Makes terrible, terrible coffee that's weak, bitter, luke warm and cloudy. And that's when the machine works at all. Stay far away.
Positive Product Points
Eh...it looks okay when it isn't in use (thereby dumping muddy grinds on my counter).
Negative Product Points
Just about everything else. The coffee this machine makes is terrible. Weak and bitter, no matter how much ground coffee is used. This machine also has a propensity to overflow and spill all over the counter. Terrible.
Detailed Commentary
I got this as a gift, and paid nothing for it. That said, it isn't even worth owning as a freebie. This machine has cost us a tremendous amount of money in lost coffee. Actually, because it makes such a terrible brew, we were spending a fortune at the Starbucks around the corner. So, I guess there's really no such thing as "Free," after all.
It's a 50/50 proposition as to whether the machine would make bad coffee that I'd have to throw out, or eliminate the middle man and dump wet grinds all over the counter. I don't think my wife ever successfully made a pot of coffee with this machine, and I think that's because the spring-loaded button that lets the coffee flow from the filter to the carafe is very tempermental.
Worse, even when the machine does operate as planned, the resulting brew is cloudy, bitter, weak and luke warm, regardless of your ground coffee to water ratio. I believe that the water just doesn't get hot enough to extract the flavor correctly. It really isn't drinkable, particularly for someone like me who drinks it black.
This is by far the worst coffee maker I've ever owned. I now have a Cuisinart 12 cup thermal carafe that I'm really happy with. On the bright side, the DeLonghi really helped me appreciate the difference a good coffee maker can actually have.
