Customer Reviews

West Bend 56860 10 Cup Coffeemaker with Thermal Carafe, Black

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I wanted a thermal carafe coffee maker for $60 or less. After a lot of research I bought this one. It's a keeper.

Pros:
- excellent coffee - noticeably better (using same coffee, portions, etc.) than our last, nice standard drip maker
- the thermal carafe keeps the coffee hot for several hours - no issue with cooling even when we leave it in the coffee maker (you're supposed to remove the carafe so the top snaps shut to prevent heat escape, but hasn't been a problem)
- coffee urn very easy to clean, nice wide mouth
- comes with a mesh filter that actually works and does not let sludge go into the coffee

Cons: (reasons for only 4 stars)
- it SPILLS! Constantly. The thick lid fills with coffee after the first pour, and no matter what you do, how fast you snap the carafe back to vertical after pouring, etc. it will spill and dribble. This is the most annoying part of this coffee maker.
- some of the trim is cheap fake-metal plastic strips; some on our machine were already dented in the box
- the swing-out coffee basket is a little tricky to snap shut, but once you figure out how it's trivial. This may even be a "feature" and only took 5 seconds to figure out.

Overall very happy with it and loving the coffee!

I've had mine - coffee every day - for about six weeks and I love it. I love that the carafe does not have a glass liner (I've broken too many of those in the past) and that it's wide enough to clean, easy enough to use for pouring water into the unit and has a nice top with a pouring tab that just feels good in the hand. The coffee is delicious.

When I purchased this, it had far better reviews. The biggest complaint was that it didnt keep the coffee hot. However, Ive found that the coffee will stay hot for hours as long as you dont leave it sitting on the coffeemaker. This is due to the position of the lid when the carafe is in the brewing position. The lid is pressed down slightly when its brewing and releases heat. Removing the carafe after it finishes brewing alleviates this problem.

To me, the bigger problem is similar to the previous reviewer. If you dont close the lid perfectly straight, coffee will spill EVERYWHERE. This is not as easy as it seems. Due to poor design, the piece that holds the coffee grinds is difficult to close properly. I often find myself being careful when closing it and making several attempts when it doesnt close cleanly. I returned the first unit I received because I thought it was defective.

If you overfill your coffee grinds even slightly, expect the same mess. Grinds quickly clog the drip valve and will cause coffee to spill out onto the counter rather than washing the grinds into the carafe.

I would like to end with what I like about this coffeemaker. It brews good coffee (better than my previous one) while using a lot less coffee grinds. I guess theres something efficient about it. Im using 1/3 to 1/2 less grinds in this one and havent run into a problem with weak coffee. A great money saving feature.

I'm partial to carafe coffee makers. It keeps the coffee from getting that burnt taste. I like the brushed steel and the black cap hides coffee stains. Clock timer is a nice feature. Carafe has wide mouth for easy cleaning. Only complaint is it seems to take over 5 miniutes to brew 10 cups. This is why I rated it 3 stars instead of 4. Also, the tab used for pouring on the cap, I find I use this for leverage to open the cap, since there seems to be a suction feature that keeps the coffee warmer. I wonder if it'll hold up. This coffee maker does keep the coffee warmer longer than any other carafe I've had. Overall, happy so far!

My husband and I really like coffee, so we did a lot of research to replace our 13 y/o Krupps coffeemaker. This West Bend coffeemaker makes a great cup of coffee and it stays hot in the carafe for six hours (honestly - my husband and I were pleasantly surprised). The trick is to take the carafe away from the brewer as soon as the red light goes off to seal the opening at the top through which the coffee enters from the brewer; otherwise, the heat just escapes as it sits there. Since the brewer has no hotplate, you can safely place the carafe on any surface. And interestingly, we checked the cups per carafe conversion from our old Krupps (12 cups) to this West Bend (10 cups)and the actual difference is only one cup, so we barely had to change how many grinds we have to put in the filter. By the way, if you do not get the gold filter with your order, contact West Bend directly. Originally the coffee maker did not contain the filter, and Amazon purchased these "old" coffee makers. West Bend did not make us pay anything for the filter.

This coffeemaker suits our needs perfectly. It brews directly into the carafe, and stays hot for hours. (We fill the carafe with very hot water and let it sit for a few minutes before we brew the coffee.) The carafe is easy to clean. The coffeemaker's water level indicator is easy to see. As noted in other reviews, you must make sure that the carafe is lined up properly on the coffeemaker, otherwise, coffee will run over the side of the carafe. We don't really need the timer feature, but it is a handy extra if you need it. The coffeemaker "beeps" when the coffee is ready. The beep is somewhat difficult to hear - very high pitched.


