BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Thermal Coffeemaker, Black/Silver, CM2035B

This is a lovely machine but unfortunately is not UK compatible

This review is comparing the Black and Decker to a Cuisinart 12 Cup coffee maker (Maybe the DCC 1200 - looks mostly like it but a different finish/material).I got this Black and Decker unit over cheaper options for two reasons and BOTH turned out a bit worse than I thought. At least there are some other redeeming qualities. I’ll go over it all.Reason 1 I got this: “Washable brew basket” I thought that meant, like the Cuisinart, I never had to buy paper filters. I thought this was a reusable, washable filter. NO. WRONG. It’s just another cheap plastic bucket to put paper filters in. Exactly like what you get in the $20 coffee makers. Yes, it’s a removable and washable basket but the Cuisinart had that too AND a removable reusable filter. Now I’m back to lifting out soggy lumpy paper and carefully moving to a trash can unless I fork out an additional $10 for a third-party reusable filter. $10 isn’t terrible in and of itself, but it’s unconscionable to not include it with a $60 coffee maker. UCH.Reason 2 I got this: Stainless steel carafe. The Cuisinart is being replaced because the glass Charif finally broke. It lasted years and years, maybe even a decade. It has been bumped against the sink during cleaning several times, and the coffee maker was used almost every day. It was sturdy glass! It just finally couldn’t take another hit after a six year old messed with it. So I thought stainless steel would be the way to go. Far more durable, looks pretty cool, and is insulated! Well… It is more durable, and does look pretty cool, and is insulated. But I immediately realize how much I loved the seeing the remaining coffee in the Cuisinart - it even had cup level markings on the side. This not only allowed me to know exactly how much coffee was left but also allowed me to know how much water I was filling it with when I was making coffee. I cannot do either with a stainless steel carafe.Those were the two reasons I wanted to get this. But how is the rest of the coffee maker? There are positives and negatives for this as well.It looks really cheap. Extremely cheap. It all looks and feels like cheap plastic (except for the carafe). The bottom plate to hold the carafe looks especially thin and flimsy, with micro feet underneath to support what looks like something that’d otherwise bend and snap in half under the weight of a full carafe. Nothing about this unit outside the carafe looks premium. It certainly doesn’t look like this thing cost over $60. I don’t feel comfortable putting the carafe back when I pour myself a cup of coffee because every time it looks so thin and flimsy I have to be careful.The top of the unit gets very, very hot when brewing. On my old coffee maker, I could touch the top and it was not a problem. On the flipside, the Black and Decker has its first main benefit for me. The insulated stainless steel carafe means none of that gets hot to the touch, unlike the glass on the previous unit. And because the coffee pot relies on insulation to keep the coffee hot, there is no powered heated electric bottom to accidentally burn your hand and drain electricity after the coffee has finished brewing.I like that the clock and overall display screen is a bit bigger. It isn’t brighter though and the actual display numbers and text are still just as dark. But at least it being a larger size makes it a bit easier to see.The new unit has much larger buttons. I could go either way on that. Button size does not affect me. But I will say these larger buttons tend to feel cheap. You can press the button anywhere on its surface and it will work. But clearly the surface you touch is larger than the surface of the control board the button is interacting with inside. Indeed, there are areas of the button you can press that feel more “floppy“ or “mushy“, unless your finger presses directly over the part of the button that makes direct contact with its connection to the control board. My previous model had very tiny buttons, but that meant they could only ever feel one way, and it was very tactile, it had a “click“ feeling to it. And it wasn’t only buttons, it had switches which felt nice. This Black and Decker has no switches, and no button on it feels very “tactile.”I like the “Evenstream” showerhead. It’s true that even my older coffee maker had one single spout at the center top and after every brew, there was a very specific hole through the wet pile of coffee grounds, and I always did wonder if I was getting enough flavor from all the grounds around the sides. HOWEVER, lifting the lid during a brew, it would appear to me that the hot water would dispense enough into the basket that all the coffee grounds were fully submerged in hot water. So it appeared like, at least for a portion of the brew, flavor was being extracted from all the grounds. Still, there’s no denying that at the end of the brew, and, there was a very specific dent dead center of the coffee grounds. And to be clear, not only does this Black and Decker dispense water from multiple spots up top, it also feels the basket of coffee up like a tub, all the coffee grounds get fully submerged in the hot water.I can’t tell at the moment which keeps coffee hotter, longer. Obviously the Cuisineart isn’t insulated. But it rests on that hot plate for a while. The Black and Decker I THINK turns off a bit sooner, BUT it claims to keep the coffee hot in the pot for 2hrs. I haven’t timed it, and haven’t measured the temperature to know if there’s a difference.Edit: After posting this review I noticed one other thing. Like all coffee makers, there is an automatic lock/seal mechanism to prevent coffee from dripping out onto the platter when you remove the coffee pot. And the coffee pot itself has its own little lock/seal that when pressed down opens it up to receive the coffee. When you pull the coffee pot out, that top seal is… MOSTLY sealed shut. video shows, if you tip the coffee pot far enough, coffee will drip out that top mechanism. But this is all to say, after leaving the coffee pot back in the coffee maker for about five hours after my brew, was warm, but not hot. I know it says in the documentation I can keep coffee hot for about two hours… But next time I am going to remove the pot completely from the coffee maker when it’s done in hopes that the top mechanism, in its locked/sealed position, will keep the coffee hotter, longer.Bottom line: It doesn’t look and feel like a $60+ coffee maker, but the stainless steel carafe/pot helps. No reusable coffee filter - 3rd party can be bought fire about $10. You can’t see how much coffee is left or how much water you’re filling in the carafe/pot to use for a new brew until you pour into the coffee maker. It’s got a bigger but still dark display and bigger but a bit more flimsy feeling buttons compared to my Cuisineart. Still, a pot not hot to the touch and no hot bottom plate which also drains electricity is a respectable reason to chose this.

