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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Basic 4-cup coffeemaker wihout extras, January 24, 2002
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. ;-)
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