Appliance Reviews

I purchased this based on other review. I must say that after cooking my french fries for over 20 minutes, they were not even golden brown. The temperature is turned up at the highest and the french fries taste like mushed oil. Nasty! I have tried cooking fries several times (in smaller batches too), with the same results each time. I give two stars because being able to see the cooking is nice, as well as the way it is put together. The power cord comes off too easily also.

This is the first fryer I have ever owned, and was hesitant to spend a lot due to the fact I wasn't sure that I'd use it very often. So I did a lot of researching, checking all the reviews and looking at store display models. I found that others for the same price usually got shakey reviews, and didn't have the features this one has. And when I looked at them in the stores, most of them seemed cheaply made.

I am so glad I went with this deep fryer. It heats up quickly, the temperature stays consistant, it's solidly made, and clean up is a snap. The timer has proven to also be useful - which, by the way, is a 30 minute timer, not a 15 minute timer as the description reads. The lid comes off adding to the ease of cleaning. And I believe the bowl coming all the way out is VERY important! It's so much easier to empty your oil, and clean thorougly. Also, the fact that it is cool touch really is nice. Many of the new stainless ones are not cool touch. That's fine for a waffle iron, but a deep fryer is large, and too easy to nudge while working in the kitchen. I just feel safer with this one.

The only thing I would change would be for a digital timer, but for this price I'm not complaining!

My wife and I have been very impressed with this deep fryer. It heats right up and cooks the food to a crispy touch with no oily taste. It also filter the air and has a view window to see food cooking. Highly recommended....

I had this unit for about a year. When it worked, it worked great! But,the internals rusted which caused a wire to break. This resulted in me getting shocked(big time) and knocked to the floor. They use a tin mounting plate for the wires-go figure. We were very carefull about cleaning this, too(as it says not to submerse the base). So, we were extremely pleased with it until it tried to kill me. We will try a different steamer next time. BEWARE THE SHOCK HAZARD!

This steamer is literally the most used small appliance in my kitchen. My favorite steamer recipe: steamed red potatoes and carrots tossed with 2T parsley, 1/2t rosemary, and 1/2t thyme sauteed in 2T butter. I use it for asparagus, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, and all sorts of stuff. When I'm cooking vegetables, I just don't enjoy results as consistent as the steamer when I'm using the microwave or the stovetop.

Although I can do as good a job with rice by other means, I still prefer using the steamer. It frees up the microwave to reheat something, and the cleanup is a breeze since there is only one bowl that really gets dirty. However, the timer on my steamer does run a tad slow. I have to shorten the booklet's cooking times by 10% or so.

The one I gave my mother turns itself on and off as if it has a mind of its own. Once I plugged it in and then went to the tap to get the water, while I had my back to it, it turned itself on. Thats right it turned itself on. Unknowingly I poured the water into the resevoir and the heat from the heating element forced the water to turn to steam and spit back out.

I was really excited about this coffeemaker. I work in an office with no real kitchen facilities, plus I am the only decaf drinker, so this was perfect. Unfortunately, I have been quite disappointed. Contrary to what other reviewers have written, yes I do have half a brain and yes I do know how to brew coffee. I used the proper amount of water and coffee (even less than the recommended amount) and it still got coffee grounds *everywhere*. It sort of defeats the purpose of being "convenient" when you have to take the whole unit to the bathroom and rinse out the water reservoir to get the coffee grounds out. It brews a great cup of coffee, and I like the travel mug a lot, but if you're looking for a single-cup coffeemaker, I'd recommend passing on this one and continuing on your quest. Bummer....

Hi, I received this as a gift for Christmas and it has worked great. I use it atleast 4 times a day for tea, and I haven't encountered any problems.

Pros:
1. The mug it comes with retains heat very well, is made of stainless steel, is dishwasher safe, and very durable with grippy rubber handle. It also fits into car cup-holders.
2. When the water comes out of the steamer, it is SCALDING hot.
3. This comes with its built in filter is dishwasher safe too, so no more disposables
4. Automatic Shutoff
5. Great value here on Amazon
6. Brews in minutes.

Cons:
1. Not all coffee mugs, especially larger plastic ones fit into the machine.
2. A bit loud.

I bought this machine from walmart for $9.99 hoping that it would let me make iced coffee at work. It failed miserably. Then I tried using it to make hot coffee. Once again, failure. Do not waste your money. There's a reason why it is so cheap.

The coffee made by this was fine, but the "no buying filters" angle basically means it has a filter in it that must be washed out. Hence, it's a pain to clean. I've switched to an old garage sale Mr. Coffee maker with paper filters and am now thoroughly happy. Fine for a single-cup-swilling person who doesn't mind cleaning a filter (it's worse than it sounds- wet coffee grounds stick to everything).

This is a great little machine. It makes a HOT cup of coffee quickly and efficiently. You don't have to make two or three cups and leave them in the pot to greet you when you return from work in the evening. I just put a little milk in the bottom of the cup [you could add sugar if you want] and the coffee pours into the mug and stirs itself! It truly is a Brew 'N' Go! It is made of plastic so you have to treat it with care. I dropped mine and the lid broke - which is why I'm buying another.

