spill onto the hot plate, which I have to sop up with a paper towel (be careful!) or else when I put the pot back on, it sizzles for a long time.

This product is the poster child of a product that is designed to break after being used for a relatively short period of time. After a year or so of normal use, I found that I could no longer turn the coffee pot on. After fiddling with it for a short period of time, most people would toss it and go out and buy a replacement. I took it apart, however (the manufacturer was clever enough to replace two of the six phillips-bit screws with torx-bit screws and hide them under the rubber feet which once again would have prevented their dirty secret from being discovered from someone less prepared) and I found that they offset the power switch a quarter of an inch side of the external button, and glued an activating arm to the external button so it would press the power switch. Naturally, such a flimsy arrangement would break off in short order. Looking at the curcuit board shows absolutely no practical reason to set it up that way (it would have actually increased their manufacturing costs by a couple of pennies) other than to design a product that you would be forced to replace after a year or so of normal, daily use.

I won't be buying another Mr. Coffee product again.

I've had this coffeemaker for two weeks. I bought it because I had an old Mr. Coffee that worked fine, but was white and stained. I liked that this was black and looked sleek. The very second time I used it, the off button stuck, so you can no longer turn off the machine, but have to wait for it to turn itself off. Also, EVERY pot has grounds in it. I'm using the filters that came with it, and have never even filled it to capacity, and I can't figure out why there are ALWAYS grounds in my coffee. Piece of junk. Don't buy it!

I was getting fed up with
$100 coffee makers which didn't keep the coffee hot, or dripped when poured, so i decided to try this one, and got it on sale at an incredible price, under $20!!!!! it is attractive, easy to use, makes a nice hot brew and is quick and quiet. the only negative is that you have to use MORE coffee grinds. for some reason, perhaps the lack of a cone shaped basket, the coffee was weak using the normal amount of coffee. so i add an extra scoop for 6 cups, and an extra 2 scoops for 12 cups. not a big deal and the coffee is great. save your money for good quality coffee, and enjoy this lovely cofffeemaker. i have stopped being a coffee maker snob! and this is after years of having problems with the top of the line products!!!!

That's all we wanted it to do. None of the fancy things other coffee makers can do. Just coffee-in the morning. Our last coffee maker, a Proctor Silex, finally died and I decided to go back to Mr. Coffee brand because they always made good coffee. They're always a decent price and readily available. We'd been using Mr. Coffee brand around 15 years or so, getting a new one every about every 4-5 years. I like the dual water gauges on each side of the tank-makes it makes it much easier to see when filling. The basket area is big, making that easier to fill also. If all you need is a coffee maker that makes good coffee and has it ready for you when you stumble out of bed in the morning, this is it. Check your local discount stores-you can probably get it for $25 like I did.(we got the white one)

Well I must be the only one who likes this product. I've haven't had any problems with it. I like the speed. The fact the grounds basket is removable for easy cleaning. I've always opened the lid when pouring coffee, and have had no problems with spilling. I've always opened the lid on every coffee maker I've ever owned. The auto brew is extremely easy to set up. The auto off makes one less worry. I've been very happy with this coffee maker. But looks as if I'm the only one.

Poor carafe design makes this Mr. Coffee machine a waste of money. We bought this model to replace our old Mr. Coffe machine after we broke the carafe and couldn't purchase a replacement for that model. We loved our old Mr. Coffee, but this purchase was completely dissatisfying because, as other reviewers have noted, it's virtually impossible to pour without spilling the coffee/water everywere. After the first few uses, we decided to purchase a different coffee maker.

I have had this coffee maker for about a month now and I HATE it. I will first say, the coffe brews fast, tastes good, stays hot for a long time. The one thing I just can't understand is why they made the carafe the way they did. It is impossible to pour any liquid from it without it spilling everywhere. Whether it be filling the tank with plain water or pouring a cup of coffee. The pot is big then tapers down to a tiny spout and I just don't know what happens but it goes everywhere. I have to pour my coffee over the sink now. And I usually make only 10 cups of coffee, but since tons of water spill out when I'm filling the tank, I have to fill the pot to the brim to make up for all the water I'm loosing.

I just HATE this thing and really regret buying it. Mr. Coffee should have just kept the old design. This is just horrible. I may even box it up and see if I can return it. As far as I'm concerned it's defective.