I got my daughter the Cuisinart one from Costco and she absolutely loves it. It's pricey but from what she says, its worth every penny.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinart Single Serve Brewing System

We also have the Cuisinart one and love it. We have had it for about a year now and no problems at all.

jillinnj - I asked the same question on the Appliance Forum and got some great advice - expecially about using the "K cup" instead of the pods. One of the posters experimented with some different ones and found one that works better than the Keurig one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Any Recommendations for a pod coffeemaker?

I bought my husband the Tassimonone years ago. Last year I bought him the latest model. He loves it.

I setup the auto delivery service from Tassimo for the disks. If you order $35 worth there's no shipping. He gets a shipment every couple of months. You can setup the auto shipment for any time period you want.

I bought my husband the Tassimonone years ago. Last year I bought him the latest model. He loves it.

I setup the auto delivery service from Tassimo for the disks. If you order $35 worth there's no shipping. He gets a shipment every couple of months. You can setup the auto shipment for any time period you want.

Another very satisfied (Bosch) Tassimo owner here. It's annoying that Tassimo did not keep the Starbucks contract which has now gone to Keurig. The Tassimo is a good little machine though, and having enjoyed our coffee, several friends and family members have now bought their own! I buy the coffee from BB & B with the 20% off coupon or from Walmart or Target if I see it there.

Maire Cate, thanks for the link! Not only was the thread quite informative regarding the subject at hand, but you really made me LOL!

Since I stubbornly cling to my desire for financial independence, I bought a $12.00 single serve Hamilton Beach coffee maker at Wal-mart several months ago. (LOL!) It's still going strong, remarkably, & I love the Dark Roast coffee that it makes with the required Senseo pods. It won't be long before these little Senseo gems are no longer available though (I predict.) They are only sold at Wal-mart now, as it is.

That Cuisinart Lukki & Glaser like sounds intriguing.

Thanks, everyone. Such mixed reviews. What to do...what to do...

maire_cate - who knew that a simple question about a kitchen appliance would cause a lecture on your personal finances! Wow! You handled that one very gracefully. Much better than I would have :-)

Good luck choosing, Jill!

This one looks interesting too. You can use your own coffee grounds, which is a nice option. I see so many tantalizing coffees out there!

Here is a link that might be useful: single-serve scoop coffee maker

Another Cuisinart single-serve owner here. We decided on the Cuisinart rather than the Keurig for a few reasons:

Quieter
Larger water well
3-year warranty
"My K cup" dispenser included (no additional cost)
More ounce size/alternate choices for brewing
Cuisinart reputation

My DH was a tough sell who quickly became a convert. We've had it over a year now and we love, love, love our Cuisinart.

I'm not sure how much help I'll be here since I don't drink coffee. :)

My DH requested a Keurig for Christmas. I did not want to get it. I read many reviews and the vast majority of them said that they simply do not last. However, DH could not be swayed into looking into any other brand.

I'll just give my report on the hot chocolate and chai latte-- they are both really just OK. It was interesting to read in Maire Cate's thread that this is generally what people report about the coffee, too-- it's convenient, but nothing that tastes too great. (And MC, your reply was PERFECT in response to the $ aspect on that thread!)

My mom is not at all into gadgets, but when we got the Keurig (DH insisted on using it before Christmas!) she mentioned it several times w/o criticizing it. :) So, we got her one, and she loves, loves, loves it. She is still has her vacuum from the '70s (that she bought used) and hasn't bought a new pair of scissors in decades (and hers do not work well) so she really isn't one for this type of thing, but she talks about it almost every day. I just hope it lasts-- otherwise, I guess I'll get her a different kind for Christmas next yr.

BTW-- I don't know if this will help us with our maintenance, but anytime we use something with sugar (like the hot chocolate), we run through one cycle with nothing in it but plain water. Somehow, it's supposed to keep it in better shape. We'll see.

LOVE my Keurig. Makes a great cup of coffee. We make 3 cups a day and a regular coffee maker is just a pain for that many. I have the one with the water on the side. Highly recommend it.

I have had a Keurig for several years and love it. However, I am the only one that uses it as DH really doesn't drink hot beverages. I use the coffee K-cups since I only drink 1 (maybe 2) cups of coffee a day. For tea, I don't use pods, but my choice of teabags, and use the machine to heat the water. I would do the same with hot chocolate, as I've not been too impressed with what comes in the K-cups. The Keurig was a gift, so I really haven't looked around at the other options, but I will when I need to replace it.

I sent the one stinky linked and was also in maire_cate's post in appliances to DH to have a look.

I won't use the pods because I don't want to fill landfills with more plastic. But, the reviews on using my k-cup are not promising. We love our coffee and are very picky. I'm concerned that the reusable filter will not meet our needs. That's why the Hamilton Beach one is intriguing.

Have any of you that have something other than a Keurig used the reusable filter instead of the pods?

