Breville BDC650BSS Grind Control Coffee Maker - 60oz Capacity, Brushed Stainless Steel, Programmable Timer, Fresh Ground Coffee - Perfect for Home, Office & Entertaining

Have owned several of these. They make seriously great coffee, much better than any others we've tried - and we're minor coffee snobs. It's easy to set up to go in the evening and wakes us up at the right time every day. It's easy to use, easy to clean daily and monthly cleaning isn't too bad. It does single cups pretty well and it's easy to set up for pre-ground coffee. And it doesn't seem to last more than a couple of years =/ . I figure spending 50 cents a day on a coffeemaker that makes really good is acceptable, though I'd REALLY rather not have to replace it so often.There are a bunch of knobs you can fiddle with - don't be afeared, because the settings it comes with are just fine and make a really good cuppa. If you fool with them, you can make better coffee than you can get anywhere else short of out of a cappucino maker run by a real live barista.Or French press. Yeah, French press is better coffee, but does a French press wake you up in the morning and have your coffee ready to pour by the time you stumble out to the kitchen? NO! This grind-and-brew fella does that, though. You set the clock, set the on-time (easy PEASY), go to bed, and at whatever AM the grinder goes GRRRRRR, the dogs jump on you in the bed, you get up and feed the noisy varmints, and by the time they head out the door to pee, your coffee is DONE. Let's see a French press do THAT.Setting it up night before is easy. You dump in some water, fill the bean hopper if you need to, dial in however many cups of brew you want tomorrow, push a button twice and there you go. It tells you it's set to go off in the morning on the lighted display.Yeah, the thermal carafe doesn't pour right. Seems to be a common flaw with everyone's stainless jug. It does keep the coffee warm pretty well. We drink it before it cools (because it's GOOD), so can't tell you how long it will stay warm enough for you in the pot. btw, pulling the pot out mid-brew isn't a problem. There's an automatic valve in the bottom of the filter basket that shuts off flow. Don't leave the carafe out for too long, because the basket will eventually overflow, but we've never had a problem with coffee dribbling all over the counter whilst we pour an impatient cup.It does single cups pretty well, but there are some tricks. You probably want to dial the grinder down to a smaller number, like a 2 or 3 as opposed to a 4 or 5 for a larger pot. (And you have to remember to reset it or your pot will be bitter in the morning!) You also may have to dial in a higher strength setting. You just have to figure it out based on your preferences, the coffee you use and what you and your significant other negotiate. And if you don't do that, your single cup comes out a bit weak. Drinkable, not terrible.You can use preground coffee just fine. You press a button to turn the grinder off and put your best stuff into the filter. Everything else is the same. And it stays on preground until you change it. But use beans, all y'all! You paid for the privilege!Daily cleaning, after you get the hang of it, is a nice ritual, not hard at all. I dump the waste coffee into chipmunk holes and around snail-chomped hosta plants in my garden. I spend a minute scrubbing out the pot, lid, filter (I use the metal one that comes with the pot) and filter basket with a soft brush under running water. I wipe down the shiny metal disk on the coffeemaker to get the hardened coffee gunk off - otherwise, it dribbles after a few days.Then I get it ready for tomorrow. I stick the filter in the basket, hook the basket into the basket holder and close the basket holder firmly. I fill the water tank with filtered water from my fridge dispenser (don't use distilled - makes horrible coffee!). I fill up the bean hopper if need be. I make sure the right number of cups is still set and press the wake-me button twice. When I've done that right, it beeps cheerily and flashes 5:00 AM (ugh). Done.Monthly cleaning is a little more involved. First, it's best to use up all the water or you could make a mess (I've certainly never done that). I wash and replace the filter and basket and close the basket holder. The bean hopper comes off easily, and if you do it with the basket holder closed, it also spins the metal disk so you can see through the disk's window into the grinder. I take the filter basket out.I unplug it next, because I do all this stuff outside - it's a bit of a mess. I tip it on its side to get the few beans left in the grinder. There's sort of a handle on the top grinding plate that you turn, and it comes off. I usually have to use a pliers to do that, but it isn't hard. I use an old toothbrush to clean up the burrs and top grinding plate, then poke around through the disk window with the odd brush they give you to loosen up the caked-up grounds under the bottom grinding plate. Then I either use a canned-air spray you use to clean your keyboard or - I like this, but you HAVE to make sure!!!! there's no!!!! water in the hopper!!!! - a vacuum set on minimum suck, like you'd use for curtains. Then I put it all together (you won't need your pliers if you did it well) and go plug it in again.Next, I press the button for preground and dial cups to 12 (no coffee in there!). I pour Costco vinegar into the water tank up to the 4 cup mark, then fill it to 12 cups with filtered water. Don't overfill - it just slops out the overfill drain onto your counter. Vinegar is bad for marble, btw. You push one of the knobs until you get a beep and the display says, "Infusing". It cogitates and gurgles and steams, then starts filling the pot with hot vinegar water. Beep says it's done and you dump it out and do it one more time. (I pour the hot vinegar water on the weeds in the road. Kills 'em satisfactorily without poison. We all win.)Last, you fill the tank with filtered water and run the preground cycle (no coffee!), dump out the water and do it at least one more time. Yeah, it's a bit of work, but only once a month. I start in the morning and kind of do it all day, doing chores, raving on Facebook, and whatever while the pot is cycling. No prob. Well, a little prob, but the coffee is worth it.Now we come to the reliability thing. This is my fourth or fifth one of these over about ten years. The last one died because somehow we got water into the grinder. Trick is to catch it and get the water out as soon as you realize what happened, but this time ... gremlins. Usually, it just gets clogged and mad and stops, but this time, a little water got into the motor. Long story, but my circuit breaker was bad and the motor burned up. Rats. Don't get water in the grinder. No.The others - one suddenly wouldn't grind without bogging down, one began starting whenever it pleased but never when we wanted it to, and one just completely went on strike. The lights were on, but no one was home. Shortest (barring water where it doesn't belong) 14 months, just over the warranty period; longest more than three years. But not great.I bought another one. I'll probably buy another one after this. Not happy about average of a bit more than two years per machine at $300 per plus tax. But I figure about 50 cents per pot is something I can do for excellent coffee and, other than reliability, pretty great design.Breville: I do quality design and process improvement for a living, and I'm retiring in a few months. Let me know if you want help (not for free, though, all y'all!). You have a blockbuster machine here - but.