Hamilton Beach Brew Station Summit 12-Cup Dispensing Drip Coffeemaker (48463)

PROSNo Carafe to break.Makes very good coffee, including great Iced CoffeeDoesn't burn the coffee, even after 4 hoursHas an adjustable timer to schedule automatic brewing (love this - I make the coffee before bed, set the timer, and have a freshly brewed pot of coffee ready right when I get up!)Three brewing settings, a "Default/Standard" setting, a setting for brewing 1-4 cups, and a setting to brew more "BOLD" coffee.Has a sensor which reminds you when it's time to clean it.CONSTakes 10 minutes to brew a pot.(I understand in these days of impatience, people get all hurt if anything takes more time than it takes to put your hand out. However, personally, I don't care - With the timer, the coffee's ready when I get up, but I figured I had to put at least one "Con".)REVIEWWe've been using BrewStation coffeemakers for at least 6 years now. Like all coffee machines, they wear out and need to be replaced. Our last one went for about 3 years, and was finally starting to break down. Even with regular cleanings, scale can build up & the coffee can start to take on a more "bitter" flavor. People have experienced problems with the "pot" leaking, and this seems related to plastic bonding breaking down, which leads to leakage from the pot that gets both into the water reservoir & down the back to the counter. I expect it anytime after 2 years, but apparently some people have seen this quickly. If it's within a few months, or even a year, I suspect a manufacturing problem with the particular machine. The only couple of times we've had to contact Hamilton Beach Customer Service (1 earlier BrewStation model 5 years ago with a clock problem out of the box, and a hand mixer) they've been quite helpful & responsive, sending us a replacement which worked fine.That said, this coffee maker works quite well. Brew time seems to run 7-10 minutes - shorter for standard brew settings, longer for the "Bold" or "1-4 cups" setting.A newer feature that our old model didn't have was a meter to tell you how much water to pour into the reservoir for X number of cups. The feature has been included in this model. As such, I don't find making coffee any more of a project than with a standard machine - pour water in the reservoir, put a filter & coffee into the machine, and put the "pot" in place then push a button.Coffee tastes great, and iced coffee is easy to make as well.A bonus travel mug was included with the machine. It is JUST a bit too tall to fit directly under the spout in a straight up-and-down orientation, but it's really not an issue if you have the dozen IQ points necessary to simply tip the cup forward a bit.An alternate page for this same machine has several reviews. The bulk of the 1-2 star reviews center on people complaining that the pour spout is "too close" and they can't get their coffee cups filled without spilling coffee down the front of the machine.The only reason I can see of this happening is by trying to force a travel mug (either the included one, or another similar sized one) in a way that doesn't work, or they're tipping other cups back. Either way, if you have a problem, just move your hand a couple of millimeters - The spout is placed completely adequately for any cup. I've used a half dozen different types and have to intentionally hold the cup in a certain way to force it to spill. (And that's BIG ones - 16-24 ounce cups & mugs - not little doll set china teacups - I like my coffee!)Overall this model seems great & I don't expect any problems with it for at least the next 2-3 years. And at $60, quite a deal.Highly recommended.

I simply have to give this device a 5 star for the idea to bring a cup dispenser to the normal household at a reasonable price.The water tank serves a dual function and is removable. One can simply fill the tank and use it as measure or use some other water container.Once the water is placed into the right area (see manual) all you have to do is grind your coffee or use already ground coffee, push the ON button and off we go.I personally love the smell of freshly brewed coffee, Oh yeah baby!Sorry, drifted a little off here.The model I purchased, has a controller and clock for setting brew times in advance.Setting the clock and auto timer (see manual) is simple, but may take a moment, since it only counts in one direction.Once you have the clock set and auto timer set you can fill the machine with water, place a filter (standard round 6-10 cup) filter and fill with your favorite coffee, press the button and wake up to freshly brewed coffee. I personally don't like to do that, since I am a firm believer, that you'll lose significantly on Aroma over night. So, I'll brew in the morning.I checked on the coffee warmer plate and in fact it does not burn the coffee. The heater will shut off after 2 hours, I think simply anymore time on the heater would evaporate some, given enough time, all of the water and the coffee would taste like burned. Two hours is a safe time and the coffee will still taste fresh.Dispensing the hot coffee is easy and so far worked great. Thank goodness, no more broken glass carafes any more. I have probably three perfectly good coffee machines, all miss the carafe. A new carafe would exceed the purchase price of the machine. What do you do? you go and buy a complete new one. In some case, I have seen the carafe as expensive as $37? The jewel did cost only a little over $30. Buy a new carafe, break it again, buy new, what to do, oh what to do. I guess, its a no brainer.

I love this coffee maker, but have had no luck with durability. My first one broke after about 2 years ... it just completely stopped brewing. I think it happened right after I poured cold water into the still-hot unit ... maybe I damaged something? The second one started leaking brewed coffee from the removable tank after only 12 months. The leak was where the heating plate meets the tank. Tightening those screws did not help, so I am wondering whether I again managed to warp something by filling cold water into the tank while it was too hot? (Not something I usually do, but I think I may have done it once around the time it started leaking.)In any case, I just purchased my third one. I love the ease of use of this carafe-less design, and I love the flavor of the coffee it brews (I am very picky about flavor). The filling can be a bit tricky, but becomes pretty easy with repetition. Dispensing the last cup can result in a few drops dribbling down the side of the cup into the catch tray because of the reduced dispensing pressure, but I solve this problem by tipping the coffeemaker forward with my other hand. Also, it will slide when dispensing, so I just locate the coffeemaker at the back of the counter against the wall.I hope they manage to make it less breakable ... it is inconvenient to buy a new one every year or two, but I will probably continue to do so because I do like it so much. I am telling myself "What's $3 a month for a good cup of coffee?"