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With its five-cup capacity, the Black & Decker DCM675BMT Coffee Maker is the ideal size for either a pair of moderate coffee drinkers or a single avid coffee enthusiast. Its small pot size also makes for a compact design that takes up a small footprint on the countertop.
Coupled with the retractable cord with built-in storage to prevent messy cords coiling across the counter, this machine is a great fit for the small or crowded kitchen.
Black & Decker DCM675BMT Coffee Maker product features:
The water level indicator and programming buttons are located on the side of the Black & Decker DCM675BMT Coffee Maker, which happens to suit perfectly with the set-up of my own kitchen (the programming side faces the sink, so I can access it easily), but it could make positioning difficult if your space is cramped or this is the “wrong” side to suit your kitchen layout. You could probably place the unit sideways with the buttons and water indicator facing front, and a simple rotation of the carafe handle would still enable you to remove the carafe easily for pouring.
I purchased this unit under the misapprehension that the stainless steel carafe was an insulated thermal decanter, so I was initially confused about the inclusion of the warming plate—which seemed like a redundant feature— as a component of the Black & Decker DCM675BMT Coffee Maker. As it turned out, though, the mystery was solved when I unpackaged the carafe and realized that (although durable and unlikely to break—both qualities for which I’m grateful) it is not in fact an insulated thermal version. I share my embarrassing mistake just to provide a heads-up; if you’re shopping online for a coffee maker and looking at photos of dozens of machines, the stainless insulated carafe can look a lot like the stainless non-thermal carafe when you’re starting to go cross-eyed over your options.
Just don’t make my mistake; re-read the specs of the machine you’ve selected before placing your final order.
The carafe wasn’t what I’d had in mind, since I’d been thinking of summer breakfast in my garden, and the idea of bringing an insulated decanter to the table for easy refills, but it’s still a cut above the glass versions that show their coffee stains so easily, and never seem to last as long as the machine they came with. I also appreciate the flat trough design of the pouring spout, which doesn’t make the dribbling mess I’ve experienced with every glass carafe I’ve ever owned (and subsequently broken).
One other mistake I made (here I go making assumptions again) was that the features of the Black & Decker DCM675BMT Coffee Maker included the nearly ubiquitous feature of pause-to-pour, with a pressure trigger plugging the brewing basket if the carafe is removed during brewing. This is a mistake you only make once, though, and not an earth-shattering disappointment, since I usually program the machine to finish brewing before I get up anyway.
On the topic of programming, the button controls and the digital screen are uncomplicated to use, although I’m not wild about their placement on the side of the machine. It just seems like poor design when the base below the warming plate is the area that will be accessible in any kitchen configuration.
Having said all that, I enjoy my machine, and definitely feel I got full value for the inexpensive price I paid for it. I find the coffee a little weak when I follow the manual’s suggested brewing amounts, but that’s a matter that was easily adjusted to taste with a few trial runs of added measures.
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