Starbrand Products Gevalia 12-Cup Coffeemaker

I got this free from a Gevalia offer bought 2 pounds of coffee, didn''t even have to pay s/h. I liked the looks of it we got the black with stainless steel.

That said, I would never have paid any amount of money for this. The first one broke within a week. It worked for a few days. Then, the coffee came out cold. Then, it stopped working completely.

Gevalia sent a free replacement (the guy on the phone admitted, off the record, that these things break often). They didn''t need the old one back, so I opened it up to see if it could be repaired (a hobby of mine).

No surprise that ALL the parts came from Asia. I also discovered that BOTH the pump and the heating element broke, separately. So even if I fixed/replaced the pump, the coffee would still come out cold. This is quite amazing to me, since my previous coffee maker still works after nearly 20 years, and after having been dropped many times. Oddly, the wiring was sturdy & just fine (side note: a high percent of appliance problems/failures are simply frayed wires, which can be easily mended with electrical tape, even by a novice, in under 5 minutes).

The replacement unit came & works (almost 2 years old now). But I still have major problems with it:

Pros:

* Stainless/black steel looks sleek

* Digital clock

* Auto-shutoff

* Reservoir float indicator is nice

Cons:

* "Pause & pour" does NOT work well. Only works 50% of the time, again, due to bad design. The rest of the time it makes a huge mess. This was the case on both my units.

* The stainless finish gets dirty easily

* There is no backup battery, so the clock resets every time you unplug the unit.

* The pump will definitely not last long it''s overworked due to poor design/layout.

* Because it''s a top-load pump & filter, the steam comes up through the top. You cannot change the filter for 20 minutes, without risk of scalding yourself. It would be very difficult to make 2 consecutive pots of coffee (i.e., if you have guests). Plus, the excessive steam warped the cabinets above the unit.

* The worst problem the reservoir is only about 1" in diameter. It''s impossible to load it without spilling.

-> Bottom line: Looks nice, but I''ve never heard of such a difficult, problematic coffee maker. This almost seems like a practical joke by some engineers, or perhaps designed by someone who has never used a coffee maker before. Avoid this one.

This is your basic coffee maker.

Things you should know:

The "stainless" finish is actually grey paint. That''s fine; it doesn''t look bad. I would actually describe the color as "aluminum".

It uses cone filters. This is a plus, and what separates this maker from, say, a Mr. Coffee. The rest of it is basically the same thing. Ancient technology.

If you pull the carafe out while coffee''s dripping, it''ll stop -a "pause" feature. Don''t they all do that nowadays?

I never use the timer/programmability feature. As stated elsewhere, the clock has no battery, so, if you unplug it, you have to reset the time. My stove and microwave both have much bigger/brighter/better clocks, so those are my main ones. The main advantage of the electronic on/off switch is that it will switch itself off after some time, in case you forget. Not having the house burn down is always welcome.

There is a water tank float gauge on the side, so you can tell exactly what the water level is. This is nice, especially if you can reach the maker using your sink sprayer, to fill it. (I can''t, but wish I could.)

My main complaint? The carafe dribbles when pouring coffee. You have to do it slowly. It''s kind of annoying -but not enough to make me buy another one; I''m just going to wait until this one dies. (I''ve been waiting a while now. Murphy''s Law.)

A friend of mine gave me her Cuisinart grind and brew, real stainless, $200 coffee maker. It turned out to be ridiculously complicated and hard to clean and missing some basic feature this one had, so I went back to this simple Gevalia. Simple + reliable = good.

As stated elsewhere, this is the kind of machine you get when you sign up for Gevalia''s coffee club. (I didn''t do this. I think I bought it used on a leading auction website.)

Would I buy again? Probably. I''d want one that has all the same features, minimum.

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Over 3 months ago in early January, 2009, I ordered a replacement carafe for the "free" coffee maker they sent me. The wrong one was sent. I called and was assured they would send me a return address label. After a month, I called again and was told the same thing. The third time I asked for a supervisor and was told it would be handled. The forth time, I threatened to put up a youtube video and promised results. This was Andy employee number 643113 on April 2. Still nothing in the mail. On April 20 I called again and was told that my credit card had been refunded, but to get the proper carafe I had to re-order and be charged. I said, "You have got to be kidding. After 3 months of hell?" I still have not heard from them, nor do I expect to. I am stuck with the wrong carafe cluttering my house. I sent this review to Gevalia and they simply repeated their new song: your account was refunded to get the correct carafe, re-order. Fat chance!

Read Best Reviews of Starbrand Products Gevalia 12-Cup Coffeemaker Here

I have owned this coffee maker for about 3 years now and never had a problem with it. Some people complain of dishwasher issues, but I never had a problem. I am getting a second one for $20 from the company website with one of their specials. My roommate insists on brewing coffee at the same time as me, so we are getting a second coffee maker. As with all products, not every single one of them is going to be great. I think the bad reviews are misrepresenting the many owners of this product out there. Plus the coffee is pretty good if you get it with a special on their website.

As for features, a lot of programmable coffee makers make it too complicated to brew a pot of coffee. One button for this and another button to set a brew time and 2 buttons for hour and minute. Very simple and no need for 12 buttons on a coffee pot. Plus the pot stops brewing for a little while if you want to pour coffee before all of it is brewed. Great feature. I will admit it is sometimes difficult to pour water into the resevoir whithout spilling, but I have become an expert!

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I got this coffeemaker for $14.95 from the Gevalia website with a stainless steel scoop and pound of coffee included. Not sure why anyone would pay $100+ dollars for it when they offer it on their site for next to nothing. That aside this is a great coffeemaker. It has pause and serve feature, so you don''t have to wait for it to finish brewing a full pot to pour a cup of coffee. The stainless steel look is perfect for kitchens with or without stainless appliances. All the functions work perfectly and the coffee they offer is GREAT coffee!