Koolatron TCXU-24 Total Chef Automatic Coffee and Wine Urn 24-Cup Capacity, Silver Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have owned two (2) of these 24-cup coffee urn products, over the past 3+ years. The first one began leaking at about the end of the first year, so we liked the product enough to locate and purchase our second unit. The second urn worked well for about ten (10) months, but, this past week the device that controls the flow of liquid from the urn broke. Although we can still make our coffee, we must now LADDLE IT OUT OF THE URN. Not the best way to start one's day, I'm very sure.
I've had the device completely disassembled and attempted to repair the faulty item (it is a clear plastic unit, rather barrel-shaped, with a slot that allows the fliud to be discharged when the barrel is turned to the opening. The shaft that connects to the lever on the outside of the urn has snapped off and will not accept any of the glueing products that I've tried, attempting to repair it (even tried to re-enforce the device, inside, to no avail).
Since this is my second urn, and the problem is NOT A REPEAT OF THE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST URN, I feel the consumer should be aware that the life expectancy of these products seems to be far less than the average consumer might expect, for an in-home electronic appliance, and incredibly short for any possible commercial use.
When working, the product was more than satisfactory, but, the unexpectedly short projected life of the product should be noted on the product, and/or these faults should be reflected in the pricing of the unit(s). If I could have found a parts supplier, I might not be so negative about the product either, but, having to purchase a new unit EVERY YEAR seems totally unfair to the consumer likely to purchase this product.

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Total Chef 24-cup coffeemaker Versatile coffee machine prepares coffee, tea, mulled wine, and keeps them warm too. This Coffeemaker/wine urn is great for parties.

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KitchenAid 12-Cup Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This replaced a Krups coffee maker (KM4065).
This coffee maker has been wonderful. As another reviewer mentioned, it has one of the best pouring spouts around. The carafe keeps the coffee hot for at least 2.5 hours, and reasonably warm enough after 3 hours. A side note: make sure you see the small arrow indicator on the lid of the carafe, and that this arrow points toward the spout of the carafe when installed. We had placed the lid on the carafe with the arrow facing the toward the handle because it appeared to be a "selector arrow" matching the selctable positions with words on the carafe for "lock" "pour" and "open", but the arrow is actually supposed to point toward the spout "outlet" while pouring coffee. It'd be helpful if Kitchenaid could modify the lid with a white (or molded) dot to indicate in which of the position it is set. That's a negligible issue.
Coffee is brewed at a pleasingly hot temperature. Other coffee makers I've used have not heated the water enough.
The removable water tank is a superb feature that the Krups had which we were not wanting to give up. This coffee maker has a much better implementation of the tank that allows it to fit snugly into the coffee maker with practically no fussing or adjusting; it just settles into its slot perfectly. The Krups unit required lots of adjusting to have the tank drop into place.
The blue lighted display is very nice and matches a lot of the current appliance displays. It's not a glaringly bright display, which is nice because the Krups unit was unfortunately like a night light. The numbers not huge, and are somewhat fine, not bold or blocky.
This unit has a feature which should be user-selectable to be switched off: the unit beeps once when the BREW button is pushed, and emits 3 short, semi-loud beeps when brewing is finished. It's nice to have a audible confirmation that the Brew button has been pressed, or when brewing has finished, but if someone is sleeping nearby and you're trying to make coffee quietly, the beeping can be a bit annoying.
The only other very minor issue is that the coffee grinds basket is shallow (but hasn't overflowed any coffee grounds) and uses the "Bunn" type flat bottom filters which have been difficult to identify as to the type. Fortunately, this coffee maker comes with its own gold tone reusable filter basket, so filters aren't really necessary. It also comes with 3 or 4 "trial" paper filters. The gold tone basket is great, but because we use a coffee grinder we sometimes have very fine coffee "powder" that can flow through the gold filter basket. Nowhere in the documentation does it mention what type of paper filters should be used; the "trial filters" provided came in a clear plastic bag with no identifying labels. Since this is a 12-cup coffee maker we're going to try the Bunn flat-bottom 12-cup filters, but they appear to be too large, so perhaps the Bunn 10-cup flat-bottom filters would work better.
Overall, I would highly recommend this unit as one of the best 12-cup coffee makers currently available. The carafe and removeable water tank (reservoir) also help make this unit one of the best.


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Whether you enjoy freshly brewed coffee first thing in the morning, as a refresher in the afternoon, or with a dessert after a meal, the KitchenAid collection of coffee makers are designed to brew rich, flavorful coffee.

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Standard LED Lighting TT-E27-016 12-Watt Par 38 Green Machine LED Light, Natural White, 1 Pack Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This bulb is expensive as most LEDs are compared to compact florescent and others. For the money this is about as good of an LED spotlight one can buy. It does have the normal LED problem of "spotlighting" but it is not as bad as the cheaper and weaker products I've tried. I have it in a location where I always want a light on and it does a good job of lighting up the area (hallway). This bulb is not for everyone giving this price point, but if you are looking for the best LED for the money this is the best I've found.


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