What is a good, non-top of the line coffeemaker? My coffeemaker at home (a Gevalia one) just died. The base no longer heats. I want to replace it with something that is decent, but I do not have an interest in spending a whole lot, since I am the only one at home who drinks coffee, and I drink most of my coffee at the office. On the other hand, I don't want a cheap piece of junk either.

Help is appreciated.

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Fred Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

Do you want to stick with a drip, or are you open to other methods (perk or French press, for example)?

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Pastor Nathan Eshelman, Los Angeles, CA
Reformed Presbyterian Church
PRESBYTERIAN THOUGHTS
Los Angeles Reformed Presbyterian Church
RPCLA Sermons Online
Puritan Reformed Seminary

I want a drip.

Fred, I had a Black and Decker that lasted for a few years, but when it died (the power switch stopped working), I found a super cheap (around $10) coffee maker (I believe it was a Hamilton Beach) on clearance at a local Kroger (grocery store). It worked just fine and was better in many ways that the B&D (better design and easier to clean, for instance).

In my limited experience, all of these baseline coffee makers are about the same. The difference is not the maker but the coffee. My father-in-law gave me his Cuisinart coffee maker after he had it about a week (it has a built-in grinder, which he hated to have to clean every day), and that has worked well for a couple of years now. Of course, Cuisinarts are not cheap; I've seen the same maker for around $100-150 elsewhere. Other than the freshness of ground coffee, there isn't that much difference in the taste (maybe I just don't have a discriminating palate).

BTW, after I inherited the Cuisinart, I gave the Hamilton Beach to my mother-in-law who (sort of like you) drinks coffee mostly at work but infrequently at home. It is still going strong.

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
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Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

A few years ago (in my bachelor days) I spent $175 on a cuisinart coffee maker. For me, that was a lot of money, but one needs to splurge once-in-awhile.

When I married, two things happened in coffee land. One: I discovered that my wife was a "coffee snob," and that my pre-ground beans no longer made the grade. Two: my $175 coffee maker died suddenly. So, I made two changes to my coffee drinking ways: I bought a $35 coffee maker from Walmart, and I bought a grinder and beans. In doing so, I discovered that the beans make much more difference than the maker and that I would rather splurge on better coffee than spend my limited resources on a high-end coffee maker that looks good on the kitchen shelf.

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Eric
Woodgreen Presbyterian (PCA)
Calgary, Alberta CANADA

Can't help you then. Sorry.

I talked to a local roaster once about this, BUNN is hard to bead as far as drip goes, they are used in IHOP to Ritz-Carlton kitchens, they are a good maker, and very reliable. Blessings.

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Jon Lake
Whitehouse,Texas/ Member: Good Shepherd (REC)

One point I would add, cone filter coffee maker seem to make a better pot. I had a Melita quick brewing pot that cost around $30.00. It made great coffee for around 12 years. I now have another one.

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We shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but before we have done with it, by God's grace, we shall adjust the age to the Bible. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Lawrence Underwood, Jr.
Pastor - Providence Family Fellowship / Mobile, Alabama
1644/46 LBC
My Blog - Imprimis

Fred,

We got this one after we got married: Cuisinart Webstore 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker - Black

I like it. You can program it to go off in the morning, easy to clean. You don't have to buy filters for it because it comes with one in it that is easy to dump in trash and rinse out. So I like it. It says 59$, my wife bought the floor model and got it for 30 something. So it has been good to us, makes coffee fast too. And when it is done, it beeps to let you know, and it will stay on for 30minutes to an hour (i forget) keeping the coffee pot warm, then it will automatically turn off. Or you can just turn it off yourself.

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Rev. Andrew J. Barnes
Husband of Dena
Father of Oliver
Master of Bruce
Pastor of Tchula Presbyterian Church

What can I say, I like blogs!

This looks like the non-grinding version of the Cuisinart I mentioned above. It is a good coffee maker and appears to come with a nice warranty. However, they are certainly pricier than what you may want.

A Bunn thermal caraffe coffee maker is the way to go! Coffee in 3 minutes that tastes great. VERY dependable. My wife had one that was 25 years old and still going strong!

I also have a quisinart coffee maker/grinder, but it's nowhere near as good as our Bunn. We use it when we go camping.

If not a Bunn, any cheapy will do. Mr. Coffee's are pretty good.

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Timothy Johnson
First United Presbyterian of Moline
PCUSA (Yea, I know)
Theology/Philosophy Sunday School Teacher
Davenport, IA

Camping? or "camping"?

How can you use your Cuisinart coffee maker while really, actually camping?

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Todd K. Pedlar
member, First Congregational Church, (CCCC) Cresco, IA
http://inprincipiodeus.solideogloria.com
http://puritanwisdom.blogspot.com

"As God did not at first choose you because you were high, He will not now forsake you because you are low."
John Flavel in Keeping the Heart



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Fred, while I have the Melita coffee maker if you want a really good cup of coffee use one of my favourites:



Or

One place that we goto has electrical outlets in the woods at every campsite. And no extra $$. We plug it in there. It is the swamp place that I talked about taking my Wife for our Aniversary. At our other places, we use the Coleman drip coffee maker on our Coleman stove. Sometimes, I'll walk to the shelter and brew a pot and put in the thermos and take back to the campsite. Yes, we are tent campers, so we are really camping.

