Black & Decker SmartBrew 12-Cup Coffee Maker
Out of stock |
Similar in Espresso Machines & Coffee Makers
- Type: Coffee Maker
- Family Line: Black & Decker SmartBrew
- Built-in Grinder: With Built-in Grinder
- Capacity: 12 Cups
Similar in Espresso Machines & Coffee Makers
- Overview
-
Reviews
-
Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Leaky Coffeemaker
Pros
Good looking, Convenient to clean, Brews fast, Reasonably priced
Cons
Leaked water, the non-stick base weared off. New one makes coffee that lacks flavor.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
It's the black sheep of the Black and Decker family. Or maybe it's just my bad luck that I got 2 bad pieces in a row.
I love coffee and can't do without a coffeemaker.
As a student we had a Procter-Silex coffeemaker that was purchased from K-Mart for $10 or so. Amazingly, that cheap coffeemaker last us more than 3 years and maybe more because one of my apartment mates took it with him when we split.
When I set up my own apartment, I bought a similar Procter-Silex coffeemaker. But this one lasted me only 2 years. It worked perfectly till it stopped functioning.
Then, I bought a West Bend programmable coffeemaker (see my review on epinions.com). This one too died in 2 years. It just stopped brewing coffee one day.
Looking at the number of failures, I have a feeling, maybe, there's something wrong with our electric supply since one of my expensive Sony cordless phones too went bad in about 2 years.
This summer, we bought a Black & Decker Smartbrew 12-Cup Coffeemaker from Target for $20. I was quite impressed by its looks. This time we definitely wanted to avoid buying a programmable one because we really didn't make much use of the programmable feature.
We enjoyed cup-after-cup of excellent coffee from this B&D coffeemaker until one day we noticed that it was leaking water from the base. We also noticed that the non-stick coating on the heating pad/base had started wearing off.
It was almost six months since we had bought it and were apprehensive that Target might not replace this bad piece since it wasn't returned within 90 days. But to our pleasant surprise they took it back and asked us to pick up a new piece.
We were excited that we managed to get a replacement after all. Now this piece is only a few days old and it works fine except that the coffee that it brews lacks flavor and taste. The heating pad seems to heat the coffee excessively thereby ruining the flavor.
I hope it improves over time. If it doesn't, I guess we'll have to go in for a new one, and this time it's not going to be either of Proctor-Silex, West Bend or Black & Decker for sure.
As a student we had a Procter-Silex coffeemaker that was purchased from K-Mart for $10 or so. Amazingly, that cheap coffeemaker last us more than 3 years and maybe more because one of my apartment mates took it with him when we split.
When I set up my own apartment, I bought a similar Procter-Silex coffeemaker. But this one lasted me only 2 years. It worked perfectly till it stopped functioning.
Then, I bought a West Bend programmable coffeemaker (see my review on epinions.com). This one too died in 2 years. It just stopped brewing coffee one day.
Looking at the number of failures, I have a feeling, maybe, there's something wrong with our electric supply since one of my expensive Sony cordless phones too went bad in about 2 years.
This summer, we bought a Black & Decker Smartbrew 12-Cup Coffeemaker from Target for $20. I was quite impressed by its looks. This time we definitely wanted to avoid buying a programmable one because we really didn't make much use of the programmable feature.
We enjoyed cup-after-cup of excellent coffee from this B&D coffeemaker until one day we noticed that it was leaking water from the base. We also noticed that the non-stick coating on the heating pad/base had started wearing off.
It was almost six months since we had bought it and were apprehensive that Target might not replace this bad piece since it wasn't returned within 90 days. But to our pleasant surprise they took it back and asked us to pick up a new piece.
We were excited that we managed to get a replacement after all. Now this piece is only a few days old and it works fine except that the coffee that it brews lacks flavor and taste. The heating pad seems to heat the coffee excessively thereby ruining the flavor.
I hope it improves over time. If it doesn't, I guess we'll have to go in for a new one, and this time it's not going to be either of Proctor-Silex, West Bend or Black & Decker for sure.
