A flawless product, but hard to find on retail shelves.
Positive Product Points
The Krups Premium delivers water at the optimal extraction temperature (about 200 degrees F) onto the ground coffee. The Premium also seems to be constructed with better materials than any previous coffee maker we have owned. Very easy to clean, and the auto-shutoff after two hours is an essential safety feature.
Negative Product Points
Very hard to find; this model, unlike most Krups models sold in North America, is made in Germany. Reputedly (not verified), Krups stopped importing this model to North America because import duties made it not cost competitive. When we purchased ours in late 1999, we paid over $100, which is more than other coffee machines with more "features" cost, but the product has proved worth the price premium.
Detailed Commentary
We have owned six previous automatic drip coffee makers (three Brauns, a Cuisinart, and a Proctor-Silex) that did not get the water together with the coffee at so high a temperature, and the resulting coffee was not so hot (in either sense), either. This is the first automatic drip coffee maker that we have owned that delivers water to the coffee basket at the proper brewing temperature for optimal extraction. The result is better-tasting coffee; the Krups Premium let us know from the first cup what we had been missing all this time. Also, because of materials choices that Krups made for this model, (a stainless steel keep-warm plate, for instance), we are optimistic that it will last longer than some of the other coffee makers we have owned in the past; it has worked flawlessly for two years and counting. If we were to buy another coffee maker today, our choice would be between another Krups Premium (if we could find one), or the new Capresso MT500, the only other automatic drip coffee maker we are aware of that uses stainless steel as extensively as the Krups Premium.