All in all, a good value,and exactly what we wanted.

RA in OH

Finally, a thermal coffeemaker that really makes great tasting coffee. You get excellent quality for the price point of this product. Unlike the Hamilton Beach that I owned before, this one does not have a water filter that needs to be changed every so often, most importantly your coffee will not have the nasty taste of plastic like my previous coffeemaker. Also it's very economical because you can use less coffee, since it has a deep cone, you still get rich tasting coffee. You have to warm the pot with hot water prior to use, so that it will hold the coffee temperature longer. The carafe is easy to clean because it has a wider opening, you won't need a bottle brush like how I cleaned my old one. I highly recommend this product to everyone! West bend is a leading manufacturer of commercial coffeemaker and their quality really comes through.

The thermal pot is amazing. I can make a full pot of coffee at 6am and when I clean out the coffee pot at 10pm, the coffee is still warm.

Easy to use and easy to program.

The swing basket is rather flimsy. It almost feels as though the coffeemaker is a cheap toy. You have to be very careful that there is no perforation in the paper coffee filter or the grounds will clog up the hole in the basket and you have a mess on your counter (I learned that on day 2). The coffeemaker comes with a permanent gold filter that works very well, however, I prefer paper filters.

You also have to be careful that the carafe is perfectly placed underneath the basket or you will have a big mess on your counter. The hole on the carafe is so small, it is unforgiving if it isn't perfectly aligned with the basket.

I had great hopes for it. First, the filter basket arrived with a broken piece due to poor West Bend packaging so I had to go through the hassle of returning the entire coffeemaker. Once I started using it to make coffee, it started to periodically run over - usually because the coffee shoots somewhat sideways out of the cone and doesn't go into the pot but rather out over its side. I have tried every imaginable thing in terms of finer and coarser grind of the coffee, etc. Finally put a cookie sheet under the entire coffeemaker so at least it doesn't run down the front of the counter and onto the floor. Forget using the timer feature - who would want that mess developing before you woke up in the morning? I am normally an easy to please person who has reasonable expectations for products, but this is a dud. I suspect the favorable reviews of having been entered by West Bend employees.

I also planned to add the hint of taking the pot off the stand so the opening the coffee comes in thru would close keeping the coffee hotter longer but someone already beat me to it. Personally, I think expecting a pot of coffee to stay hot for more than a couple hours is expecting too much. It goes against the basic laws of physics. With the heat source removed, even expensive glass carafes that have been pre-heated will begin to lose heat immediately then more rapidly over time. I've never had ANY carafe keep coffee right out of the pot hot more than a couple hours. I mean it takes me less than 3 hours to leisurely drink a whole pot by myself with lots of time in between each cup. We all know that their 10 cups isn't really 10 cups. This pot makes 3 and about 1/2 to 3/4's cups in my tall cup. Probably 3 of the Friends or Starbucks style large round cups. How long does it take to drink 3 cups of coffee? I don't understand making a pot of coffee, leaving it sit all day and then expecting it to be hot when you come back to it 4, 5, 6 hours later! You want piping hot, fresh coffee that far in between each cup, just make smaller pots more often. Cuz this coffeemaker is about as good as it comes. Great tasting coffee in record time (mine barely takes a couple of minutes and even at that, 5 minutes isn't really all that slow! It used to take 15-20 minutes to brew coffee in the old days). And an easy pour, easy clean, no leak carafe that keeps the coffee hot enough long enough (my second cup is as good, as hot and as fresh as my first, and my third is only slightly less hot). If I had anything bad to say, I'd say it wasn't all that stylish but even that is growing on me because I Love This Coffeemaker! And the price is reasonable. I've read reviews on brewers costing twice this much that weren't half as good. I'm halfway tempted to buy another one so I'll have it when this one wears out which I sure hope ain't too soon.

3/11/07 - I am bummed! It died. Everything looks fine, all the lights come on as they are supposed to but it never turns on. I hesitate to buy another since it's been such a short time and I had the same problem with the first one they sent. I am soooo bummed. I really loved this coffemaker. It WAS the best one I've ever owned but it couldn't even make it a year. Sorry to have to back off on my stars.