OXOBrew 8 Cup Coffee Maker, Stainless Steel

Warning, this is a critical review. I give this a 5 star because overall product merits an excellent rating. However, if I was to rate this based on value, I rate it a 3 star.I'm not a coffee snob. I like my cheap coffee. I've watched several coffee snob reviews on this product prior to purchase, and this is my take. What the heck is the difference between a $30 drip coffee maker and a $300 drip coffee maker? Well, it's the same difference between a 900watt microwave and a 1400watt microwave. This $300 coffee maker has a higher wattage heating element. Which means it'll heat the water of faster and hotter. Does it make that big of a difference? That's something only a coffee snob can tell you. I'll say this: I can tell the difference. It's not earth shattering, but it does make a difference. Does it make a $200+ difference? Most will say 'no'.So now I move onto rating the coffee maker on overall quality. This is where I get a little more critical. Why? Because it's OXO. I own lots of OXO products and I love them all. I'll be honest and say, this feels more like an OXO product in the making. It's not the user experience I'd expect from OXO. Translation, this misses the mark on being sensational. The insulated carafe is nice, but OXO could have done better. It's a quality carafe, but like some reviewers point out, it leaves about a table spoon or more of liquid when done pouring. It's a minor inconvenience. But ever day use will add up that frustration. Means when you clean the carafe, you'll have that fair amount of water left inside as well. I admit, it is annoying. Very surprised OXO couldn't have designed that better...for $300.The other complain perceived by many is the filter basket. This is my biggest complaint. For $300 and being OXO, this is really were they missed the mark. The basket is flimsy. Not the $300 quality I'd expect. The snap into place operation is clunky. It doesn't just easily slide into place. Little details you'd expect from a brand like OXO are completely missing here. I personally find the selection of 2-4 cup vs 4-8 cup a garbage design. I've used both modes. Makes little to no difference. I recommend using the carafe at all times. The 2-4 cup operation is a waste. And because of that waste, it adds to the frustration of the lacking filter basket design. The sliding lever you use to select 2-4 vs 4-8 doesn't lock into place. That will annoy you. The big difference between 2-4 vs 4-8 is having a choice of which type of filter you want to use. THAT is where OXO could have made a killing on their design. For whatever reason, most expensive coffee makers opt for basket style filters. I personally hate them. They're a pain to use and tedious to fiddle with in the morning. Conical filters are superior in my opinion. It's great that OXO created an option to use conical filters. However, as pointed out their filter basket design is garbage. Not worth using conical filters in the 2-4 cup mode. My advise to OXO, fix this aspect of your coffee maker! The filter basket design will make you crave your Mr. Coffee simplicity. This filter basket will make your $300 coffee maker feel cheaper than a $30 coffee maker. The coffee snob channels will detail how wonderful the filter basket design disperses the water and so on. Garbage observations. Even a $30 coffee maker does the same job.The last complain is so trivial, and yet surprised OXO could have designed this better. Why the two power buttons? You turn on power, then you actually need to select 2-4 vs 4-8 for brewing? Why? Maybe it needs to sense you're boiling less water vs more water. It couldn't have been designed to sense that? The fact that the coffee maker will auto shut off really hammers home the uselessness of having two buttons.Why am I complaining so much right? It's because it's OXO! You expect something different with OXO. You expect great quality and super simple operation. And I admit you don't feel that with this coffee maker. It should have been a one button design from the start. You expect OXO to be innovative. There's nothing innovating in this design. Nothing at all. It's just a quality coffee maker with seemly more complexity in it's cheap filter basket design than what's needed. OXO had a great idea in allowing both conical filters and basket style filters. It's a shame they couldn't have executed on that design better. I personally would prefer conical filters. Especially for an OXO product. Why? Because conical filters are always easer to work with. People buy OXO because they like simple quality and easy. Saying that, they may want to cater their next design to those that prefer conical style filters.I definitely have some criticism for this product. Keep in mind the harsh criticism is do to the $300 price tag and it having the OXO brand. You expect something different from both. Do I recommend buying the product? Oddly yes. I admit in the world of automatic drip coffee makers, no one really rises to the challenge of nailing the perfect design when it comes to quality and simplicity. That surprises me to this day. It's just a coffee maker! I commend OXO for it's styling. To be honest, that's why I bought it. I would have bought the Brawn if it had the better heating element. Overall it's a 5 star compared to competition. A solid 3 star in falling short of OXO expectations.

In July ‘25, our OXO 8 cup coffeemaker will be 2 yrs old. I just ran the clean cycle for the 4th time. As it always has, the need-to-clean light has gone off until I need to descale the next time. I only use the 0XO descaling liquid, never another brand. It lasts for 3 cleanings. Best features of coffeemaker: its simple, it makes good coffee, and makes it fast! 8 cups/full pot are ready in under 6 minutes. A troublesome feature for me is that if the lid is not on straight and tightened totally down, I have come back to coffee and grounds all over the counter, and dripped down between counter and fridge… a mess. I make sure everyone is trained to get the lid on “right and tight” to avoid this. I like my coffee just short of scalding hot and carafes have no heating element, plus hot coffee hits cold stainless steel when it starts brewing. So if you like it hotter, preheat your carafe with hot water before brewing. I’ve used the 2-4 cups feature occasionally. Like at night if I want just a tall cup of decaf with dessert. My fam makes fun of me because no coffee maker makes coffee hot enough for me…I always zap it 20-30 seconds in microwave to get it hotter. Doesn’t affect flavor as long as it doesn’t boil. Because coffee in my OXO has great flavor and it’s ready in a flash that’s 5 stars in my book in spite of a touchy lid and needing a tweak for a higher temp.

I have tested several coffee pots to replace our 15+ year old Cuisinart. This pot seems very well made and I particularly like the fact that it comes with an insulated carafe rather than a glass pot. It is only 8 cups, which means 2 mugs of coffee for each of us in the morning. That is fine for us, but if you have a larger family it might be a factor for you. Given the price point, this Oxo coffee maker would have been a much better deal had they included the 2 metal coffee baskets. Since buying replacement paper filters that fit both the large and small baskets is more difficult with this style, having the reusable metal filter makes more sense. Much less the environmental impact of all those filters. I find that for our taste having 8 heaping scoops of coffee for a full pot makes a nice brew. The maker seems to have a bloom feature that I did not see mentioned in the instructions. For when you start the brewing process some water goes into the basket and then it stops sending water up the visible tube inside the reservoir for a few minutes before continuing. If so, this is a nice feature. The slider that moves from left to right depending if you are brewing a small amount (up to 4 line of water) or a full pot (up to 8 cups of water) is easy to overlook, so if you use both levels, make sure you remember to set the slide appropriately. One thing mentioned in the manual is that whatever amount of water you put in the reservoir is the amount that will be used during that brew cycle. It is not a holding tank for subsequent brews. The brew cycle is surprisingly quick and the notification beep rather quiet. The profile is sleek though if you want to have the on/off buttons facing you, the reservoir will need to go against the wall and the unit's longer length comes out into the counter space. Cleaning is easy, just remember NOT to put the insulated carafe in the dishwasher as you can ruin the insulation by letting water into the layers of the pot!!!I did not give it five stars only due to the price point and having to spend an additional $50 for the appropriate albeit excellent metal filters.