Proctor Silex (49961) Single Serve Coffee Maker Reviews

Proctor Silex Single-Serve Coffeemaker has a lot of pros and cons. On the pro side, it's small, compact and takes very little counter space. It makes an 8 oz cup of coffee in about 3 minutes once you have the coffee and water loaded in the machine. It's versatile as it comes with it's own washable filter so you can use the regular ground coffee to make a strong cup of coffee. It can also accommodate the K-Cups easily which then gives you a wide variety of beverages to choose from in addition to the regular cup of coffee. The cons are: it does not have a hot plate where your cup sits so if you are using a ceramic mug and leave it for a few minutes, the coffee gets cold. Actually, that's the one down side to this little machine. Also, the water dispenser is very small and has an opening in the back wall of the machine which, if you try to put too much more water over the 8oz limit, it will spill out onto the counter. The coffee is not piping hot when it is brewed and if you add creamer to your coffee you will get a luke warm cup. If you don't mind a luke warm cup of your favorite beverage, then this will do for you. However, I found that as long as I used a small stainless steel pitcher, the coffee stayed at the perfect temperature - not too hot or cold. The pro to that is, if you want a nice warm beverage instantly, you will get it with this model. Also, you will save on coffee as you won't have to throw out as much of it if you are serving single cups in a 12 cup coffee maker. I swapped out my large coffee maker to use this model on a daily basis as the coffee is made quickly without waste. However, I would prefer a small coffee maker with a hot plate to keep the coffee warm and turn up the temperature for the water to get a good hot cup of coffee. Otherwise, it is a strong and very well made machine.

I was pleasantly surprised how good the coffee came out from this coffee maker. Most single serve or mini-pot makers are inefficient & waste coffee, so you need a lot more grounds to make it strong enough. That was not the case with this one. With just 2 heaping teaspoons of coffee grounds, it makes 10-12 ounces of delicious hot strong coffee. Put less coffee in if you like it weaker. It was incredibly easy to use. From the time I started un--boxing it to the time it was ready to make its first cup took around 5 minutes without reading any instructions. The very first cup came out perfect. It took only a couple minutes to make the coffee. It comes with a fine mesh strainer coffee filter so you can make coffee with regular coffee grounds (not fine ground), without having to worry about buying coffee filters or costly "pods" of coffee. Only a slight trace of a fine powder of grounds was found at the bottom of the cup. With occasional stirring it just adds to the flavor, & can be drank. The filter appears to be a fine nylon mesh rather than metal, so you don't have to worry about corrosion, or a reaction to cleaning chemicals & bleach. I choose just to rinse the strainer with hot water, then occasionally washing it with soapy water after several cups. Any permanent coffee permanent staining of the strainer mesh will be irrelevant, but vinegar or bleach should remove it if you must. Hard, aggressive scrubbing will probably ruin it. It leaks just a little bit of coffee occasionally but I never caught where it came from, & follows no pattern. It seems to happen randomly no matter if I'm making 8 ounces or 10-12 ounces. So filling with 12 oz. of water or more grounds is not the cause. It has leaked with just 8 ounces of water & only 1 heaping teaspoon of grounds in it. It doesn't happen often, & it's not much. I wouldn't have even noticed because it would be a small puddle of coffee under the maker that I would discover later. It may have to do with how cold the tap water is at first. It seems to happen with icy cold winter tap water the most. My solution is to have it sit on a tray, which also caches any sprinkles of sugar & creamer I may drop too. Although the maker is smaller than a full sized coffee maker, not by much. It's actually huge for a single serve maker... larger than most 3-4 cup coffee makers. Still, being a little narrower than makers you will save a little counter space. Don't even think about packing it in a suitcase for travel because it's way too big. A single-serve maker is usually not a kitchen counter appliance, but more of an office or room device, which is a problem because of its incredibly short cord at only 23.25 inches long. It might just reach a counter top outlet, but in an office or room where one would most likely use this, the outlet will be too far away without an extension, unless you make your coffee on the floor next to the outlet. My favorite 12 ounce tall insulated cup (to keep it hot longer) is just 3/4 of an inch too tall to fit under it. So I have to use a wider shorter cup for it. I just fill the same cup with a little more water than what I would need (the grounds will absorb about 3-5% of it), pour it in, put in the grounds, & push the button. It shuts off automatically when done. There is no warming plate in the bottom, so you don't have to worry about a plastic or disposable cup melting. Yep, you can use or re-use plastic or Styrofoam cups with it. The coffee will be hot, but not scalding hot. Some mention a strange or unusual noise while it makes coffee. To me, it sounds just like most coffee makers & not unusual at all. It's actually quieter than most until it's almost done, which is a handy alert that it's almost finished. I have been using it for weeks now in my home office & love it. But I couldn't give it 5 stars because of the occasional small leak, & very short cord. This is an office or room device more than a kitchen counter appliance, so really requires a standard sized cord & no leaking.

