Coffee grounds, that is. More specifically, I am speaking about coffee makers. I recently was given a new coffee maker. Most of the time, I have to buy a new one about every year. That goes for the dreaded vacuum cleaner too. What is it with me and house hold appliances? Is a vacuum considered an appliance? Who knows, but in this post, it is! Maybe I have too much energy in my body, I kill whatever I touch! Thankfully, because I have a MIL that has equally bad luck with this kind of stuff, I don’t feel so bad. But it makes me wonder, why? Do companies just not make their products to last? I guess it is smart thinking on their part, it breaks and you have to buy a new one. But if a brand continually breaks, chances are I’ll find a new brand. Catch 22? Or maybe, I just have the death touch.
Coffee makers have all the bells and whistles now days. I was given a Gevalia coffee maker and I love it. It’s the fastest one I have ever had. I like the program options, it’s very simple. I set it for 5am and all Jason has to do in the morning, is pour. I couldn’t figure out my last one for the life of me! (Yes, I read the directions. It just never worked.) Plus, this new one was given to me and that makes it that much better for me. It’s also sleek and good-looking! The only thing I don’t like is I now have to start buying filters again. My last one, I used the permanent basket. I have a thing about buying paper goods. I don’t like to. This coffee maker calls for the cone type filters.
So, if you drink coffee, what do like in the options your coffee maker provides? Do you like a particular brand? How long do they last for you? Do you have the death touch, like me?
Us Girls..Our Views 
I use instant coffee. I like to make it with 50% skim milk. I don’t like the taste of drip coffee somehow.
I am not a big user of appliances. The only one I use daily (other than the fridge) is my electric water boiler kettle. That is the bomb. We are on our second one – the first one lasted less than a year – but they are not very expensive, and we use it over a dozen times a day.
We do have one of those fancy one-cup-at-a-time coffee makers. The only time we use it is when we are entertaining guests. It gets a lot of sediment built up in the water reservoir (you don’t think anyone around here is going to empty it, do you?). It’s huge and ugly and I’m sure the coffee packs are not cheap. Just something I put up with because it’s easier than fighting.
I used to have one of those fancy coffee makers that also had the cappuccino maker along side. Well I only used the coffee part. I never understood how to make the cappuccino! That coffee maker also took those cone filters. So i got rid of it and got a coffee maker that has a timer on it. Much simpler!
I had one of those really fancy shmancy ones too Jenny and I couldn’t figure out what to do either. It didn’t last very long around here. It’s so much easier to get it in a gas station.
I love Senseo coffee and its machine. Easy, very expensive but taste better than any coffee I’ve ever drank. http://www.senseo.com. It is from DouweEgberts and Philips. Both Dutch companies 🙂 I know, I am awfully bragging 🙂
You’re not bragging Ellen. Nikki asked. Those coffee pots look so neat and slick. I like the sleekness of the silver one. Is there a way to make stronger or weaker coffee with these? Is there quite a bit of coffee in those “pod” things? I really like the idea of a pot like this. Somehow coffee always manages to get spilled on my kitchen floor and NOT by me.
I have heard about those Senseo machines!! Very nice! And please, brag away. I want to know these things!!!
Haha death touch sounds funny ! Well my last coffee maker lasted for nearly 2 years . I hardly drink coffee and when you don’t use electronic devices for too long , they tend to get rusted from inside . Nope, I really don’t have the ‘death touch ‘ like you mate! I am very careful while using my kitchen appliances.
Here’s a fun test on coffee , I am sure you will enjoy!
What’s Your Coffee IQ?
http://www.3smartcubes.com/pages/tests/coffee-iq-test/coffee-iq-test_instructions.asp
We have had a BUNN for years.
I dont know if this is so anymore or not but I know Bunns used to be the top of the line coffee pots, most restaurants used Bunns too.
I’ve had 2 Bunn’s and each of them only lasted me a little over a year. The heating element went out on them both and we had to use the microwave to heat it up. It just didn’t get hot enough. I loved the fastness of it too but that even slowed after time. So I figured if I’m going to have to replace something every few years, I’m not going to pay over $100 when $40 or so will do.
Southern water must be better ’cause we’ve had our BUNN ever since I can remember.
Not a big coffee drinker, myself. Steve drinks it occasionally, so the one that we have does fine. I used to have the ‘death touch’ with vacuums, too. I kept buying the cheap ones, and they’d fry within months – pathetic. We have so much road dust that comes into this house, combined with a dog that sheds the equivalent of a Yorkie a day, the vacuum would take one look at this place, turn wheels up and die, rather than try and deal with all the daily dirt.
