Capresso MT600 10-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker with Stainless-Steel Thermal Carafe
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List Price: Our Price: $129.95 You Save: $60.05 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Capresso MT600 10-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker with Stainless-Steel Thermal Carafe
Customer Review: Poor design and build Now Dead
Summary: 1 Stars
FINAL UPDATE
This coffee maker has an interesting "feature" - should the filter basket become clogged, or if someone forgets to return the carafe quickly during a "pause and serve" - the basket overflows INTO THE COLD WATER RESERVOIR! What a mess!.
The good news is that it completely died this morning and I can get this junk off my counter.
UPDATE 2:
I have really begun to hate this coffee maker. After six months of use, the screw-on lid came apart and fell into the carafe this morning. Even before it broke, was impossible to pour without dripping, or drenching the counter top when filling the reservoir. The MT600 is poorly designed and constructed.
UPDATE:
After several weeks of use I can add the following:
I originally was grinding 12 cups for a 10 cup pot. I found that the coffee maker works much better if you press the 1-4 cup button before brewing. I now use a 10 - cup grind and the coffee is stronger than before.
The carafe lid snaps to the closed position with a detent feature in the lid. After a couple of weeks, the lid would over rotate past the closed position. The detent notch can be restored by pressing the threaded collar back to its original position. Not acceptable for $140.00.
ORIGINAL:
I purchased the MT600 to replace a Cuisinart brewer that died after only one year of daily use. Prior to the Cuisinart, I had used a Krups thermal carafe that had gotten beat up by other appliances. (Electric skillet melted the side of the plastic carafe). Thankfully, I kept the Krups in case of emergency and it bought me some time to research before buying. I narrowed my choices down to the MT600 and the Zojirushi EC-BD15.
I was skeptical about spending $140.00 for a coffee maker, but I hoped that I might buy a little more durability. Only time will tell. The design and construction of the MT600 seems on par with other units I have owned - not "robust", but adequate. The unit is described as having a "milled steel" base which should be better than the cheap plastic in other machines. After reading some reviews here, I kept the box and packing materials just in case I wasn't happy. So far - so good.
Functionally, the MT600 works well; better than either of my two earlier thermal carafe machines. While I wanted a twelve-cup machine like the Cuisinart, in reality my daily brew is 8 - 10 cups anyway. There seems to be a bit more flavor in the brew and the MT is much faster.
Operation is straightforward - no different than other machines. As noted elsewhere the sight glass is awkward for right handed people to see. As I almost always brew a full pot, I don't even bother looking.
Pros:
* Brews hot coffee quickly.
* Noticeably better flavor from coffee.
* Lighted digital display.
* Easy to clean.
Cons:
* Price.
* Some occasional drips when pouring.
* Price.
Hopefully the MT600 will last long enough to justify the price premium.
Customer Review: MT600 versus ST600
Summary: 5 Stars
We had a Capresso ST600 stainless coffee maker for MANY years. It had a clock, feature to set the time to start your coffee in the morning, a filter, and a warning to let you know when to change the filter. To brew the best coffee, we filled the water tank using a hose type faucet from the sink and put it directly into the coffee maker. We did not fill the carafe and then pour it in. This cools down the carafe and consequently the coffee that you brew. We used unbleached paper filters and ground the coffee fresh in the morning and did not use the overnight timer. You turned the top of the carafe to a particular spot to brew and it rested on the counter top and was pushed into the ST600. It would only brew when the carafe made contact with a switch inside. Unit worked fine.
We figured the MT600 would be a natural replacement but were concerned about all the negative reviews about leaks, pouring spout problems, cold coffee and the like. We went to the Happy Cook who sold Krup, Capresso, and a lower priced unit that started with a "Z." The sales person, very knowledgeable, said the MT600 was the top seller and in over a year never had a return. They use one for customer coffee in the store. I asked about spilling and brought me a carafe she filled with water - no counter spills when I poured it. I bought the unit.
First off, there are many improvements over the ST600. The carafe mounts into the unit and not on the counter, the clock controls are not under the top lid of the unit, they are easier to use, the filter warning light is a green LED instead of a flashing clock warning, the overall size of the unit is smaller and more stylish, the fill gauge is more visible, and the fill area is larger.
Now the test. We filled it with water and ran it through to clear the filter and the unit as the instructions say. No problem. Put in a filter, fresh coffee grounds, and filled it. Eight minutes later, coffee was done without any counter leaks. Poured the coffee into a cup and it was hot and the spout worked better than the ST600 - impossible to spill - very well designed.
