Krups Reviews

Like some other reviewers I too had problems whth some of the connective tissue when grinding pork shoulder for sausage. Unlike others I had the ability to sharpen carbide. I did and it did no good. I substituted the cutter from a broken Rival Model 2275 and all problems disappeared. The grinder went through 30 pounds of pork with ease.

The cutter plates are made of high carbon (very hard) steel and it does rust quickly. I dry mine by hand and rub them with a little olive oil before storing them (I use plastic sandwich bags).

Cleaning is a matter of rinsing off the large debris and putting the parts in the dishwasher. As I said I dry and oil the cutter plates by hand.

I have had very good service from this machine after finding the blade switch trick Gook Luck !

It looks tiny when you put it together, but then you start feeding it and it grinds through a lot of meat like it was a pro from the butcher store! We make our own sausage, and with this grinder it's a breeze. We did 8 lb of country smoked sausage today using this machine. We even used the salad attachment for onions and herbs that goes in the sausage. And did I mention that the sausage funnel attachment works great as well? And finally it's great to have something in the kitchen that isn't made in China. This one is put together in France.

I almost didn't buy this because some of the reviews were so negative, but it turns out to be just what I was looking for to replace a product that has done us good service for 30 years.
(the only reason I wanted to replace it was that it's pedistal base cracked last year and it was a bit wobbly when I was grating stuff)

I didn't buy this for the meat grinder, I bought it for the salad attachments. Many years ago, my mother bought a small appliance called "kitchenworks", and this product is certainly an exact duplicate.

Some reviewers here thought the grating/slicing drums were a bit flimsy, but I compared them to my old product and they are the exact same weight and temperance as my current product, so I expect them to hold on for as many years. As for the comments on the meat grinding attachment rusting, I would have to say that these attachements are NOT stainless steel, so they should be towel dried after cleaning, rather than left to air dry in a dish drainer.

As a whole, this product is a good buy, even if, like me, you never use it for anything other than grating veggies and cheese.

Pros: 1) This coffeemaker is far more interesting to look at than the typical unit. 2) It makes a decent cup of coffee.

Cons: 1) It's difficult to impossible to pour water from the glass carafe into the water reservoir, so you'll need to keep an empty water bottle (or some equally attractive container) sitting around and mark it to match the cup amoounts on the carafe. I found that an old Aquafina bottle marked with a Sharpie did the trick. 2) It doesn't have a timer, so if you want your coffee ready when you get up in the morning you'll have to get one of those timers that plug into the receptacle -- another attractive addition to your kitchen decor. 3) The circular filters seem to be available only by mail from Krups at outrageous prices and usually on backorder, so you'll need to get a pair of sharp scissors for cutting circles out of the regular drip filters you'll be buying -- I know this is certainly the way I want to spend my extra time. 4) The grounds need to be tamped down slightly for best results, so you'll need to find a flat, hard tool exactly the diameter of the grounds container to use in place of the one that Krups didn't bother to include. 5) Contrary to Krups' claim, the heating element in the bottom of the water reservoir DOES NOT keep the coffee hot -- it barely keeps it tepid -- so you'll need to make sure you have a microwave handy to zap every cup except the first one. 6) It doesn't have an automatic shut-off, so you'll be able to ruin your vacations by worrying about whether or not you turned the ill-designed thing off. 7) Clean-up is a pain compared to regular coffeemakers. The filter disks and spent grounds don't easily come out unless you sharply smack the grounds container against something else, which often affords you the opportunity to clean up a mess of wet coffee grounds. You might want to keep toothpicks or something similar sitting around to poke through the holes in the bottom of the grounds container to get the filter to fall away -- then you can just dig out the remaining grounds with your finger.

I could go on, but I won't. Instead I will go to the store and buy a regular drip coffeemaker and a box of Melitta filters that I will NOT be cutting into little circles. Anybody want a very lightly used Moka Brew? Ah well, another interesting-looking doorstop.

I got this coffeemaker via smartbargains for $49.99 (just put in smart bargains in the amazon search up top, it sorta hotlinks amazon to them )
I like it. It's unorthodox, funky looking, and totally different from how you make coffee.
You would never believe that small looking pot holds over 40 ozs of coffee, but it does.

I like that it is sealed, I think the coffee stays fresher while waiting for me to finish the first cup and barge on to the second. It does take more time to brew (which it does very quietly, no gurgling), but it will brew faster using hot water rather than cold. It appears to get more action out of the grounds, because the color is coming out richer, blacker, almost scary. The flavor is full and complete, and it's blessedly hot.

I am still monkeying around with different coffees, I will prolly settle back with my antigua soon.

The only reason it got 4 stars was Smartbargains. A number on my address was transposed, and when I emailed in a panic to get it fixed, they claimed there was nothing they could do. Their help was limited to the exact same information that I had from the website, and they showed no inclination to take one more step towards attempting to help get my coffeemaker to me. After three days of UPS trying to deliver it to a non existant address, they finally figured out the transposition and what should have been 5 days, took 10. At least it's here, but I will never order anything from Smartbargains again. They are just too darned helpless.

Have had this coffee maker for at least a year. If you want excellent tasting coffee consistently, this is your machine. It's a cross between a mild espresso type taste and a superior drip machine. The water goes through very hot and the taste is so rich. We brew on this machine an average 2 times a day. It has held up fantastically, a very well engineered product. The round paper filters are a bit unorthodox but we reuse them and have no complaints. I even heard on Oprah (Dr. Michael F. Roizen as guest, his book REAL AGE MAKEOVER) this week that using paper filters instead of copper paperless filters for brewing is much healthier for you. Can't remember what chemicals it was that gets filtered out of even straight caffeinated (vs. decaf) beans; you'll have to look it up if interested. So we are supposedly drinking healthier coffee now than from our previous coffeemakers (Braun, Capresso and Zojirushi). A little unintended benefit when we switched to this maker. Be aware there is no automatic off switch. Thought this would bug me since I demand it on all things. However, I guess I like this maker so much I haven't let it bother me. We often pour this coffee into a thermal carafe immediately upon completion since sitting on the heater for extended periods seems to make the taste bitter. Maybe I also like the fact this machine only has one switch and it only can be off or on. I am tired of multi-buttoned and multi-programmable common small appliances. The simplicity of operation and the pretty lines of the machine on top of the perfect taste have made us very happy owners of this machine. I highly recommend it without reservation.