Review of The Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker 2/Delay Brew (COF SKX23) (store, reviews)

[reviewer]

The Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker 2/Delay Brew (COF SKX23)

Rating: 3 out of 5

• Currently 3.0/5.0

I think that I have a weakness for cheap coffee pots. That's not fair actually. The Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker 2/Delay Brew (COF SKX23) is a tolerably decent pot. You fill up the water well, put the coffee grounds into the filter basket, turn on the switch and you get a fairly decent cup of coffee; notice that I say fairly decent. While not as light weight as some coffee pots on the market, the Mr. Coffee Programmable is still relatively flimsy, not instilling a lot of confidence in the consumer. In fact, it is light weight enough that when my cat jumped up onto the counter and butted his head against the filter basket, the whole pot tipped far enough that water and coffee grounds spilled into my toaster.

While the Mr. Coffee Programmable has a number of bells and whistles that make it attractive on the store shelf, it still routinely makes a fairly bitter cup of coffee. Some of the features standard to this model include a removable filter basket, a pause 'n serve feature that allows you to get a cup of coffee before the pot has stopped brewing, a delay brew feature that allows you program up to twenty four hours in advance when you want your coffee to start brewing and a two hour automatic shut-off feature. But the one thing it is missing is the means to brew a routinely flavorful cup of coffee.

Two features of the Mr. Coffee Programmable that make it stand out are first, the Water Filtration device, and secondly the cord storage.

The Water Filtration device that comes standard on the Mr. Coffee Programmable filters out 97% of the chlorine in tap water, which helps with the bitterness, though it doesn't address the main issue of flavor capture. The cord storage built into the Mr. Coffee Programmable is nifty, but I'm still a bit confused as to why they assumed it was necessary, seeing as that when we were using the Mr. Coffee it stayed plugged in most of the time. My youngest daughter discovered the cord storage niche and used it to store toothpicks in, though why she would chose to store toothpicks at all, let alone in the back of the Mr. Coffee pot, is something I am confused about as well.

All things considered, if you are in the market for a reasonably priced coffee pot ($39.99 from the retailer) and you want some programmable features and aren't too terribly concerned about flavor, then the Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker w/Delay Brew may be just the coffee maker you're looking for.

Review by professional reviewer, Oct. 2, 2010