I think most of the problems people have with the unit seem to be a failure to follow instructions. The instructions say that if you fill the unit with cold water from the carafe, you should refill the carafe with hot water and pour it out. A cold carafe reduces the temperature of the coffee. So you really need to fill it with a pitcher or do what we do from an extendable faucet hose. There is a dot on the lid. You lock it closed (align two dots) and put it into the MT600 which has a cradle for it - very hard not to get it right. If you don't, you would probably get a leak. To pour the coffee, turn the top so the dot lines up with the spout - 1/2 turn. Open it more than that and you may have pouring problems. Follow the directions - Happy Cook has had no returns on the unit.
We love it - better than the old model by far.
Customer Review: Great Thermal Coffee Maker...BUT
Summary: 3 Stars
Capresso MT600 10-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker with Stainless-Steel Thermal Carafe
Great design, especially the large mouth on carafe which makes cleaning easy. The MT600 makes great hot coffee and the thermal pot keeps it warm for hours. I liked my Capresso MT500 which I used previous to purchasing the MT600.
However, I am disappointed with this product. Looking beyond the lovely design, it lacks quality details. The construction of Capresso MT600 (made in China) is inferior to the MT500 (made in Portugal) which I owned and used for 7 years prior to purchasing this coffee maker. The unit is not as solid, the lid to water reservoir is wobbly, and the water reservoir has a groove on the left side instead of a nice clean sleek left side of the MT500. The carafe's lid is difficult to turn but I like the larger mouth for easy cleaning (about the only improvement I can detect). The water indicator on the right is hard to see unless you turn the coffee maker. I could see the water indicator level on the MT500 without turning the unit. The MT600's water level indicator can only be read by turning the maker to the side and viewing it straight on. Basically...the MT600 is a cheap imitation of the MT500. I expected to receive a quality built product from Capresso.
Upon receiving my coffee maker, I called Capresso Customer Service and was told that my unit was fine but it had a wobbly water reservoir lid. I was told the MT600 was more affordable than the MT500 and the manufacturer site had changed. I do not mind paying more for quality well designed and crafted product which I used every day. I will now be on the lookout for another coffee maker which has a solid feel and nice design.
Customer Review: Usage hints - great coffee, no filter required
Summary: 5 Stars
The MT600 makes fantastic coffee, and that's what's important. I was worried about the number of negative reviews, so let's deal with those comments first.
Alignment: no problem. I suspect that was a design flaw that was subsequently fixed. I can wiggle the pot around & nothing spills.
Warming: It keeps the coffee warm as long as you'd want. After an hour any coffee starts to go bad, that's not the fault of the coffee pot: it's chemistry. I found that it was still a drinkable temperature after two or more hours (I prefer fresh coffee, but I'll drink anything with caffeine)
The MT600 brews great coffee fast. It's well laid-out, taking up no more counter-space than necessary. It's easy to set up & the water gauge on the side makes it easy to fill. It's even got a setting for brewing small batches of coffee. The controls are easy to use / easy to figure out even after you lose the directions.
It seems like all the high-end coffee makers feature charcoal filters now. I suspect that's got less to to do brewing coffee than with revenue enhancement. Whatever, this one runs just fine without the filter.
A couple of hints - the top has holes to let the coffee in while brewing (works better that way ;-) Find a big cork to seal it after brewing & the coffee will stay warm longer & get stale slower. You can preheat the carafe with hot water and it will start out hotter. The gauge at the side is somewhat pessimistic, you can fill it "a little" farther depending on how much ground coffee you use. While this is called a 'ten cup' I'd call it a 'four mug' when I fill it as far as I can without overflowing. But hey, that's how any manufacturer measures capacity.
Overall, I'm very quite happy with my purchase.
Customer Review: Very Pleased.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've never written a review for anything before, so here goes.
I ordered my Capresso MT600 on a Saturday and got it on the following Wednesday. I've only had it a few days, but here's my opinion so far.... It seems to be a very well designed coffee maker with a very nice insulated carafe. In fact, I brewed a pot of coffee before work today at about 6 a.m., and when I got home from work at about 2 p.m., the leftover coffee I poured out was still warm. It wasn't steaming hot, but I was still very impressed. The coffee tastes great, it brews fast, it brews hot and I haven't had any issues with the coffee going everywhere during the brewing process. If I had to name a few "negatives" then I suppose I would start with the price. I don't regret buying this coffee maker one bit, but for those of you that want a great tasting cup of coffee, the Cuisinart DCC-1200 makes a great cup of coffee for literally half the price (I previously owned one of those as well). Also, the lid to the coffee maker could be a little more stable, but so far so good. Filling the water resevoir can be a bit tricky as well. My last coffee maker had a glass carafe, so I just filled the carafe with the amount of cups I wanted to brew. There's no great way to do it, but the worst case scenario is you either have to walk back to your sink and get more water, or make more coffee than you intended. All in all I'd say this is a solid machine that I hope to use for a long time. I would definitely recommend this product.