Man, that stove is a collectible.

Like I said on the Man-Thread, my wife's favorite store is the local thrift/second hand store. On one of her trips, she picked up the Cuisinart for $5, and the Coleman stove for $10. It's in great shape and still has the stickers in it. The Coleman Coffee maker I got when the Rotary gave me a gift certificate to Gander Mountain. They knew we like to go camping. It works pretty good, but it's slow. My wife's latest acquisition is a Drip-olater that makes about a gallon of coffee. I'll get some pictures up shortly.

Get a coffee maker that is filterless.

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Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div, Licentiate, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Member Fairmount ARP Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Deo Vindice

Gotta recommend a Keurig: Keurig - Single cup coffee maker – coffee brewer, gourmet coffee, gourmet tea, K-Cups
Got one for my birthday last year. It is great for making a cup or two at a time. Tons of selection in the kcups as well. Look at it as an investment.

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Chris Rhoades -33
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (PCA) Nashville, TN-Under Care

Vera theologia non theoretica, sed practica est; Finis siquidem eius agere est hoc est vitam vivere deiformem. - Martin Bucer
""True theology is not theoretical, but practical. The end of it is living, that is to live a godly life."

amen. Bunn is the best and it's made in america.

That leads to a lot of build up.

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Aaron Josh Wright
Deerbrook Baptist Church, Humble Tx
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

There is only one true Coffee-maker and that is a Moccamaster the rest do not even begin to qualify as a coffee maker

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Martin - Reformed
Husband to the most godly, honorable and loyal wife Line
Searching for a Church
Webpage www.5solas.dk
Free Online Reformed Seminary - http://www.tnars.net
Soli Deo Gloria

My father in law uses a Bunn, and we use it at church as well. Very dependable.

Cheers,

Adam

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Adam B., Wine Country, California, PCA

"I fear not to hold with Junius, de Politia Mosis cap. 6, that he who was punishable by death under that Judicial law, is punishable by death still; and he who was not punished by death then, is not to be punished by death now."

I agree. The filterless type makes a much better cup of coffee. However, my wife is an MD and related to me that coffee beans have a good deal of cholesterol in them which is not filtered out if a paper filter is not used.

So in the interest of being "heart-healthy" the paper filters may be of some advantage.

Isn't that how it usually goes.....

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Rev. JR HARRIS
Assistant Pastor
Redeemer Community Church (PCA)
O'Fallon, IL

When I need another coffeemaker I'm seriously considering the Bunn. We sell one at Walmart that is almost $100...and I can get 10% off.

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Ivan R. Schoen, B.A., M.A., M.L.I.S.
Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church (SBC)
Poplar Grove, IL, USA
http://maranatha-sbc.org

We love our Cuisinart "Automatic Grind and Brew Thermal". The one we have is the "Thermal" version, that has a very nice stainless steel heat protecting container, but they also make the same machine that just has a non-thermal glass container. We like ours since one has the option of using its built in bean grinder, or the already ground-coffee filter method. And the stainless steel thermos keeps the coffee warm a very long time if needed.

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Roy
PCA
Orlando, Florida

Ivan,

I wound up getting this one for a good deal with a discount and a coupon. I like it very much, especially that coffee is done in less than 5 minutes. I can forget to make coffee, remember and do a couple things on my way out the door to take a hot cup in a thermal tumbler with me.

I also will order a Bunn ICB system with airpots and thermal (1.5 gal) jugs for the church.

The Bunn we have at the store is for restaurant use. I'm not sure what it looks like. I know this...we can't keep them on the shelf!

I love coffee.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm......coffee.

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Daniel Franzen
Church Creek Presbyterian (PCA)
Charleston, SC

After years of resisting I've started drinking coffee every morning. I found a Brewmaster 10 cup Hamilton Beach at Walmart for $25., along with a grinder. It has no carafe - one less thing to break in these clumsy hands.

Found a sampler of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee... want to see what all the fuss is about. ($40. a pound!)

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BJ Mora
Grace OPC, Modesto, CA
Reformed & Presbyterian Churches & Denominations in North America

Fred,
Good choice! I have the same one and it has been very dependable. One of the things that I like about it, is that it heats the water to a higher temperature than all of the cheapies that I had in the past. This makes for a better cup of coffee IMO.

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w

Fred,

Excellent choice!!! Mmm. I can smell the coffee now!

Check out a local Goodwill or St Vincent store. Sometimes you can find high end stuff, such as a Bunn, at bargain basement prices. Also....some high end stuff you can get replacement parts and some have on line manuals for replacement part # (usually PDF downloads).

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Rich Koster
1689'er
Browns Mills NJ USA
Often Goofy Reformed Eccentric
Romans 7:14-25