Hamilton Beach Programmable 12-Cup Coffee Maker, Black

I like this coffee maker. It’s simple and does the job. It’s easy to clean especially because the lid to the reservoir opens in the back as well. The clock and functions did stop working on it for about three months and I had just given up on it, but then it randomly started working and I can program it again. I don’t know if I would necessarily purchase it again, but if you’re looking for a basic coffee maker that
Isn’t an eyesore, this will be perfect.

Works very well with a sliding appliance tray (sold separately). Simpler to use than a removable reservoir model. Makes great coffee, has warmer plate to keep coffee hot for two hours and is programmable.

This coffee machine is easy to use and makes a great cup of coffee in about two minutes.

I used this machine daily for 17 months. Then, quite suddenly, it died: it wouldn’t pump water or heat coffee. 17 months is a very short lifespan for a coffee machine. (Another of my Hamilton Beach machines also lasted a little less than 18 months. Perhaps the entire brand suffers from durability issues.)

This machine’s coffee is as good as the coffee I’ve had from $50 Hamilton Beach machines. But I regret buying this machine, and indeed, I am never going to buy another Hamilton Beach product. In so many ways, this machine’s features are limited or poorly implemented:

1) Extremely prone to spilling coffee all over your countertop. This is not a problem with the carafe; instead, it’s a problem with the spring-loaded nozzle that transmits coffee from the machine to the carafe. About once every three months, this Hamilton Beach machine (and others that I’ve had) floods my countertop. Many other reviewers have detailed this problem: see “Hamilton Beach strikes out again” (which has the best detail), “flow cutoff sucks, leaks”, “Coffee Goes All Over the Counter”, and more. See also the picture at the bottom of this review.
A recommended solution is to use a little less ground coffee than you normally would, and then to use the machine’s “bold” setting. But this hasn’t stopped my machine from flooding on occasion.
This alone is a fatal or near-fatal flaw. But there is more…

2) Water reservoir: not removable (and thus difficult to wash). Also, the water gauge, which lets you see how much water is in the reservoir, appears on only one side of the reservoir — rather than both sides, as with many other machines. Depending on how you position this machine on your countertop, you may need to bend at an odd angle to see the gauge.

3) Carafe: before making coffee, you push it into the machine so that it sits atop the holder, just as with most other coffee machines. But if you push it in as far as it can go, you have gone too far; the carafe won’t be well positioned, and your coffee will spill outside the carafe. (But the carafe itself is better than the carafes from Hamilton Beach machines of a few years ago, because it’s less likely to spill when pouring.)

4) LED indicator lights: they’re white, which makes it a little more difficult to see whether they’re on during the daytime. Any other color would have been better.

5) Power cord: not retractable, as it is on other low-cost coffee machines. As a result, the power cord will spill out over your countertop at least a little.

6) Buttons: they are very shallow and stiff; they require too much force to press. Again, it’s not a huge problem. But to press the power button or any other button when the carafe is less than half-full, you need to firmly hold the machine itself with one hand, while pressing the button with a finger of your other hand. If you just attempt to press a button without holding the machine in place or otherwise anchoring it, you’ll simply tip the machine over onto its side.

7) Battery backup: there is none. If you lose power for a second, or unplug your machine just for a moment, you will need to reset the current time, the time at which you want coffee-making to start (if you use that feature), and any special settings that you have. This isn’t easy, as Hamilton Beach doesn’t make it simple for you to set the time or, especially, the time at which you want coffee-making to start. The lack of a backup battery for these features seems like great cheapness on the part of Hamilton Beach, given that ordinary consumers can buy 3V lithium batteries for less than $1.

8) Coffee-filter holder: it has no handle, and to use it, you must slide it into the machine just so. All of this makes it a little difficult to manipulate.

9) As mentioned at the top of this review, the machine died in less than 18 months.

This machine is worse than you would hope, even given the low price. And the flooding problem, while it happens to me only once every three months or so, is terrible when it does happen. Avoid Hamilton Beach.

Love it so far! Easy to program, fill and pour. Great value!

Absolutely fabulous. It had me a little worried at first. I thought something was wrong with it. When I went to pour the coffee, IT DID NOT DRIP. WOW!!!! I finally found a coffee maker that does not drip when you pour it. My wife is very short 4’6”, so the front loading water door is perfect too. It’s absolutely wonderful. The first time I’ve ever bought this brand I think I found my new brand. Very, very nice

This is a very nice-looking and well-made coffee maker that makes great coffee. It is easy to program, and the front-loading feature makes it easy to use. The ‘Clean’ reminder helps take the guesswork out of maintenance too.