The 5 Best Programmable Coffee Makers

The point of a programmable coffee maker is waking up to coffee, not spending ten minutes deciphering its clock the night before. I would check three mundane things first: whether the water reservoir is easy to fill under your cabinets, whether a half pot tastes acceptable, and how long the glass carafe sits on a hot plate. A grinder built into the brewer adds another chore as well as another convenience.

BLACK+DECKER is my budget timer pick for a normal family pot. Braun and Cuisinart give more control over smaller batches and keeping a carafe warm. The two Gevi grind-and-brew models are for households that value fresh grinding enough to clean both the burr path and brewer. I would compare those Gevi listings carefully because their roles overlap; a timer alone would not justify paying more for either.