We''ve only had the Calphalon 12 cup for two weeks. This unit makes an excellent pot of coffee. It takes 3 factors to make great coffee and develop the flavor. 1. Good quality coffee 2. Proper brew temperature of approx. 198 degrees and 3. Proper brew time. This unit does #s 2 & 3 just right. We have not experienced the problems cited by other reviewers. The "pause" feature is not a button. You just remove the pot to pour your cup and coffee will not be dispensed for 30 seconds. Return the pot and the brewing continues. We have had no problem with overflow or leaking.
We''ve owned family style coffee shop restaurants from 1967-2004, so we know a little about coffee.
Unless this unit develops problems and breaks down sometime in the future, we can safely say that this is a good coffee maker. We had a Krups combo coffee/espresso that died on us after 22 years and after looking at coffee makers in the stores and reading numerous reviews, the Calphalon caught our eye and we cannot be more pleased.
PROS:
1. Once you have determined how much ground coffee you wish to use for the strength of coffee you like, you will be pleased with the end result. We hit it right on the very first pot.
2. Temperature is perfect. Releases the oils and flavor, which is CRITICAL for good coffee.
3. Much quieter than our old Krups.
4. Carafe pours without dripping. Just don''t pour too fast.
5. Use paper filters that aren''t flimsy so they don''t "fold" over.
6. There is a "mid-brew" pause. Just remove the pot, pour, and replace within 30 seconds. Perhaps any complaints about leaking are due to not having the filter holder properly seated in place.
7. The "BOLD" brewing feature does help for those wanting a more robust flavor.
CONS:
Nothing really negative. Just design suggestions for Calphalon.
1. Assuming your maker is on the kitchen counter, you cannot see the "READY" sign that is displayed in the LED window if you are taller than 5'' since the READY sign is in the upper right part of the window. A larger window area would solve that problem. The same applies to the "BOLD" and "1-4" cup signs at the bottom of the window. The words are cut in half.
2. We tried the gold filter on one pot and it worked fine except that at the end of the pot there were some fine grounds in the coffee. That is why we believe paper filters are better for flavor and clean coffee. Also, by using the gold filter you have to remove it and flush out the grounds and rinse the filter. The paper filter with the used grounds just gets pulled out and goes into the composter or trash.
All in all this maker passes the test for us. Just hope it doesn''t disappoint in the future by breaking down before it has earned its keep and after giving this good review.
Two problems...First, the coffee filter folds over when brewing and often causes coffee grounds to overflow into the coffee. Two, the unit leaks! This unit leaked all over our counter at least three times out of about 7 uses! The first time we chalked it up to human error and did everything to minimize it from occurring again, even followed the manual step by step! I really want to like this unit...it brews a great cup of coffee and has many features that we like. It is very sleek looking as well, I even prefer the stainless and grey look over other units which are stainless and black. We are going to return it and try again in hopes that we just got a bad unit. However, if same problems occur, then it looks like we will revert to a Cuisinart...we have had two in the past without any issues.
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We bought this unit at an outlet store, one of those window displays that has you stop and step back to get a good second look. What caught us was the looks of it and secondly after scanning over the box how it seemed like it was so worth the money with all of it''s features and the nice display and craftsmenship. However, and this is why reviews I feel are so important, when we got the unit back home to look up and see what we saves (since we only paid $50 for it), we came across the several bad reviews here on Amazon. Needless to say I was a bit let down since I thought it made outstanding coffee. But I figured I''d give it a few months and rate it after using it, so here i am today shopping on amazon like yourself and decided to write this review to bias why i feel these amazon reviews dopped us into a poor confidence in this coffee maker as i feel this is entirely contrary to my experience.
Personally let me start to say that I''m baffled at why so many people rated this unit so poorly. It''s been rock solid now for 4 months now, making coffee everday, sometimes twice a day. To go into why I think makes these other review so poor, I''m going to pro and con my thoughts on it here in the following.
Pro''s
Flavor and Rate of Brewing I like the fact that it brews at a higher heat and extremely fast. The Vantage of doing so is better flavor in your cup of coffee. Having used Chemex Branded Cofee Makers before (you could consider them as primitive coffee brewing because it''s all by hand), but coming from a Chemex, I learned that flavor (outside of grind selection and grind size) is mostly in the brewing temperature, rate of brewing and filtration media. I feel Calphalon nailed this down perfectly! 185 Degrees F according to a Candy Thermometer palced in the brewing compartment during a brewing cycle. Your Brewing Temperature should always sit somewhere between 170 and 190m for better flavored coffee (180-190 preferred as I''ve found).
Reservoir I have to say, the backside removable reservoir with handle has to be one of my favorite things about this Calphalon. It lifts out and I can slide it right into my fill station on our Samsung Refrigerator. The reservoirs cup measurement lines are also dead on. With Coffee Makers of the past, I remember having to fill the carafe to the indicated lines or the coffee mug to where I would want it for water. This reservoir I just fill it to the lines and then slide it back in place on it''s tapered race until it seats itself, just drops right in the backside. It also comes with a nifty little carbon filter that sits in a detent/raised area on the bottom, but since my Samsung Fill Station is carbon filtered already, I just never bothered to install this packet as it was double-redundant, and I don''t know how I feel about having a wet carbon filter sitting in a room temperature environment (doesn''t sound like too good of an idea).
