OXOBrew 8 Cup Coffee Maker, Stainless Steel,Black

This coffee maker looks great and feels great too. Operation is quick and quiet. Drip nozzle results in evenly brewed coffee. Carafe works okay; it will keep coffee proper hot for about 30 minutes and warm for about an hour after that. But, the lack of hot plate means less burnt coffee and less residue on the inside of the carafe (easy to clean).

I got this for replacing a 16 year old Cuisinart coffee maker. So far this Oxo coffee maker has been doing a good job. The coffee does have slightly better flavor than my old coffee maker. It's easy to use. Of course I had to fiddle with it at the beginning but it is easy to use.After trying out the carafe for my first batch of coffee just to check how everything works. I've been using it primarily with the single cup filling feature. This lets me fill my coffee cup directly. I really like this feature since I use an insulated coffee mug so the temperature is well maintained so I can enjoy the coffee. This coffee maker as many others uses 5 oz as a standard for a cup of coffee. I've been filling up my water tank for three cups and used three scoops of coffee ground. I pour in water to bring the water level right to the 3 cup level line. So I'm starting with 15 oz of water and I end up with 13 oz of coffee in my cup. The final 2 oz of water won't drip out. There's a sliding switch to use when I'm making a single serving of coffee to a cup. The position is pushed to the left so that it will hold open the valve on the coffee ground basket. I also push the switch to the right to close the valve to make sure no coffee leaks out after I take my cup away to close the valve. One thing I don't like about the carafe is that coffee can drip from the pouring sprout and it drips coffee onto the body of the carafe and the table. I took off one star for that.There's a power button and two buttons to chose if you're making 1-4 cups of coffee and the other button is for 8-12 cups of coffee. I tried 8-12 for my single serving of coffee and it doesn't seem to make time difference.Over all I like this coffee maker. It looks simple and modern and is easy to clean. If fits easily under my cabinet. I was able to buy this at under $150 as there was some deal going on so I bought it. I'll have to see how long this one will last.June 13: I noticed after making a cup of coffee that at the hole where the water drains in to fill the holding tank. There was a slight bit of water backing up. I was curious so I used some descaling solution and did a cleaning cycle. This happened before the cleaning light turned on. After the cleaning cycle the water wasn't visible anymore at the end of a brew. So now when ever I see water backing up a bit I do a cleaning cycle. It may be too early but I guess it depends on how hard the local water is. I'll do it this way instead of the letting machine time it and give a signal to run a cleaning cycle.

I have tested several coffee pots to replace our 15+ year old Cuisinart. This pot seems very well made and I particularly like the fact that it comes with an insulated carafe rather than a glass pot. It is only 8 cups, which means 2 mugs of coffee for each of us in the morning. That is fine for us, but if you have a larger family it might be a factor for you. Given the price point, this Oxo coffee maker would have been a much better deal had they included the 2 metal coffee baskets. Since buying replacement paper filters that fit both the large and small baskets is more difficult with this style, having the reusable metal filter makes more sense. Much less the environmental impact of all those filters. I find that for our taste having 8 heaping scoops of coffee for a full pot makes a nice brew. The maker seems to have a bloom feature that I did not see mentioned in the instructions. For when you start the brewing process some water goes into the basket and then it stops sending water up the visible tube inside the reservoir for a few minutes before continuing. If so, this is a nice feature. The slider that moves from left to right depending if you are brewing a small amount (up to 4 line of water) or a full pot (up to 8 cups of water) is easy to overlook, so if you use both levels, make sure you remember to set the slide appropriately. One thing mentioned in the manual is that whatever amount of water you put in the reservoir is the amount that will be used during that brew cycle. It is not a holding tank for subsequent brews. The brew cycle is surprisingly quick and the notification beep rather quiet. The profile is sleek though if you want to have the on/off buttons facing you, the reservoir will need to go against the wall and the unit's longer length comes out into the counter space. Cleaning is easy, just remember NOT to put the insulated carafe in the dishwasher as you can ruin the insulation by letting water into the layers of the pot!!!I did not give it five stars only due to the price point and having to spend an additional $50 for the appropriate albeit excellent metal filters.