Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)OK, here's the deal. After reading the reviews of this coffee maker, I was leery of purchasing it, but since I was able to get it for just under one hundred dollars, I thought I'd take a chance.
First off, some of the issues mentioned in the poor reviews of this coffee maker are just plain wrong. Most of the 'flaws' are user error, but in fairness to the other reviews, the instruction manual included with this coffee maker is a joke, so I can see why people would be confused by some of the features. For example, the review saying the timer feature will not grind and brew, just brew, is wrong. Mine grinds and brews perfectly using the timer feature, or when making coffee manually, however, due to a defect mine didn't work correctly out of the box. I'll go into this in more detail later in my review...
Another review mentions disliking how hard it is to measure how much water to put into the coffee maker. If used correctly, you shouldn't have to measure the water at all. If you just fill the water chamber up, it will automatically use the correct amount of water depending on how many cups of coffee you decide to make. In my case, I usually brew 4 cups, so I only have to fill the water chamber up every third time I make coffee. Same with the bean grinder. Just fill it up, and it'll grind the correct amount of beans depending on how many cups of coffee you are making.
One reviewer mentions no matter how they set the grinder (fine or course) it makes grinds that look like they were "smashed with a hammer". I'm thinking you don't have your grinder locked in place right. The removable portion of the grinder should lock in place after you put it in the grinder chamber by turning it clockwise until it locks. Once locked into place, you cannot remove it by pulling it up and out without unlocking it by turning it counter clockwise first. If you can simply remove it by lifting it out without having to turn it counter clockwise first, you do not have it locked into place correctly. Until I figured this out, I also got inconsistent grinds, and my grinder chute would clog frequently. Once I locked it into place, I've never had a problem with either inconsistent grinds or the grinder chute clogging. Again, not so much a flaw of the coffee maker, but a flaw in the user manual as it doesn't even mention removing / replacing the grinder at all...
Yes, the grinder chute is kinda a pain as it IS too far back, and yes it does drop grinds on the warming plate, but for people having trouble with it clogging, I think maybe they are using it wrong. Don't try to clean it out after each time you make coffee. I just let mine build up some grinds in the chute. The grinding action should force grinds into the brew basket each time you make coffee - if the grinder is locked into place correctly... I only had trouble with "brown colored water" the first time I made coffee. After that, the grinding action has forced any remaining grounds into the brew basket each time I make coffee.One review also mentions that their grinder does not work at all anymore. You may be having the same issue I had when I first got my unit. The lid for the bean hopper must be closed all the way for it to allow the grinder to work. The issue I had was even though the hopper lid was closed all the way, the safety switch that allows the grinder to function was not working correctly. I discovered that I had to slightly press down on the hopper lid for the safety switch to function correctly. I was able to fix mine using some 'home engineering', but a low tech solution would be to just place something on top of the hopper lid. Before 'fixing' mine, I used a small Tupperware container of sweetener to weigh it down enough for the safety switch to operate correctly. Since I don't know if this issue is isolated to me, or more wide spread, I take 1/2 star off my review for the problem.
Bottom line, if this machine worked as advertised out of the box, I would give it five stars, but since it doesn't I rate it as follows: Sarting with a possible 5 stars, I remove stars for the following:
Hopper lid issue - minus 1/2 star
Poor instruction manual - minus 1/2 star
Having to 'figure out' some of the issues with this machine due to poor instruction manual - minus 1/2 star
Grinder chute issue - minus 1/2 star
Overall - 3 stars
I'd like to give it a higher rating because for me anyway, it makes a great cup of coffee and has some nice advanced features, but due to the above issues, three stars is all I can give it. Too bad because it could easily be a 4 or 5 star coffee maker with just a little more effort from Kalorik...
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Edit 8/11/10: Changed my review to 5 stars. My original review still stands - I think this is a 3 star coffee maker, but I'm trying to offset the 1 star reviews people left here about problems with various sellers and not the coffee maker itself. PLEASE people, don't review the sellers here - Amazon has a place to review sellers, see http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=537806.
This is suposed to be a PRODUCT review, not a seller review.... Thank you.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Kalorik CCG-24104 Magic Bean 1350-Watt Programmable 10-Cup Automatic Drip Coffeemaker with Burr Grinder
This sleek coffee maker lets you choose your favorite flavor ,from fresh beans to finished brew .With its patented grinder and brewer combination. Simply grind to your chosen volume and fineness and enjoy a perfect brew that's just your taste. One-year warranty.
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