I finally bit the bullet last Spring and bought a Dyson. So far, it’s working like the day I bought it. Fingers crossed.
Guess what my death touch killed over the weekend? Yup, my vacuum. I had to get a new one. I will not spend a lot though, because I am convinced it is my touch and not the product. LOL
LMAO!!!! Sue had to get a new one 2 weeks ago too!!! Us Girls crack me up!!!
Vacuums are horrible, I guess the cheap ones anyways!! Last Christmas we got an Eureka from Jason’s work and so far it’s doing good! But before this one, we were always buying the cheap ones and I guess you get what you pay for with the vacuum. My mom’s vacuum is a Dyson. I think she’s had that one for a while now. Very nice
That reminds me I need to look at my vacuume and see why it’s not up to snuff. Sigh. We go through vacuums and coffee makers. I like the timer feature so coffees ready when you awake. It is frustrating when you have to replace these things often.
Starla, If your vacuum has a filter on it it may need to be changed. I just changed mine out this weekend and it is working like brand new.
Good idea Thank You I will go and check that right now!
I make at least 2 full pots of coffee a day. I prefer the Mr. Coffee brand coffee makers. A good second brand is Proctor Silex brand. Any coffee maker I buy must have a delayed timer on it! I can not stand to get up and make coffee in the morning!
This is awesome timing with this post as I just bought a new coffee maker on Saturday!We had a 10 cup Braun before and actually loved it.It was my husbands before we married and we used it for the last 2 1/2years .So its done well with us making 2 different pots each day.It still works,we just wanted a larger maker.When we have company over its not enough So we went and bought a 14 cup Cuisinart.I used it just now for the first time.Its programmable which will be nice once we figure that out-it looks simple.The only thing I will have to get used to is shutting it off.The Braun had a thermal caraffe and shut itself off which was wonderful.So here’s hoping I remember to turn it off and not burn it down!
oh ,it has heat settings too for the heating plate,so Ill have to see how we like that.
Oooooooohhhhhh, I’ll have to check out this pot. I’d love the not turning off.
Ya,thats the Braun that shuts itself off.Very good machine and it must be 4-5yrs old and still works great.It kept the coffee hot for along time too.
I was a tad disappointed with the new one this AM,Ill have to turn the temp. up on the plate to hot,coffee was cool too fast,and it being a glass pot instead of the stainless steel thermal probably makes a difference.Amazing what we get used to,hard to change.
I have a Mr Coffee from Walmart, It turns itself off after 2 hours of being on.
Ah,nice!Thats even better than the Braun.It shut off after the coffee was brewed. We only bought this Cuisinart because its the only one I could find with a 14 cup capacity.It was pretty pricey so it better last for a long time.
We bought a cheep Black and Decker from target and it turns itself of,. it’s a nice feature. I have heard lots of good things about the Braun but it is spendy. But it is also pricey replacing the coffee pot all the time. Kind of like vacuumes. :+)
I too have the death touch…our coffee makers get put through the paces 7 days a week. I LOVE coffee..it is my drink of choice and they last between 6 month to a year tops. In our case, part of the problem is the water…it tastes great, (we have a well in the country) have it tested every year to make sure it’s safe…just has a high level of lime or something in it…we clean the pot w/ vinegar/ and those coffee maker cleaners and they help a little for a while, but I’m imagining, it’s like when your arteries get clogged in your body..so there is no sense us spending big bucks on the more expensive ones..so I ususally pick up whatever walmart sells with the auto timer. I love padding downstairs in the morning to freshly brewed coffee. Our pot took a dump last week so currently, I’m limping along with one of those large perculating pots you see @ a church social….death touch 🙂 that is funny…I also have that “touch” on my commercial grade tools…the only thing that lasts a long time around here is my sledge hammer.
We have that kind of water too and even though we get ours checked too and I put ALL water we use through a Brita, it still gets that “clog” stuff going on and I clean ours all the time. I even clean it with Brita water. I’m thinking that’s why the Bunn’s didn’t work for me. You can’t use vinegar or any cleaners in those. You use that white thingy to poke into some slot and that’s supposed to loosen all that lime but I don’t think it worked with our water.
Where to begin?????
