Braun AromaDeluxe KF 580 10-Cups Coffee Maker

When I moved I had to get rid of a lot of the stuff in my kitchen including a relatively new microwave oven, coffee pot and lobster steamer. At first I was pretty depressed about having to get rid of the stuff that I had but then I stopped to think, hey, this gives me an excuse to buy new stuff! When I arrived at the new place I wasn't aware that there was a welcoming committee until they knocked on my door at eight in the morning. Needless to say, eight a.m. is early for me and these chicks knew I was home so they rang the doorbell and knocked a number of times before I reluctantly opened the door. Low and behold, it was the Stepford wives standing on my porch. Clad in dresses, high heels and bearing gifts I knew, without a doubt, I moved into the wrong neighborhood. I am assuming that they got a great deal on these because they give these out to all the people who move into the area. Either that or they have way too much money on their hands. I did the neighborly thing and invited them in, made excuses about the boxes and told them to watch their step. After that, they were in control of the situation ...

Braun Aroma Deluxe Timer Coffee Maker 10 Cup KF580

The Stepford crew came prepared and something told me that this was something that they did to every person that moved into the neighborhood. They had it down to a science. They asked all the right questions, gave everything the once over then made their move. "Wouldn't some fresh brewed coffee be perfect right now?" I tried to get one over on them by making the old "I don't have a coffee maker yet" excuse but they came prepared!. That's when the leader [I am assuming she was the leader since everyone looked to her before answering a question] handed me a box. "Here you go sweetie". It was a gold foil wrapped box with one of the biggest bows I'd ever seen. I can wrap a mean present but this thing put my efforts to shame. I opened it and looked at it - it was a coffee maker but not just a coffee maker - it was the Braun Aroma Deluxe Timer Coffee Maker. When I made the excuse about no coffee - they handed me a bag of beans. No grinder - they handed me one ... then I pulled the last trick out ... no bottled water.

That was when I got a first hand lesson on what this thing could do, it's features and how I was about to have the best cup of coffee ever. The Stepford wives moved into the kitchen and started cleaning off the table. Yes, they were cleaning. One of them showed me how to use the coffee maker while looking at my various tattoos and purple streaked hair. I think I sent her into overload when I showed her my tongue piercing. I wonder if she'd fry herself if I showed her the others ... "The water goes in here and the coffee goes in here" - it was like watching a stewardess doing the "In case of an accident" speech only with a coffee maker. She ran water through it once to clean it out then put on the first pot. This was, of course, after she ground the beans, put the rest of the bag in the freezer and turned around with an airbrushed smile on her face and said, "Mini muffin?" and shoved a wicker basket in my face. Before I was done with the muffin the pot was done and the whole first floor smelled like some exotic coffee house you'd find in some European country. The Stepford wives sat around the table with their eyes wide open, heads bobbing back and forth and huge smiles on their faces. It was then that I started to wonder what they had put in their coffee that morning that made them so damn perky.

I do have to toss this in - when I ran out of the gourmet beans that they gave me I switched to Maxwell House French Roast and the smell wasn't there. I tossed my nose up in the air and tried to see if I could catch a whiff of that intoxicating smell that I had with the fresh ground beans and the canned version didn't do it. This will make one hell of a pot of coffee but if you are using "regular" coffee from a can you won't get that powerful aroma from it when it is brewing. I used to be a coffee snob that hit Starbucks all the time but now I have mellowed - Dairy Mart is just fine with me plus if you buy five coffees you get the sixth one free. That's sort of the way I feel about this coffee maker, it is nice but there is no way that I'd go out and buy this for myself. I mean, it has a lot of functions but I rarely use them so I have a nice looking thing on my counter but to me it's just something that makes coffee.

Now that I have had this for a while and have used it almost every morning there are some good and bad things that you should know about it. First off this has a ten cup capacity so if you drink a lot of coffee this should hold you for a good part of the morning. The carafe is nice and has a good shape to it; its easy to get in and out of the unit and there is a sneak-a-cup feature that allows you to get a cup from it while it is still brewing without having coffee hitting the warming plate. The water filter is a Brita and it slides in the side of it; there is a little dial on the top of it that lets you know when it needs to be replaced but since I pour in bottled water most of the time [sheer force of habit] the dial hasn't moved much. The booklet that comes with it gives you the information you need to reorder replacement cartridges but it also says that you can buy them locally. I can't say whether or not this makes a huge difference when making coffee because coffee is coffee to me. I guess if you have really nasty water this might make a better cup but I can't say one way or the other.

Timer System

The timer system is really cool but it is something that I hardly ever use. You can have it set to turn on and brew while you are still sleeping but you have to remember to put the water and coffee in it before you go to bed. This is where I usually got tripped up. I'd wake up in the morning with my nose in the air and there'd be no coffee lingering in the air. That's when I'd drag myself out of bed and kick myself for not putting the water in or the grinds in the basket. You can also set it up to turn off a certain time after it brews; again, this is a nice feature but I think I used it three times since I got it. There is a digital clock in it so you'll always know what time it is but to me this is just one more clock to have to adjust when the power goes out or we have a time change. Nice features but not something that I use or make use of.

Warranty

This comes with a one year warranty against manufacturer defects and craftsmanship but that doesn't mean anything if you don't fill out the warranty card and mail it in. In most cases you will have to have a copy of the receipt to get an exchange if it is defective so make sure you tape it to the piece that you keep. Since this is a high ticket item you will want to make sure that you do send in the card; most of the time people fill it out and it never gets mailed. With most coffee makers you will know if it is defective within the first two weeks, in that case just return it to the store. It's nice to know that there is a one year warranty with it - especially when you find out how much this thing costs!

Price

This is what made me almost fall off my chair - since this was a gift I was really curious to see what these were selling for. When I looked online the lowest price I found was $85.99 plus shipping and the highest was $120.00. I know, I know, you are paying for the name and all the fancy gadgets but come on, it's a coffee maker. It isn't going to balance your checkbook or do your windows. The carafe has a nice handle on it that's slightly oversized and is textured so it's easy to handle if your hands are wet - maybe that's one of the "extras" you are getting charged for. I won't deny that this is one hell of a nice coffee maker but at the end of the day, that's all it is - a coffee maker.

The Bottom Line

I like the fact that this has a water gauge on the side of it so you can see how much you have added to it and that the water filter has that little dial on it so you can see when it needs to be replaced. Like I said, this was a gift and there's no way that I'd ever go out and buy this for myself but I do like using it and it's pretty simple to operate. You can get this in black or white and there are replacement carafes available if you break the one that comes with it. It brews up a full pot of ten cups in about five or six minutes from start to finish and it's relatively quiet. Some of the coffee makers I've owned in the past would crackle or hiss when the pot was done and the heating element in the plate would click on and off, this one does none of that!


As always, thanks for the read!

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2005 Freak369



Related reviews ...

Black & Decker Thermal Carafe 8-Cup Coffeemaker
Mr. Coffee Glass Carafe With Lid
Mr. Coffee 12 Cup Coffee Maker
Black & Decker Versatoast Toaster
Sharp R-308H Microwave Oven
Mr. Coffee AD10 Coffee Maker
Black & Decker T2750 Long Slot 2-Slice Toaster
Toastmaster 1750 Handheld Blender
Rival Hot Pot
Toastmaster TSM4SAN Sandwich Maker