Black & Decker DCM2500B SmartBrew Coffeemaker

This is a Consumer Report Best Buy. And, it certainly makes an excellent pot of coffee. I've had several coffee makers, but none of them compare to this one. If you're an avid coffee drinker, you need this coffee brewer.

This coffeemaker is serving me well so far. It works just fine. I have some reservations about the life of the somewhat light materials of which it is made. However, the coffee that it brews taste just fine.

We are exceptionally pleased with the coffeemaker. It was listed as a best buy in Consumer Reports and has proven to be very satisfactory. The best feature is the no-splash, no-drip operation, thereby eliminating the cleanup of the frame and heating plate after brewing. Coffee tastes great. I highly recommend this appliance.

Brand new, quick delivery (Faster than I expected, I missed the delivery and had to pick it up from the post office because I overshot the delivery time), perfect. Amazon FTW!

This is truly a great deal if you're looking for a coffeemaker that just makes coffee. It does the job and does it well. The carafe is accurately marked with number of cups, with a little step to show the difference between water "in" and coffee "out," and it (mostly) doesn't drip after you pour...what else can you ask for? We bought this model instead of the less expensive DCM2000 because it has the "timed off" function...it shuts itself off after two hours, so you don't cook your coffee into road tar if you don't drink it right away (it's easy enough to reheat a cuppa in the microwave). We also got the black model because we were worried about staining...good choice, since we can't tell whether it's stained or not! The filter basket is removable, and the reservoir is marked in cups of water so you don't have to use the carafe to fill it.

Would we buy another one? Yup...in a New York minute! We've discovered that most of the complaints about overflowing probably come from people using the "sneak-a-cup" feature and failing to observe the "no more than one minute" time limit clearly stated in the instructions...or possibly failing to properly set the carafe in place to open the drip hole on the basket. If you pay attention to the rules and carafe placement, you'll never have an overflow...it's not that tough.

Now for the "bad" stuff...

I can't say whether this is really "bad" or not, but it IS an inexpensive coffeemaker, and it feels that way in materials and construction, but it does work...we'll have to see how long it lasts with daily use. I'd have to be convinced that something costing two or three times as much makes better coffee...I'm into function, not status.

It's tall! It probably won't fit under most wall-mounted kitchen cabinets with the lid open...we just pull it forward when filling it or emptying the filter basket after the coffee is brewed, and prop the lid partially open with a piece of plastic to let it dry between uses.

Note: after the coffee is brewed and you lift the cover to remove the filter basket, the water spreader and associated "stuff" still contains a fair amount of water and you'll probably get a sizable drip on your counter. The basket itself won't drip because it has the "sneak-a-cup" valve that closes when there's no carafe under it.

If you use the full 12-cup capacity, the filter (the filter, NOT the basket!) may overflow and you'll get grounds in your coffee (yes, we do use filters labeled "for 8-12 cups"). This has happened twice...not a big deal, but annoying; if your filters reach the top of the basket, you won't have this trouble, and the accessory permanent filter would probably solve the problem as well. Most of the time we make 8 cups, however, and everything is fine. One note about cup size: As with most coffeemakers, they're talking about fine-china size cups...a REAL mug (like the ones most of the real world uses!) is actually about two of their cups, so if you want two mugs' worth, make 4 cups, and use one slightly rounded coffee scoop per mug.

Yes, the coffee COULD be hotter right after brewing...it gets somewhat hotter if it sits on the hotplate for any length of time...but it's hot enough for me, and I just nuke it in the mug for 30 seconds if I want it hotter right after it's brewed.

Finally, I had a coupon, but there are great deals out there on this item...I've seen them for $20, and only one place had them for more than $30. Unless you're into chi-chi names and shiny stainless steel, this is one of the best items around...the consumer magazine was right.