Recommend a good DURABLE coffeemaker

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Captain_America

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Please help.

I’m tired of the waste involved in buying a new coffeemaker. . . almost annually it seems.

How long has your coffeemaker lasted?

Can you recommend something that will last more than three years?

I grew up believing such things should be lasting about 7 years or so.

Recommendations welcome! 🙂
 
We’ve had our espresso maker since 1993; had to have some stuff replaced twice, I think.

We have bought two coffee makers with the insulated carafe, which I love because the coffee isn’t “cooked” within an hour of making it, but the tops of the carafe always fail. I suppose if I buy one of those again, I’ll look for one with a carafe for which I can get replacement parts. 🤷

A French press will also last a long time; then you just need something to heat the water with. The problem with that, though, is that it always has all that teeny tiny grounds sludge, so it does get bitter in a thermos.
 
My mom has a stovetop farberware percolator. It’s about 48 years old. 😃

I currently have a cuisinart one. It will be 2 soon, and works well. I use it daily.

My sister really loves the French press type of coffee makers. It is normally a glass carafe and a metal insert that plunges down to separate the coffee grinds from the water. I don’t like the taste of the coffee prepared that way, but she loves it.
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
My sister really loves the French press type of coffee makers. It is normally a glass carafe and a metal insert that plunges down to separate the coffee grinds from the water. I don’t like the taste of the coffee prepared that way, but she loves it.
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You can get a French press with an insulated carafe, too; it is what we take when we go car-camping. It is very good coffee if you have your timing right, but the last cup out always has that sludge of the fine grounds that get through the screen, and I don’t see any way around that. You just learn not to drain your cup! I’d say it is for people who use a dark roast and like their coffee fairly strong, though.
 
I have a cheap Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker… it’s ugly and very simplistic, but it doesn’t seem to want to die.
I’ve had more issues with my fancy keurig (which tastes great and is awesome for single-cup servings) than with the simple pot… 🤷
 
EasterJoy said:
A French press will also last a long time; then you just need something to heat the water with. The problem with that, though, is that it always has all that teeny tiny grounds sludge, so it does get bitter in a thermos.
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Even though I don’t drink coffee. I would recommend a french press. Cheap, easy to maintain and clean, and easy to use.
  1. Boil/heat water
  2. Put coffee grounds in french press container
  3. Pour water in and let sit for around 5 minutes
  4. Put the lid with the strainer on the french press container (with the strainer up all the way)
  5. Slowly push down on the strainer handle to lower the strainer and push coffee grounds to the bottom
  6. Leaves you with coffee on top, and you just poor the coffee into a cup or whatever, leaving the coffee grounds behind
  7. Clean and repeat
Depending on the size of the french press, you can make several cups.

And to EJ, why would there be sludge in the thermos? None of the grounds should leave the french press when you poor it.
 
Any coffee maker can last for many years. The key is to only use DISTILLED water in it. All other kinds of water have minerals that build up over time and foul up the machine. Tap water is especially damaging.

We went through several coffee makers, using filtered bottled water, before learning our mistake. We even went through two Keurig machines. Once we switched to distilled water, we never had a single problem again. In fact, our current machine (Keurig) was starting to have problems just before we switched to distilled. After a couple of weeks of using distilled water, the mineral buildup seemed to have cleared out on it’s own, because it began working good as new, and has ever since.
 
I have a Mr. Coffee coffee maker, and have had it now for 5 years with no problems… But maybe I just lucked out? 🤷

We also have a Keurig. It was given to us as a gift–I personally would never spend THAT much on a coffee maker. But I will tell you, it is built very nicely and seems quite durable. They also make an insert you can buy that you fill with your own coffee grounds. Some people buy the little K-cups for their Keurig thinking it saves money, but if you do the actual math the cost of K-cups coffee is insane. It comes out to more than $60 per pound – definitely NO savings there. 👍
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
My mom has a stovetop farberware percolator. It’s about 48 years old. 😃

I currently have a cuisinart one. It will be 2 soon, and works well. I use it daily.

My sister really loves the French press type of coffee makers. It is normally a glass carafe and a metal insert that plunges down to separate the coffee grinds from the water. I don’t like the taste of the coffee prepared that way, but she loves it.
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My mother has a faberware percolator, electric plug in. I think it’s 30+ years. She found one at a garage sale for me and I LOVE it. I think it is 30+ years. I’ve been using it for 3 or 4 years now. I’ll never go back to the average drip ones. Ick. I love my coffee now, no more filters and it works!

Here is a link to a new one, but I’d check out estate sales and garage sales first:
bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=11211763&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CJ-5qp-kzbcCFVQV7Aoda1wALQ
 
Back2Church said:
Any coffee maker can last for many years. The key is to only use DISTILLED water in it. All other kinds of water have minerals that build up over time and foul up the machine. Tap water is especially damaging.