I'm not a big coffee drinker at all, but occasionally I would like a cup. My husband has an espresso maker that I don't even know how to use, and I'm certainly not going to brew an entire pot for one cup. So when my mom asked me what my DH and I would like for Christmas, I asked for the Keurig type machine. I left the model up to her. So far I have brewed 2 cups since Christmas, but it will get more use when I have my book club over. They will be happy not to be subjected to my abysmal coffee making skills - I noticed quite a few almost full cups with bits of grounds in them after the last meeting at my house. Plus I will be able to give them the choice of regular or decaf.

Jill, I'm confused. Aren't the pods eco-friendly? I realize those little cups are plastic, not a good thing, but the pods are just little paper filters with pre-measured coffee, right?

Still, even if pods aren't troublesome for the landfill, it's nice to have the option of trying any coffee that you find that looks appealing, & not be limited to a pre-measured unit of some kind!

stinky - yes, the pods are small plastic cups with pre-measured coffee. So you use it once to make your cup and throw it away. Just seems very wasteful to me. Plus they are more expensive than buying a pound of coffee works out to be per cup.

And, yes, we love our brand of coffee. Took us a long time to find something we love (and can afford! Used to love Kona coffee, but it got crazy expensive after some weather issues in Hawaii a few years ago). So would like to be able to quickly make a single cup, but use my own coffee. I know, I know, I want everything :-)

I can comment on the single serve Hamilton Beach that was linked. I don't drink coffee, but dh does. For years, he's used a regular Mr. Coffee coffee maker with filter which just seemed like overkill b/c he only drinks one cup per day, if that. When the carafe about a year ago, he replaced it with a another cheap Mr. Coffee machine to hold him over while we looked at nice machines. I had always wanted to get him a single-serve machine, but after researching the Keurig machines, decided against them - seemed like too many people complained that the coffee wasn't strong enough, plus I hated the idea of all that plastic going to the landfill.

During the holidays, GMA recommended the Hamilton Beach during one of their segments and had a "special buy" where it was only $30 w/free shipping. I decided to get it for dh for Christmas. Since it was so cheap, it wouldn't be a big deal if dh didn't like it.

Let me preface this part by saying that dh likes very strong black coffee. He doesn't like the flavored kinds, just plain dark coffee. His first reaction was that it wasn't as strong as he liked. He continued to use it despite me telling him that I wouldn't be offended if he wanted to go back to his cheap old Mr. Coffee! However, he said it's not a big deal and that he'll continue to use it. From what I gathered from him (and I haven't investigated nor tested since I'm not a coffee drinker), there is always a little bit of leftover water in the dispenser so when he makes a new cup, somehow it waters it down too much for his preference. He said he can't make the coffee any stronger b/c he already puts as many grinds as he can in the little basket. I have to admit that he hasn't really seemed to fool around with it to see if he can "fix" it so that it makes a stronger cup.

Aside from that, the machine works well. No mess to clean up (love not having drippy coffee filters that dh is sometimes careless with), no plastic k-cups or whatever they are called, and a very easy machine to use. It takes up very little room on the counter and has a sleek and updated look, especially compared to the Mr. Coffee machine we had.

I wish I could have given a personal review but hope that my husband's comments were helpful. If you have any specific questions, I can ask him. (One of these days I'm going to actually read the directions and make a cup for him to see if I get better results!)

We have a Cuisinart Espresso Maker but a different model/type than the folks above. It's EM-100. I just LOVE it! I'm not sure how long we've had it....maybe a year and a half? Two years? Dunno but it's great!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinart EM-100

Jill, so sorry for being a pest...but I need to ask again! Aren't there pods AND plastic cups? My machine uses what I think of as "pods," little paper filters with coffee in them. For Keurig & other machines, the coffee appears to be in little plastic cups. Two different delivery systems. Am I following this, LOL?

Interesting, & thanks for the info, Fourkids! I like my coffee on the bold side, & no cream & sugar as well. Something else to think about!

Fourkids4us - You should tell your husband to try a coffee with chicory in it. French Market, Luzianne, and others with chicory are much stronger than regular coffee. They instruct you to use only half the amount of these coffees as you would a regular coffee because of their strength. This might solve his problem!

stinky - you are so NOT a pest! I think I'm probably mixing up terms. I thought (emphasis on thought!) that the pods were the little plastic cups? Those things that go in the Keurig. No?

And then I think there is something that Keurig calls "My k-cup" which is the refillable little cup with built in filter.

Are we saying the same thing?

I also drink my coffee black, no sugar, so it has to be just perfect. DH does put cream and sugar in his so he can tolerate a bit more deviation from how I like my coffee. I do like my coffee strong, but not Starbucks strong.

whitedobe - does that machine make regular coffee? Or just espresso/cappacino? Is that a dumb question? Do all espresso machines make regular coffee too? I thought there was a difference in how they are brewed?

forkids - thanks for the detailed report! That might be a problem for us as well, as I don't like weak coffee.

Geez, this is as hard as it was to pick a new washing machine last month! I guess I should just get something and see if we like it. We're not talking thousands of dollars here! :-)

I think the machine we have, Cuisinart EM-100, just makes espresso/cappacino. It works for us becasue we both like STRONG coffee. We just pull a double shot of espresso for our morning "coffee". I did make cappachino's for the rest of the family during the holidays.