I purchased the DCM2700 Smart Brew Delux on Feb.21st of this year. It STOPPED working on March 1st!!!! I called the customer service, and was told that after I send them the cord, and a 5 dollar check for shipping, I would recieve a new unit. Here is March 30th....They cleared my check on MArch 16th....I still have no coffee pot!!!!!!!

The options are all awesome..but they dont do any good when the darn thing doesnt work, and to get a replacement, you ahve to pay for shipping , and wait a lifetime!!!! Not to mention the customer service sucks, both ppl I have talked to over there could barely speak english, and were RUDE!!!

I will never buy any Applica product again. Please dont spend your money on this.

This could have been an EXCELLENT coffee maker, but it was poorly engineered. If you don't put in the caraff in JUST RIGHT, it leaks. That's how the first one was damaged by my mother-in-law. Took it back for a replacement. Now I'm replacing it a second time because it's leaking internally when it sucks up the water from the resevoir to be brewed. Yes, I agree -- the beep is too freaking loud. Wakes up the neighbors. It should have been designed with a volume or AT LEAST a feature to turn it off as a menu item. But the caraff is excellent. It DOES NOT drip. Quite amazing. B&D need to redesign this whole coffee maker, but keep the caraff.

"When the brewing is done you will hear a series of beeps". This understatement is taken directly from the product manual. Unfortunately the "series of beeps" is so loud, distant neighbors know when your coffee is done!

This is nice coffee maker however it is way too loud and you can not disable the end of brewing alarm system. We are buying a different coffee maker that does not make noise. If you have family members that would like to remain asleep after you are done brewing coffee...do not buy this product. If you want a little SHOCK & AWE with your morning coffee then this is the product for you!

I bought this Black and Decker can opener in January-it died in 3 months! Just purchased a Rival can opener at Target, hopefully it will last longer.

We received two of these for a wedding gift. My main use for a can opener is opening large dog food cans for my three dogs.A can opener doesn't do you much good when it won't open the cans you primarily use. So, when it wouldn't open a can I unpacked the other can opener we were going to take back. It wouldn't work either- so we took both back and bought the B and D gizmo instead- it works great.

I really like this brand! It is reliable and easy to use. The power pierce feature is great. It does not tip over and handles large and heavy cans.

Our B&D VersaBrew Plus has to be one of the worst contraptions to come out of the Black & Decker Labs!

A cup of coffee in the morning is like a breath of fresh air to some of us, we just can't live without it. The things I CAN live without are the streams of coffee rolling off the countertop, down the side of the kitchen cabinet, and puddling on the floor below, becuase of the POORLY designed carafe. Or how about the fact that the carafe won't reinsert into the coffee maker without needing two pairs of hands. Or maybe we'd like to get into more detail about how hard, with so many cracks and crevices, this appliance is to clean. Perhaps we should mention the awful taste of plastic for the first hundred or so brew cycles. Let's not forget the Flavor Selector that is nothing more than a gimmick to sell more coffee makers by a company that just should have known better than to place this product in the open market.

Not only does this machine need a COMPLETE OVERHAUL, it makes me wonder if I would hesitate to buy ANY other Black & Decker products, since they show no sense of concern with this one.

While it makes acceptable coffee, the filter basket is awkward to remove and replace, and in the year plus it's been in my kitchen I've yet to see anyone pour from it without dribbling coffee all over. So I'm here looking for a non-dribble coffee maker to give my housemate as a christmas gift so he'll throw this disaster out and I can have a kitchen counter that isn't continually covered in coffee.

We have the basic Versabrew at work and it just boggles the mind that the engineering on this carafe made it through whatever Quality Assurance program B&D has. Maybe none based on this dribble cup carafe. There is no way to pour liquids out of this thing without it dribbling/leaking/spooshing down the side and bottom of it and all over the counter/floor/dog/shoes.

Maybe this was their gag line of coffee makers?

I give this two stars based on the fact that it does indeed make coffee. It gets an F- in engineering.

We love our coffee and it's not unusual to go through coffee makers quickly. Withen the past 4 months I have bought 2 Black & Decker coffee makers. The first one was a CM100 series. It leaked like a sieve when pouring so I decided to use it as a "back up" and get a new one. I then purchased the DCM2000 series. Quite disappointed to find the same problem. Not only does it also make a mess when pouring but because we weren't diligent wiping off the bottom after every use, the finish is coming off the hot plate.
I won't buy this brand again.

The problem we had with this one is that it would brew coffee way too fast--the coffee tasted like water! In order to get a decent tasting cup, we had to double the amount of coffee grinds we put in the filter... and of course this gets expensive. I was taken by the cool design of this coffeemaker, but soooo dissapointed by its performance I ended up going and buying a Mr.Coffee soon afterwards (it works great!). You may save 10$ buying the Black and Decker instead of Mr. Coffee, but you will spend so much more in coffee grinds that it isn't worth it!!! Don't buy this coffeemaker!

This coffee maker actually makes a good size 12 cups. It is easy to fill. The coffee stays nice and hot. Pours easily. What else do you need. The only problem I found was the top does not stay completely closed.