My grandparents have been running with their "spare" B&D coffemaker for about a year now, the drip stop didnt work at all anymore, and the warmer plate part is so encrusted with years of burnt coffee drippings as to be useless without constant cleaning. Since Grandma loves her coffee almost as much as I do when we're visiting, and none of the rest of the family even noticed, I got a brewer that addressed all the issues. 1) no glass carafe to accidentally get broken or have coffee boiled dry in. 2) drip stop works 3) there isn't even a warmer plate to worry about ever getting crusty or even boiling the carafe dry.Makes surprisingly good coffee from freshly ground beans. Almost too many settings but it works well enough on "just press the big button in the middle" so 94 year old relatives have no trouble using it. brews coffee a LOT hotter than the old ones its replacing, so have to be careful as coffee stays hot a long time, and will even still be *warm* 5 or 6 hours later.One glaring flaw: does not come with ANY filter basket at all! So here I am, the big reveal of the fresh coffee maker, getting ready to toss the old one, when I realize that I need a basket. No paper filters in the house. But the old and rarely properly cleaned one fit fine. I promptly ordered a stainless reausable one that I put in on our next visit a week laterSeems silly not to come with something all B&D's lowest end coffee makers come with. Is throwing away paper filters "cool" again or something? Dunno. I got tired of that decades ago, I have been using reusable filters at home, no way are the grandparents gonna be given anything less.Other than that, great brewer at the price point. "add water, add grounds, push button get coffee" "let it blink on 12:00 forever" simple.

La recomiendo para aquéllos amantes del café, el que la tetera no sea de vidrio es excelente y no sacrifica el sabor de café.

I've bought over 2,000 products via Amazon and this one makes me happy... every morning. Of course I'm talking about my BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Thermal Coffeemaker! Let me get a few specific items out of the way. I want to address some specific questions that others have been asked and the answers that left me with questions still.1. NO, it does not come with a reusable coffee grind filter basket. YES, you can purchase one here on Amazon that fits perfectly and does a great job (I bought the GOLDTONE Reusable 8-12 Cup Basket Coffee Filter for a little under $8.00).2. Read this one carefully! The unit comes with a anti-drip or "stop" basket. This basket allows you to get a cup of coffee before the brew cycle is complete by automatically closing a spring-loaded valve when you remove the carafe (thermos) from the coffee maker to pour a cup of coffee. There is also a spring loaded valve in the carafe lid that, when the carafe is in the coffee maker, the spring is depressed and allows coffee to flow from the basket into the carafe and, when removed from the coffee maker, this spring closes, thus sealing the carafe so that your coffee stays warm in the thermos. Both of these spring-loaded valves can become clogged with rogue coffee grinds (especially if you use paper liners and they are not properly seated in the bottom or sides of the coffee filter basket and a few grinds end up on the outside). If this happens, you might experience overflow and get water on your counter. This is easily avoided by simply removing the basket from the coffee maker itself and washing after use (it lifts right out). Just be sure to depress the spring-loaded part when rinsing to make sure that no grinds are clogging the drip hole. Similarly, when cleaning the carafe (thermos) lid, depress that spring-loaded valve, and make sure water runs freely through the lid. This is a NORMAL thing to do when cleaning a coffee maker after brewing a pot, so I'm not real sure why there are issues, but these steps are not specific to this coffee maker and are standard cleaning practices.3. This coffee maker uses flat-bottom filters... NOT cone filters!4. NO. The carafe does not sit on a heated plate. The carafe is insulated like a thermos, but if you let your coffee sit for more than a couple of hours, you will need to (dare I say!) microwave your coffee. Do not be tempted to re-run brewed coffee back through the machine as it will eventually gunk up the innards! It does help to pre-warm the thermos before brewing. Simply pour in the cold water to your coffee maker first. Then, using very hot water, fill up the thermos, put the lid on and let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes. Then pour out the hot water and start the brew cycle with the empty carafe in place. Your coffee will stay hotter, longer.5. TIP-TIME! I find that using a re-usable coffee grind basket saves me $$ (aside from the obvious of having to buy paper filters). This coffee maker comes with a feature to brew STRONG and BOLD coffee (settings to increase the strength of your coffee by lengthening the brew cycle by a few seconds, therefore allowing the grinds to steep a bit longer). The usual ratio of normal coffee is 1 TBSP of coffee for each two cups of water. If I choose BOLD (which is the highest setting - normal --> Strong --> Bold), I can use 5 TBSP to 12 cups of water and still get a strong, great-tasting brew.6. Bonus TIP! You can use even less coffee, and get better flavor, if you grind your own beans. Either grind them just prior to making your coffee, or grind them at the local grocery store if they have the machine to do so. Coffee oils are sensitive to time. The fresher the grind, the richer the taste.7. Bonus TIP #2! Use COLD water! Never brew using hot water from the tap... I'm not Millennial enough to suggest that you use bottled water (those who drank from water hoses as a kid will get that reference), but the quality of your water will make a difference in the taste of your coffee. Nuff said.