Delonghi 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker DCF212T

Delonghi 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker DCF212T 
$44.29

Pros
It has a front-loading design.

Cons
Warranty is for one year.

The Verdict: 8.6/10The Delonghi design is convenient for placement underneath kitchen cabinets.
Unit weight: 4.65 lbs

Unit size: 9.2" W x 10.4" D x 12.3" H

Wattage: 900

Carafe capacity: 60 ounces

About Delonghi
Delonghi continuously searches for new materials, state-of-the-art production techniques and accurate controls that contribute to enhance the quality level of its products.

The Delonghi 12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker is the only front-loading model in our coffee makers review, which means that it is ideal for locations under kitchen cabinets. Its modest price comes at the expense of power output and warranty, both of which are adequate but not the best compared to other coffee makers.

The Delonghi brews into a 12-cup glass carafe on a non-stick hot plate. In keeping with its role as a home-appliance, its power output is 900 watts, quite a far cry from commercial coffee makers, which often have at least 1,400 watts of power output. With 900 watts of power output, brew time takes a little longer in comparison with commercial coffee makers, but it does make the coffee hot enough. It has a strength setting, which considerably slows the brew process because it slowly saturates coffee grounds at 30-second intervals to maximize the brewing process and extract the most flavor and aroma from the coffee.

It does not have a water filter, which means that bottled water will result in better coffee, depending on your location and the quality of your tap water. Absence of a water filter also means that, in areas with hard water, it will be important to descale hard water deposits about once every 300 brew cycles to maintain functionality. It comes with a permanent, metal mesh, gold-tone filter, instead of paper filters. Metal mesh filters are not necessarily better than paper filters. Metal mesh filters save the cost of paper filters, but many people find better flavor in coffee brewed through paper filters.

The front-loading design means that it is convenient to keep it under low kitchen cabinets. The appliance can stay under a cabinet without having to be moved because access to the coffee filter and reservoir swings out of the unit. It has all of the convenience features that have become de rigueur for drip coffee makers: 24-hour programmable digital timer to control brew start, brew pause to enable filling a cup in the middle of a brew cycle without spilling, audible beep when brewing is complete, and automatic shut down after two hours. Cord storage and a storage tray that warms cups are also convenient features.

Customer support is available by telephone or email. The warranty is for one year.