We went through several coffee makers, using filtered bottled water, before learning our mistake. We even went through two Keurig machines. Once we switched to distilled water, we never had a single problem again. In fact, our current machine (Keurig) was starting to have problems just before we switched to distilled. After a couple of weeks of using distilled water, the mineral buildup seemed to have cleared out on it’s own, because it began working good as new, and has ever since.
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I’ve heard that if you run vinegar through, by itself, it can help clean up any mineral buildup.
 
bzkoss236 said:
Even though I don’t drink coffee. I would recommend a french press. Cheap, easy to maintain and clean, and easy to use.
  1. Boil/heat water
  2. Put coffee grounds in french press container
  3. Pour water in and let sit for around 5 minutes
  4. Put the lid with the strainer on the french press container (with the strainer up all the way)
  5. Slowly push down on the strainer handle to lower the strainer and push coffee grounds to the bottom
  6. Leaves you with coffee on top, and you just poor the coffee into a cup or whatever, leaving the coffee grounds behind
  7. Clean and repeat
Depending on the size of the french press, you can make several cups.

And to EJ, why would there be sludge in the thermos? None of the grounds should leave the french press when you poor it.
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We grind our own coffee, and even with the burr grinder set on its coarsest setting, there are always some super-fine grounds that get through the screen, no matter how carefully and slowly I try to depress the plunger. It isn’t a lot but it is there at the bottom, especially the last cup. (This is actually something you even see with espresso, but there is a lot less and you really don’t get it unless the coffee is left undisturbed for quite awhile.)

Still, it is great coffee.

I also had a friend who used to make his coffee for the day by essentially a “manual drip” method. He had a funnel with a cone coffee filter and grounds in it, and he’d pour a measured amount of hot water through it, dripping directly into his pre-heated thermos. That takes some attention, though, and if that means losing five minutes of sleep, a lot of people aren’t inclined to do it.

Generally speaking, though, when it comes to longevity, the fewer moving parts the better, and especially the fewer moving plastic parts, the better. That has been my experience.
 
EasterJoy said:
We grind our own coffee, and even with the burr grinder set on its coarsest setting, there are always some super-fine grounds that get through the screen, no matter how carefully and slowly I try to depress the plunger. It isn’t a lot but it is there at the bottom, especially the last cup. (This is actually something you even see with espresso, but there is a lot less and you really don’t get it unless the coffee is left undisturbed for quite awhile.)

Still, it is great coffee.

I also had a friend who used to make his coffee for the day by essentially a “manual drip” method. He had a funnel with a cone coffee filter and grounds in it, and he’d pour a measured amount of hot water through it, dripping directly into his pre-heated thermos. That takes some attention, though, and if that means losing five minutes of sleep, a lot of people aren’t inclined to do it.

Generally speaking, though, when it comes to longevity, the fewer moving parts the better, and especially the fewer moving plastic parts, the better. That has been my experience.
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Interesting. As I said though, I’m not a coffee drinker. My wife is, and she very much prefers a french press. We currently have an espresso maker, which she uses to make coffee, because she can make just enough for herself without having to have too much extra or wasting any.
 
bzkoss236 said:
I’ve heard that if you run vinegar through, by itself, it can help clean up any mineral buildup.
Click to expand...
It depends on how hard your water is. If you have very hard water or water with a lot of sulfur in it, the coffee quality is usually better if you use bottled water. I wouldn’t go so far as to use distilled water, because a small load of certain minerals actually improves the flavor of water.

But yes, if you have hard water, you need to run vinegar through your coffee maker on a regular basis. Heating water makes many mineral salts far less soluble, so in an area where the hot water heaters suffer from scale build-up, you can figure the same thing goes on inside the coffee makers. The salts will be more soluble in hot vinegar, though. Run plain water through afterwards, to get the vinegar taste out.
 
The problem I’ve had is with cheap electrical switches.

Used to use the whole switch-with-time delay, clock setup.

then went to the simple on-off.

The on-off switch just broke.

These switches can be cheaply made, or for a few cents more, the manufacturer can get one that’s going to really last.

they opt for cheap.
 
We’ve had our Cuisinart grind and brew machine for 8 years and it still makes great coffee. It is a bit of a pain if you want to make more than one pot at time as you need to clean and dry the grinder between brews. This was a great buy.🙂
 
I’d be lost without my Keurig. I’ve had it for five years with no repairs necessary. I’m the only coffee drinker in my house and I like it because I enjoy lots of different flavors of coffee and I prefer to drink regular in the morning and decaf in the evening. It would take me forever to go through a container of coffee grounds on my own much less one container for morning and the other for evening and they might even go stale. That’s why the Keurig is best for me. I have a larger percolater I can get out for parties and having the family over, but most people seem to prefer the Keurig. My mom often requests one of my “fancy coffees”.
 
EasterJoy said:
Run plain water through afterwards, to get the vinegar taste out.
Click to expand...
If you don’t get the excess vinegar out and you put milk in your coffee, it will curdle, which is gross, but kind of amusing at the same time.
 
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