Taylor Swoden 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker, Regular & Strong Brew Drip Coffee Machine for Home and Office, Glass Carafe, Pause & Serve, Auto Shut Off, Black & Stainless Steel

Okay. Only used once. It's light mint green. I was looking at deeper aquas, and pinks; but there were bad reviews, or they were too expensive, or too big for my limited counter space. (Some pod users are incredibly small!)I already purchased a pink one for pods and a one cup basket. But I wanted something for when I want to make more coffee at once. And smell it when I wake up! Or percolate it for a change. My daughter prefers that. I love Donut Shop pods, but they are expensive!This one is programmable, which is nice. And it's more compact, and cheaper than some of the other ones like that! Although it's still a decent size.And turns out the light mint matches my cabinets perfectly!I did my whole apartment and kitchen Shabby Chic pink and aqua, with Paris roses. I was looking for those colors. Reviews tend to be confusing, though. Some people love things, and other people have problems.This had a nice color, features, size, price, and enough good reviews, to make me give it a try. And it's even a 12 cup!(I was at looking five cups originally, to save space.)Well only brewed one pot so far. (Plus a plain water first for cleaning.) I had no problem pouring the water intoto the little spaces in the back on both sides. Not until that last little bit! Then it spilled a little bit. Even going to the left side. Just have a dish towel ready.I found that going forward to the narrow part towards the end helps, because the pot is then very vertical.I wiped off the extra drips on the burner, because for some reason it does a little when you're putting the carafe in. And then it sizzles for a little bit. Not a real big deal! But I didn't want problems, so I wiped it with a dish towel. No biggie! No water coming out of the machine. I use tap water.And the carafe is fine! I don't know if they changed it, but it's a normal thickness carafe, Not fragile. And the spout works fine! No dribble, thank God, pouring; cuz I hate that!So I definitely think it's a great value for the money. I will update if it breaks down the road.It comes with a little scooper. Now I used four for four cups. Perhaps was a little weak. Maybe I'll add one for the pot, as my dad used to say, next time. There's also a strong coffee option.But for now, after returning a pink one that was 12 cups cuz it was just too big for me!This one got my little rose sticker of approval. Lol.Has to be Shabby Chic and pretty, to be on my counter!For some reason it will not let me post a picture at this time!*Update. It did sizzle the first few times. I realized from a tiny bit of coffee dripping out as it's brewing. The star shaped holes on the pot lid and spring mechanism on the machine, where the coffee drips out has to mesh, I think.I found pushing the handle of the pot back helped. But it didn't do it today!Also, I wipe the bottom of the carafe off first with a dry dish towel after filling, because people complain the burner rusts after awhile. I dry both. It's easy.And you can just have it ready and turn it on in the morning, rather than programming.The sizzling on the burner was the only problem, when it's first brewing. A little loud. But may have stopped.But I just wipe the burner off with a damp sponge when it's cool, so it doesn't rust. I don't use it every day. I use my pods too.The light is a little bright at night, not blinding. I just turn the kitchen light on!The color actually matches perfectly!Use plain water twice first to clean.It says periodic cleaning with a little vinegar in water, and it has a clean setting.If the burner starts rusting in a few months, I will update. That's the only thing they need to fix, I think!

UPDATE: 5 1/2 months later and still leak-free! The solution worked -- using distilled water ONLY (then adding the mineral drops to the actual coffee cup) I had to stop using the paper filters and use the coffee machine's own filter -- it works great & easy to dump & rinse out before each use. Brews 4 cups in exactly 5 minutes and does not splatter onto burner! I love this coffee maker.This is a great little coffee maker but I’m on the 2nd one after all the water leaked out of the bottom again – but this also happened more than a couple times with another brand, too. (After the first leak, I keep every coffee maker in a protective pan to avoid huge water messes) I’ve tried cleaning more often, using citric acid to descale instead of vinegar, but they all leak eventually (anywhere from 5 weeks to 5 months), one after the other, no matter the brand.I finally figured out it must be on my end because of the drinking water I use – home-made distilled but with a lot of trace minerals added back in, and this is what is causing the heavy mineral build-up that makes it leak. The whole point of cleaning is to descale it and get rid of mineral deposits, but even regular cleaning wasn’t enough for my heavy load of minerals.So now with this newest Taylor Swoden, I’ve decided to use only pure distilled water completely devoid of any minerals added to it, and I’ll clean every other month as the recommended cleaning cycle.Here are some solutions for the other problems people complained about:1) When you pour water in the tiny space allotted, use a funnel so nothing spills, and put a piece of paper towel on the burner to catch any drips or splashes.2) Also place the paper towel on the burner each time you lift off the carafe to pour into a coffee cup. This will also prevent sizzling and ruining the burner (as a couple people had photos showing).3) Keep the coffee maker inside a shallow protective stainless steel pan – you’ll be preventing a huge mess in case it ever leaks! (This model fits perfectly in a 10.5” x 8” x 2”)Hopefully I’ve diagnosed the cause of repeated leaking out the bottom, and using totally mineral-free water will prevent this from happening again! Will update whether this is a success or a failure.

This looks good and makes coffee well.I subtracted one star because of something I think is stupid.So anyone who has dealt with coffee knows that even room temperature coffee leaves stains. Coffee is a reactive substance; not dangerously so, but when it is hot it is more reactive. This is all context for the stupid thing. The warmer plate is some type of steel with a paint covering. The paint covering the warmer plate is probably something like Oven Paint; high heat tolerance and durable. However I have only had the coffee maker for 4 months and the warmer plate has a Rust Spot that is 1/2 inch by 3 inches. Dumb because there are many formulas for steel that are highly resistant to rusting and for whatever reason the Engineers for this coffee maker did not think that HOT COFFEE on cheap steel results in RUST. If the warmer plate was better quality steel resistant to rusting, IMO it would have increased the manufacturing cost per unit by less than ten cents.I have purchased coffee makers from multiple companies, but this is the only one ever that has had a warmer plate rust.I have an annoying solution to this rust; Rust Converter applied every two to four weeks and it should reduce the problem. But it is annoying because there should be zero rust or need to use the Rust Converter.

Real nice little Coffee Maker! I love the fact it is a full 12 cup machine, yet it is so compact! Makes real good coffee. I use a paper filter however, as for the fact I like to use a finer grind. I’d recommend this.