Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was looking to replace my beloved Melitta grind and brew which finally gave out after 12 years. Unfortunately, Melitta long ago decided not to continue making their coffeemakers. The Melitta had a much better designed grinding chamber than its main competition, the Cusinart Grind and Brew (which you can still buy- I owned one for many years before stumbling onto the beloved Melitta). The grinding apparatus in the Crusinart is a real pain to clean (which needs to be to done after each pot. Also, IMO, the Melitta made better coffee). Fortunately, Black and Decker opted for a very similar grinding chamber as the Melitta. Essentially the grinding chamber and the reusable coffee filter are one unit. In the Cusinart ground coffee is blown into a reusable cone filter. A fair amount of the ground coffee ends up compacted in the grinding chamber and never makes it into the filter for brewing. The Black and Decker is attractive if your kitchen has black or stainless steel accents. It is very easy to use, and more importantly, clean. It has a couple of nice features. First it lets you adjust both the grind and the strength of brew. Second, its programable. Third it has a backlit display, so its easy to read. Fourth its easy to program and the clock is easy to set. Lastly, its fairly quiet when grinding compared both to the beloved Melitta and the less loved Cusinart. There are two aspects of this model I do not particularly like. First, the water reservoir gauge is on the side, and its very hard to see the markings. IT also does not correspond to the pot markings well. Second, the hot plate cycles on and off to keep the coffee warm. While its nice that the plate shuts off after about an hour and a half-automatically, there is a very audible click it makes when the warming plate cycles on and off every 2-3 minutes. It's very annoying if you are sitting nearby. But in the end, it brews a good cup of coffee. I tend to set the grinder to 2-4 more cups than I'm brewing to get the rich flavor I desire. Of course once you get to a full 12 cup pot, that's not possible.