HANDSOME MAKES DELICIOUS COFFEE Krups KM4065 Dahlstrom
This coffee maker has been going strong for us for about a year. Nothing on it has mechanically failed. Sits nicely in smaller spaces. Krups commissioned Swedish designer Bjorn *Dahlstrom* to design a coffee machine. This one is brushed stainless steel with a big soft-opening lid and large release button. It comes in a medium grey and a graphite (near black). Yes the steel does show fingerprints. It has 2 brew strength settings but I'll bet you'll find like us, only STRONG which Krups calls **AROMA,** will make you coffee with any taste. The Shower Head it refers to is simply its water letting outlet. Water showers down rapidly meaning you have good coffee quickly. I like the sound! Some think its loud. Its only for a few moments though. It does have **PAUSE**, but for best coffee don't use that. The paus-*er* will get stronger coffee than the rest leaving weak stuff in the carafe for other folks. Unlike the EASY TO READ TEXT ON the Krups [toaster oven][1] I reviewed, this item has the most ridiculously **HARD TO READ** water level indicator you can find. Its a tiny plastic covered narrow area inside the lid on the left. Numbers are small and white on a grey background. Little check box sized areas turn black obliterating the number as water reaches a particular fill level. *Black* or Shadow, I suppose, is the water itself showing in these mini windows. How weird. I simply fill a vessel with 52 ounces of water and use that each day to fill the reservoir and never read that crazy gauge again. The rest of the text on the machine is just as hard to read, *light grey small on steel* COME ON! But since its easy to operate you'll typically only be opening the lid with the GIANT BUTTON and hitting the ON/OFF button so one gets around the mice print quickly. The reservoir fill area, inside lid and right and rear is also awkward to get to with anything but a small neck bottle. My fill vessel takes care of that too. Be sure not to use plain supermarket plastic bottles which leech chemicals into your water. What does DISPLAY LARGE AND CLEAR is the CLOCK. You need that for setting the auto start times you'd like. This model gives you TWO and that's nice for a family where different members work or sleep at varying times. I used the feature for two days at most and went back to just hitting the big round ON button when I get to the kitchen. Never mind fiddling with the Program button. You can also program it to SHUT OFF after it makes coffee at varying times: your choice of 1, 2, or 3 hours. The hot plate doesn't disappoint. Many percolators and drips keep coffee only tepid and to enjoy piping hot coffee with milk/cream you wind up having to actually heat up the coffee on the stove [inadvertently bringing it to a boil and making it bitter every dang day] so that it can withstand the cold milk. Haven't had that problem with this one. It has its own rather cute water filter sponge. **The Biggest Down:** If you don't aim that hot coffee pointedly out of the spout, dead center, you will have hot boiling coffee all over your hand and counter/floors! Bjorn needed to work on that. [1]: http://www.viewpoints.com/Krups-FBC413-6-Slice-Convection-Toaster-Oven-1600-Watts-review-bf7716 Brew Performance Use the Dark Setting Ease of Use Water Level indicator is absurdly invisible, grey plastic mini-windows set against grey plastic. Water Filter is easy as pie to clean. Putting water in isn't easy. I use a narrow neck bottle. Durability UPDATE: NOW 22 MONTHS OLD A KNIFE IS REQUIRED TO OPEN THE LID. After weeks of that just the opposite. A WEIGHT IS NEEDED TO KEEP THE LID CLOSED as of course the now damaged latch, more often than not won't keep the lid closed, meaning scalding water would pour out as it perks. Otherwise still going strong.
Qrysta
Coldwater, MI