KitchenAid's Drip Coffee Maker is the perfect example of why you can't beat a classic. The American brand is already well-established as the producers of top-quality kitchen appliances and their coffee makers are no exception, especially this one.
If anyone was going to do filter coffee well, it has to be KitchenAid. Filter coffee is popular across the nation, as is KitchenAid. It came as no surprise to me when this attractive appliance secured a space in our buying guide for the best drip coffee makers on the market.
After testing this across a range of brewing functions, from single-serve, auto-start, and keep warm, I can confirm that this more than lives up to its reputation. It's basic enough for beginners, whilst brewing truly delicious coffee. Even as a coffee snob, I loved this.
Specifications
Unboxing
The KitchenAid comes in a big cardboard box. The coffee maker is already big, but the size is exaggerated by the excessive, non-recyclable packaging. There's about an even split of recyclable cardboard and non-recyclable polystyrene, which isn't ideal for your garbage, but it means that the KitchenAid arrived in perfect condition.
There were lots of stickers which needed peeling off before I could sit this in its full glory on the countertop. It didn't take long to peel these off, and they didn't leave any marks. In fact, they were useful, offering guidance for coffee grounds to water ratios. However, these are nevertheless one more thing to do before you can get brewing.
There are lots of well-considered features across the KitchenAid: the carafe has a tactile handle, the water reservoir is completely removable (and also has a useful handle), and everything is self-explanatory. I only got the instruction manual out for a precursory glace to make sure I wasn't overlooking any special features. I wasn't: the KitchenAid lays all their best features out easily, so you can make the most out of them.
Who would it suit?
It's easiest to ask 'who wouldn't the KitchenAid Drip Coffee Maker suit?', because the KitchenAid has such a broad appeal. It's available in KitchenAid's classic colors, so suits a range of interior designs. The glossy, curved finishes only enhance KitchenAid's signature style.
This can brew between a range of one and twelve cups of delicious coffee. There's even a useful pause button, so you could pour a cup without having to wait for a whole pot to brew. Plus, if you brew too much, the keep-warm plate maintains a super hot temperature, so there's always a steaming cup of coffee ready to pour. I can almost hear the sigh of relief coming from busy family homes as I'm writing this.
The people who it wouldn't suit will be those who are short on space, in spite of being beautiful, this is also pretty huge. It's also more of an investment than other drip coffee makers, so isn't for those who are shopping on a budget. There's very little else I can offer to deter buyers. It has a big capacity, makes delicious coffee, and can keep it hot for well over an hour.
What is it like to use?
Drip coffee makers can become surprisingly complex, but I think the KitchenAid has hit the sweet spot. All the controls are clear and obvious. There's also a handy – if slightly retro – digital clock on the front.
Once I had rinsed the machine and filled the reservoir, it was ready go. The KitchenAid warmed up in just 15 seconds, which is quicker than the average drip coffee maker (some take minutes) and then all I had to do was push a button. That's not a cliche, it really is that simple.
Twelve cup
I added my freshly ground coffee to the filter basket (which is both reusable and dishwasher safe). There are useful markers lining the inside of the filter basket, designed to help you choose how much ground coffee to add to get your desired cups. These guidelines are rough, because, how finely you grind you grind your coffee will affect how much space it takes up. However, for the average coffee drinker, these markers are more than enough of a guide. If you're really flavor sensitive, you could start weighing out your coffee grounds using coffee scales (like the Escali Versi, available at QVC).
My first brewing test was a full, twelve-cup carafe. The KitchenAid works using a showerhead to evenly saturate grounds. You can see all 29 holes on the inside, which don't translate to a particularly noisy brewing sound. Overall, it made about 40 dBA of noise, which was similar to the sound of a dripping faucet. I wouldn't want to sleep with that noise in the background, but I have no trouble with it in the kitchen.
In eight minutes the KitchenAid had filled my twelve cup carafe with some delicious-smelling coffee. This is a little slower than other drip coffee makers I've tested (which took five minutes). In the grand scheme of things, eight minutes isn't long to wait for a full carafe of piping hot coffee.