Brewing Cycle The Calphalon beeps when the brewing cycle is complete and keeps the plate warmer on for the carafe. You can cancel the plate warming feature by hitting the brew button a second time (and it will make a beep again once the button is depressed and a display indication goes off on the bottom right). I normally turn this off just after I get back to the kitchen upon hearing the beep and right away make the Coffee. There have been complaints on amazon about the warming plate catching fire. Personally I''ve never had this happen, maybe it''s because I don''t let it run longer than ten minutes or so (because it changes the quality of the coffee the longer it sits), and never have it on when the carafe is empty. So to my knowledge this might have been a problem in days past or a quality control problem, all I know is that ours is a good actor and it''s been bulletproof. I should also note that it comes with a scheduled timer. Personally I tried it once, worked but we''ve don''t use it because in my opinion coffee tastes best when it''s brewed using fresh cold filtered water and same goes for consuming it right after it''s brewed. So we make it right then and don''t let the water sit and warm to room temperature.
Looks We were guided to this product right off from seeing it in a store window at an outlet store, one of those hold on sweety, look at that and we went from there. I think it''s probably the best looking Coffe Maker out there, one that''s not odd, chiseled or quackey-looking, just tasteful and appropriate. It also goes with our Stainless Steel appliances and Cuisinart and Kitchenaid countertop appliances. I Should also mention, with cabinet puck lighting, it''s looks perfect under low valnce lighting when light levels are low!
Cons
Dribbling (is it a big deal?) I did notice this as an oddity when the Carafe is removed mid-cycle, as it dribbled, and sometimes a good dribble (and sometimes a bit after the cycle is done). This has to do with the design and when I took a closer look at why it did this I noticed how odd that design was. But upon thinking about how fast it brewed and how it''s built to allow for the large run of brewed coffee that streams out to be broken down into several small droplets that won''t make a sound like a stream of loud falling water, it then started making perfect sense to me. After all it''s dead quiet when it''s brewing!! So after figuring this out, and looking at the flap valve that''s spring loaded there is a cupped area below the flap with several drop-sized eyelets to let the coffee seap out several indpendant drops at a time along the diameter of this half-teaspoon sized depression that''s where the coffee pools and drips from. The leaking actually i find has to do more with how fast you pull out the carafe then anything, but still has the tendency to drip thereafter even with this in consideration. OK, now that that''s been said, I want to explain why I think this is a foolish gripe from other reviews! To me it''s a minimalistic complaint and here''s why. You make a cup of coffee at high heat, it builds up moisture on the insides of the brewing compartment and carafe. When you''re done, you have this buildup of moisture from the heat and steam of brewing your coffee. To me it''s oly natural to wipe it down the brewing compartment, removing the filter basket, spraying it off if you use a flimsy coffee filter as the grinds may find their way out (which is why I started using Chemex Filters). But I do this out of the idea of letting something that normally would sit over a duration like a week long vacation or whatever and could mildew, and just the thought of not wiping it out gets me disgusted. So i do it every time I brew coffee as a force of habit. So to me, when it dribbles on the plate, it''s no big deal, and I''m wiping it down anyways, I just wipe off the plate. I should note I''ve done this with all my makers, they all condensate like this. And once it''s wipes down, for this coffee maker, since it heat soaks so much from the higher heat, I like to leave a spoon sitting in the compartment allowing the lid to stay slightly hinged open for ventilation to let it cool down, and I remove the carafe, placing it on the stove to cool off for ten minutes before placing everything back. This keeps moisture from staying inside the Unit and Carafe, and as an added benefit, I never have to wash out the carafe or shock the glass from thermal contraction of cold water from the faucet upon cleaning something which would help one day make the carafe crack as msot do. I also will sidenote that the standard paper filters, the standard flimsy ones, tend to fall over because of the rate and or volume of hot water that is pushed out of the brewing manifold (or whatever you''ve want to name it) at the top of the brewing compartment. Calphalon did not design this Coffee Maker for intentional use with paper filters; and although you can put them in there, it already comes with a standard removeable screen filter. The workaround I found was using the stiffer Chemex Small Coffee Filters that its in the filter cup it''s stiffer and sits just fine when brewing (and I use this only because I like the bitter taste of coffee oils completely removed something i''ve found even a standard paper filter is poor at, but the chemex resolves (keeps stomach upset to a minimum on darker roasts I find)).
Overall I love this Calphalon Coffee Maker, and I hope if you''ve read this review it helps you understand a little bit more about it before deciding on a purchase.
Read Best Reviews of Calphalon Electric 12-Cup Quick Brew Coffeemaker Here
Received this beautiful coffee maker as a gift. The first one almost caught on fire Christmas morning smoke pouring out back and smelled like burnt plastic. Figured I just got a dud. Calphalon customer service was wonderful, assured me there were no known problems with heating element. Sent a new one a month later (on backorder they said). That one lasted 4 weeks, and then it just stopped working. Called them back, they are sending a THIRD, but after reading that many, many others have had so many problems, including almost catching on fire(check out BBB website too) going to send it back and ask for full refund.
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Shame on me, before I ordered I read the reviews complaining about the pot leaking, carafe that leaked when you poured coffee, but did I pay attention.....NO. This 12 cup paperweight just got picked up with the garbage, which is what this product is. Yes the coffee does go all over the counter when you are pouring your morning cup of Joe, and I did indeed have water leaking all over my kitchen Sun AM. Lesson learned, bought a $36 "Betty Crocker" at the local hardware store, & when it dies in 9 mos or so, I won''t feel so stupid as I do now! I will then go back to the Bunn we''ve had before this disaster, & be very happy to get 3 years from it before it succumbs to well-water "itis". No matter how often we cleaned the 2 Bunns we''ve had, 3 years is the max with our Michigan well water. RIP Calphalon, goodbye & good riddance!!
I purchased these at a local floral/gift store and was blown away with how well they clean. I live in the country and constantly have dirt on my windows. It is so easy just to wet the light green cloth and quickly wipe the window and finish with the polishing cloth(dark green). I would never go back to paper towels or newspaper and window cleaner. These are fast and easy!
