4 Cup Coffee Makers Review

Whilst looking to buy a four cup coffee maker should be an easy task, there is some trade-off in the quality of both the coffee maker and the coffee they make when compared to more expensive, larger brewers.

A common problem many people encounter is spillage. Sometimes the design of the spout is poor, resulting in coffee spilled all over the bench when trying to pour a cup. If the spout is small, as it seems to be with the 4 cup coffee maker designs, the only solution here is just to pour more slowly, or pour over the sink if you're in a hurry or half asleep in the morning.

In other instances, the coffee basket retains a lot of moisture. This leads to moisture dripping on the hot plate after you remove the carafe. Whilst not a big problem, this can be annoying, and means a little extra cleaning.

Some four cup coffee makers have a delay brew feature which you can set up to 24 hours in advance. This can be great if you want to wake up to an already brewed cup in the morning. Be aware, though, that there can be problems with the timer. Some customers who have used Mr. Coffee's 4-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker found that the timer lost a few minutes each day, although others have reported no problems.

Many 4 cup coffee makers don't seem to hold up to heavy daily use. This could be because they are generally cheaper, in which case, simply updating your coffee maker every year shouldn't pose too much of a problem. But if you like to use the brewer more than once a day, you may want to invest in a bigger model and just use a smaller amount of water. This can also solve the problems of coffee quality that many people find is sacrificed when using a smaller model.

If you start by using about 1 tablespoon of coffee per cup of water, you can easily tailor smaller quantities of coffee to the larger models.

One thing to be aware of is that often the cup sizes specified by manufacturers is smaller than the average sup of coffee we drink. So, a 4 cup coffee maker may actually only be a 2 to 2.5 cup.

Four cup coffee makers are compact, and can look stylish. They offer an advantage to students in dorms, and those with very small bench tops. But if you're serious about the taste of your coffee, these cheaper models often taste a little metallic, or like plastic. The strength of the brew can be difficult to control, and the additional features don't always work as reliably as the manufacturers claim.

Some models don't even have a warmer, meaning you'll have to either microwave your coffee or store in a thermos to keep it hot. Other problems can lie in whether the portable coffee cups actually don't spill in the car. Decide what is most important to you - size of the maker, the quality of the coffee, the price of the model, certain individual features, or the availability of things like filters. Once you know what is most important to you, it becomes easier to narrow down the decision.

Four Cup Coffee maker Reviews Online

Below you’ll find the posts at CoffeemakerCritic.com from the Four Cup Coffee Maker category. I highly recommend you read each of them if you’re serious about finding the best Four Cup coffeemaker for your needs.

You can also search for coffee makers by brand. These are listed in the sidebar.

If you’re just starting out looking for coffeemakers for your home, I’d recommend reading the 'Ultimate Coffee maker Buyers Guide' where we detail the most important features and specifications as well as the common pitfalls and mistakes you can make when buying a coffeemaker.

You can also find a ton of the best coffee machines at these recommended online retailers...

• Amazon.com - Save up to 70% on coffee makers at Amazon
• ChefsCatalog.com - Large range of coffee makers + Free Shipping on all orders over $99 
• CoffeeMakers.com - Free Shipping on all orders - Save $15 on any purchase over $150 with code KC-6983

If you already have your own coffeemaker and would like to add your own review for it you will probably find the coffeemaker on this site and add your review underneath our one. Easy and free... brilliant!

If you can't find your coffeemaker on this site then please contact us and request for it to be reviewed. We will review the coffee machine on a first come first served basis.

In the mean time check out these 4 cup coffee machines below...

Thanks,
CoffeemakerCritic Team