In terms of taste, this was delicious. It was smooth, sweet, and velvety. The brew strength was strong, but not overpowering, still delivering on filter's classic lightness. It's a gentle and an easy place to start if you're new to drinking filter coffee. I offered some cups to other expert testers who happened to be working in the test kitchen, including one who doesn't actually like filter coffee. Even the one who doesn't like filter coffee enjoyed it. She actually finished her cup, which speaks for itself.
However, I found that twelve cups of coffee isn't quite the quantity you might expect. I'd filled two mugs with just under 8 oz of coffee and spotted that the carafe quantities had plummeted. As it turns out, one cup for the KitchenAid is actually 5 oz. It's not a problem in a smaller home, but well-worth noting if you need every drop to serve twelve caffeinated guests.
Single-serve
The smallest brewing measurement on the carafe is four cups, so testing single-serve coffee was tricky. Given that I'd spotted that KitchenAid's cup size is almost half of mine, I had a good idea of where to watch the brewing levels to, before making use of the 'pause and pour' function.
This is one of my favorite features on the KitchenAid. It's not unique to their drip coffee maker, but they do it particularly well. Regardless of how much has brewed, you can stop the process (drip free) and pour from a partially brewed carafe. It's perfect for people who like a coffee top up, or drink multiple cups in a morning. I found out that the reason it's drip free is because the machine has a valve which collects coffee for half a minute whilst you pour, giving you time to top up your cup with minimal mess. So, whilst it's not ideal to have to estimate your single-serve coffee quantities, it's pretty easy, and the 'pause and pour' function makes life even easier.
Keep warm
I've tested lots of drip coffee makers recently which are moving away from offering long 'keep warm' functions and hot plates. I think it's part of the movement towards fresher, speciality coffee. If your carafe sits on a hot plate for a while, it will taste stale and burnt.
KitchenAid has hit the sweet spot with their hot plates. The keep warm function works for 40 minutes and the digital screen will give you a countdown for how long the 'keep warm' function has left to go. I left half a carafe on for the full forty minutes and when I tried to pour and drink a cup, it was too hot. I had to leave it and come back, because it was steaming. I came back to my coffee pot after an hour, which is probably about the optimal 'keep warm' time. The coffee was still too hot to drink straight away. In spite of this impressive temperature, the flavors were all still there. My cup was light, sweet, and a little nutty, not stale or burnt at all.
Cleaning, storage, and maintenance
Given how beautiful the KitchenAid is, it's surprisingly low maintenance. The glossy exterior didn't get any coffee static stuck to it and all of the removable parts (including the filter) are dishwasher safe. There's very little you need to do.
This comes with a forty inch cable, meaning you have a lot of options for where you can place it on the countertop. Any cable spare can wind underneath the KitchenAid (there's some neat cable management hooks on the base). These are all useful features because this is too big to do anything except store on the countertop. If you put it in a cupboard, you wouldn't be able to fit much else in.
How does it rate online?
Reviewers and customers alike feel the same way that I do about the KitchenAid. It's close to universally loved. People described it as 'beautifully built' with 'genuinely useful' features. One reviewer even called this a 'genius' drip coffee maker. The range of functions, auto timers, and generous capacity seemed to lend themselves best to busy homes. However, even those who didn't need to make huge quantities of coffee came to the same consensus as batch brewers: this makes delicious filter coffee.
That all sounds pretty good, but there are some common complaints amongst reviews. The only two which stand are that this has a large footprint and that it's slower than other drip coffee makers. There's no escaping it, the KitchenAid is big. It's not so tall that it wouldn't sit under wall cabinets, but it demands a significant amount of countertop space.
The speed issue is tricky. If you want a single cup of filter coffee, you could have it in a matter of minutes, which, for the flavors, seems reasonable enough to me. I would rather have a coffee in two minutes which tastes like the KitchenAid's than one from another one, made in half a minute, but with significantly less perfect flavors. It's all about priorities.
How does it compare?
