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Nice looking, but does have annoyances

I’ve had a few different black and decker under cabinet coffee pots over the years and they were overdue for an update on the overall look of the product. I give the basic design 5 stars in that, the look is more current and if you have had the older version, you do get more noticable increase of counter usability space with this model. On the other hand, there are some annoyances with this new version. (I’m keeping the coffee maker)

For the overall rating that I provided of 3 stars, here is why.

Installation Template… JOKE
Missing measurement legends so was not usable. I held the coffer maker up to the cabinet to determine where I wanted it to be installed, measured from a few places on the coffee pot and cabinet and used the hanging bracket of the coffee maker as the template (pencil through screw holes).

Installation Hardware… screws wrong size
This is a design problem in concept, while having a bag of a bunch of different sizes solves the problem, or in my case, a hacksaw solved the problem. The ultimate reason is that there is no gap between the end of the screw when installed and the coffee pot to slide on. In older models if the screw went into the nut and came out the otherside by a 1/4 of an inch it was fine. In this model the screw must not go much past being flush to the end of the nut…. which is nuts!

Water Reservior… nice idea, but has challenges
a) Since the reservoir has such a large surface area, providing an exact amount of water is not easy. When you set it on the counter and fill it, it doesn’t sit flat, etc, etc.
b) The top of the reservior is removable in order to clean it out. When you have the water around 10 cups, or more likely 12 cups, this lid doesn’t seal the water in very good for a short walk from the sink to the coffee maker. Not a big deal, not a lot of dripping, but you have to pay attention to it.

Sneak a cup… Twice now we have had coffee overflow out of the filter area. This was due to the sneak a cup braket not designed very well. When you put the coffee pot into the unit, it pushes on a little handle/arm… barely. This braket opens/closes a door on the bottom of the filter. If the coffee pot is slightly off being place in properly, plan on a nice clean up of coffee on the counter. I added a little bit of bulk to the face of the bracket and I think it will solve the problem.

Removing top bracket… Geez, one of the first steps in the installation is to remove the top mounting bracket/piece from the top of the coffee maker… OMG, my wife and I were playing tug-a-war to get that dumb thing off. This should NOT come pre-connected to the coffee maker.

Handling of Water reservior and Filter. Neither have a nice handle or way to grip them. The filter part is more awkward to hold than the resourvoir, but it should be looked at.

I know I listed several things, but from the things listed, I don’t think they are show-stoppers, I’ll be keeping the coffee maker.

Update (2/9/2012): I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Black & Decker SDC740B SpaceMaker 12-Cup Coffeemaker, Black Kitchen, was written by Tobin.

The average rating for this item is 4.3 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.