I’m not sure what the deal is with me, and you apparently!! I’m laughing. My parents had the same coffee pot the whole time I was growing up. My grandparents had the same one too. I remember when I moved into my first house we got a Norelco pot. It was really nice as far as coffee pots went back then. It was butt ugly. It had an orange top on the carafe. I had that coffee pot a LONG time. For many years. I don’t even think it died. I think I wanted a different style and I got the under the counter Black and Decker. I had that one for many years too. That one developed a leak and my counter ended up being wet all the time.
Fast forward to now. We make at least and usually only one pot a day. It’s not overly used but it’s used daily. After the 2 Bunns quit working right I went to cheap. I thought I wasn’t going to spend a huge amount of money if they were going to be replaced every year.
First of all. I HATE the automatic turn off. By the time I get up, if Paul doesn’t turn it off and turn it right back on, my coffee isn’t hot anymore. Somehow, heating up your first cup of coffee shouldn’t be heated up that way. It just seems wrong.
The fist one I got was so cheap all we could smell was plastic. That smell never went away and after a few weeks we couldn’t stand it so it’s sitting somewhere. Probably out in the garage never to be seen again. It was replaced by another cheap one that every time we pulled the carafe out to pour a cup of coffee, the whole machine moved with it so it took 2 hands to get it out. One to hold the machine and the other to take out the carafe. Needless to say…….that one didn’t make it either.
The next one we had I like okay. It was a Black and Decker but one morning it got turned on without the carafe under it and all the grounds got burned onto the heating element and that one passed on. I’d taken the carafe out and washed it and went to bed forgetting to put it back and Paul turned it on the next morning just like he always does and VOILA……coffee, coffee everywhere. That was quite a morning.
Then the next one I got had the worst carafe design ever invented. It was almost flat so every time you poured your coffee it would leak down the side. So you had to pour your coffee over the sink and then wipe it off. That might be okay if I lived alone but…I don’t and “someone” never did that and I ended up with coffee on my floor or cupboard every morning.
The one I have now is a GE and I like it a lot. It was $40. Not cheap but not a lot but it lets you set the auto timer from 60 minutes to 120. You can set the heat between 3 temps also and it was VERY easy to do. I like the easiness as well as the choice.
I know this won’t last but I like it. I like that the coffee is hot and I like it that it’s hot when I get up and I like that the carafe doesn’t drip.
I LOVE this post.
We almost always buy Black and Decker. We’ve had good luck with that brand. Inexpensive but not cheap.
I surly don’t remember my mom replacing household items as much as I do. That is either because they aren’t made to last anymore, she didn’t use them nearly as much as I do now, or I just have that death touch. LOL But seriously, especially with the vacuums…NO ONE goes through more than you and I, that I know of! I am going to mark this last one on the calendar so I know exactly how long it lasts. We went fairly cheap this time, only spent $40 on a vacuum. The last 3, we have spent over $200 on them.
I’m taking notes on this subject as coffee pots like vacuumes you just want to know….which one to buy. I agree about the automatic turn off I have mixed feelings about that I like that if the coffee pot isn’t on all day the coffee it dosn’t taste burnt. But like you said no fun to wake up to cold coffee and if you like several cups in a day it can be frustrating. Oh the dalima…
Love your new blog header by the way!
Thanks DM. Sue took this picture. It’s our “out back.”
That does look pretty nice as the header, doesn’t it?!
i’m not a coffee drinker… but my boyfriend is. He has the Mr Coffee brand and seems to like it. It is relatively cheap and lasts around 2-3 years
This is funny stuff, Nikki! I have gone through only 2 coffee pots since we’ve been married (almost 10 years) but like 8 of those years didn’t count because the pot sat in the box! I only started drinking coffee, what, a year ago on a regular basis. And even then it’s one cup a day. My first pot died because the carafe broke and it was more expensive to replace that then buy a new coffee maker. The one I have now is a Mr Coffee from WalMart and it works fine. There’s nothing fancy about it!
As far as vacuums go, ugh! We did have to finally break down and get a new one after only about a year with the other one. Ended up with another Bissell b/c it was on clearance. It’s alright, but it doesn’t have the wide cleaning path so I’m taking twice as many passes over the carpet. I don’t think they made stuff like they use to at all!
I had that same coffee make and I didn’t like it. The ball on the side that shows the fluid level quit working after a month or so, and the clock on it didn’t keep good time, and I thought it was slow. Hopefully yours doesn’t have the same problems. The main reason that I got rid of it is because I don’t drink much coffee and it was too big for me. Now I just have a cheap black&decker.