We've tested a range of the best drip coffee makers, and the fairest comparison would be to put the KitchenAid against the best option in our buying guide, the OXO 8 cup. Our experts love the OXO for its versatility, quality, and space efficiency, so it shares some similarities to the KitchenAid (as well as some significant differences).
On the countertop, the OXO takes up significantly less room than the KitchenAid. It's not as beautiful. In fact, the stainless steel finish looks quite functional. However, if you're short on space, the OXO is a much better option. Both drip coffee makers are easy to use. Their functions are obvious and they both deliver on their promises. However, the OXO can be programmed to make a single-cup where the KitchenAid required some supervision.
When it came to brewing big carafes, the KitchenAid pulled ahead. It can auto-start, making coffee to be ready for a specific time and the OXO can't. The KitchenAid can also keep a full carafe piping hot for over an hour. Again, the OXO can't. The most important practicality to note is that neither the KitchenAid nor the OXO measures cups in the same way that we might (I make a standard cup of coffee at 8 oz). Instead, the KitchenAid has just under a 60 oz capacity and the OXO has a slightly limiting 40 oz capacity. In my home, that's only covering about 5 cups at the most.
When it came to cleaning, whilst both are generally low maintenance, there's one big difference. The KitchenAid has a removable water reservoir and the OXO doesn't. You can fill the KitchenAid up from the faucet, but will need to collect water in a cup or pitcher to pour it into the OXO. Plus, when you want to do a deep clean of the OXO's reservoir, you'll have to reach all kinds of awkward angles. I'm perhaps disproportionately passionate about this, because I have the cleaning schedule of any good commercial barista ingrained into me, but it's worth knowing if you don't like to clean.
In short, if you want quick, small, delicious servings, the OXO is your better investment. If you've got the space for a big brewer, the KitchenAid delivers bigger quantities of delicious coffee.
Should you buy it?
I've gone a bit KitchenAid crazy. I tested this next to the KitchenAid grinder and I loved them both. I'm still amazed at the sheer quality, technicality, and expertise that the brand are delivering on in a relatively new section of the kitchen. Even if you're a coffee specialist, I think you'd enjoy the KitchenAid. If you have the room and the budget, I'd go for this coffee maker every time.
How we test
At Homes & Gardens we pride ourselves on delivering reliable reviews to you. That's why we never recommend a product to you until our team of experts has tested it.
As soon as a drip coffee maker comes onto our radar, we get researching. We'll look at the reviews, claims, and customer feedback of any and every drip coffee maker before we call it into our test kitchen. Once we have it, in-person, there are a series of standardized tests that we put our coffee makers through. We'll test it for single-servings, a full carafe, and on the keep warm function.
At each stage, we want to know: how much 'one cup' is to the manufacturer (it's often smaller than you think); the temperature of the coffee (between 195°F and 205°F); the flavors (which should be light and sweet, people often say 'clean'); and how long it takes to brew (it should sit around the five minute mark). Of course, we will also make notes about lots of other features, including special settings, auto-stops, preset functions, and flavor adjustments.
When all the fun, coffee tasting is over, we'll undertake the clean-up process, which can be just as insightful. Here, we'll spot whether a reservoir is removable and how easy it is to reach right to every corner. We'll also check the filter and how easy that is to clean, whether it's re-usable, and how fine it is. There will be other maintenance, rinse, and storage notes we think you need to know about. Here's the time we take to put them down.
After all that, we'll also make notes on the overall appearance, user-experience, and who we think this is suitable for (as well as who it isn't suitable for). We let you know everything we think you need to, so that if you choose to invest in the KitchenAid, you don't end up with any nasty surprises.
If you want to find out more, you can visit our dedicated page for how we test coffee makers. There's lots of information on there.
I've gone a bit KitchenAid crazy. I tested this next to the KitchenAid grinder and I loved them both. I'm still amazed at the sheer quality, technicality, and expertise that the brand are delivering on in a relatively new section of the kitchen. Even if you're a coffee specialist, I think you'd enjoy the KitchenAid. If you have the room and the budget, I'd go for this coffee maker every time.