I received my Proctor Silex single cup coffee maker a week ago and have been using it every day in my home office (I wanted to try it out for a bit before writing my review) it's great, and easy to use and makes a very tasty cup of coffee. I can't really say enough about this product it works perfect has auto shut off so no chance of accidents U can use any K-cups I've tried a few different brands and bonus it is inexpensive. I can honestly recommend this product it is perfect for when U don't want to make a whole pot of coffee.

There exists a plethora of coffee making appliances. You can spend hundreds of dollars on devices that do everything thing short of delivering your morning cup of joe to your bedside. This Proctor Silex Single-Serve brewing system falls at the opposite end of the spectrum. This unit is designed for the person looking for a single cup of coffee. Nothing fancy, just coffee. This machine accepts all varieties of K-Cup beverages (now including soups, hot cocoa and more). You can also use the supplied reusable filter basket to make standard ground coffee - still one cup at a time. I decided to take the coffee maker to the office. I can have it hang out at my desk and make coffee for myself the way I like it instead of the strong enough to drink with a fork brew the rest of the crew likes. It is small enough that I can toss it in a drawer when not in use. As a result of seeing the unit in action, two co-workers have picked up their own Proctor Silex machines. There are a number of reviews out there that claim that all K-Cups are not compatible with this coffee maker. While I cannot say that we tried every single brand K-Cup out on the market, but I think I tried a representative cross section of product. All of the cups I tried worked without issue. I have included a picture that compares the holes made by the Proctor Silex machine with those made by a famous manufacturer. You can easily see the difference; the Proctor Silex unit creates a much larger hole. While the size of the hole seems to make no difference in the quality of the brew, the larger cutting surface of the knife in the Proctor Silex machine could potentially cut into the bagged coffee grounds in a K-Cup pod. We experienced zero problems in this area. The basket also works well. A slightly coarser grind than usual works best with the basket. You can also use a section of a larger coffee filter to line the basket so you can use ultra fine grind European style coffee grounds. Pros: -Compact -Simple to Operate -Can Brew up to a 12 oz cup of coffee -K-Cup Compatible -Coffee grounds / filter basket compatible -Inexpensive (typically under $30) Cons: -Not compatible with most thermal cups (or even tall coffee cups/mugs) -No visible water level indicator -Only holds 12 ounces of water at a time -Very Short cord (make sure you have a heavy duty extension cord if you use one) -Not terribly fast (instructions say 4 minutes per brew - real world times are around 3 minutes) Overall, the Proctor Silex Single Serve coffee maker is perfect for the single coffee drinker. I would certainly recommend it for anyone looking for an in-expensive K-Cup based coffee maker.

This K-cup coffeemaker is the bare bones of coffeemakers with absolutely no extra bells or whistles! The only addition it has is a brew converter, so that you can brew cups with regular coffee grounds. You use the cup you are going to brew into as the water measuring tool. There is a minimum and maximum level indicator in the tiny reservoir at the back. After placing a K-cup (or ground filter) in the front of the machine you push a small button on the front and wait. It takes four to six minutes to complete the brew cycle and it makes odd, loud noises while brewing. The sounds are so strange and noisy that the first time my daughter used the machine she thought something was wrong, but they seem to be just part of the regular function, so they're nothing to worry about. It's that simple. That's it, that's all you need to know, except you do also need to be aware that once the brew button is pushed there is no way to turn it off again until it is done. I'm not exactly sure why, but even unplugging it will not stop the process. You also need to know that if you use the brew basket option there may be tiny bits of grounds in the bottom of your cup. I tried to fix this by using a cupcake liner as a filter, but that was an utter failure as it was not porous enough to allow the coffee through. On the whole, I love this machine, simply because it is not complicated!

This machine does what it is supposed to do - brew Kcups. It does have quite a few drawbacks though, in my opinion. First, and this is a general knock I have against almost all of these machines, you can only use a standard size coffee mug. No travel mugs, in fact, if your favorite mug is more than 5 inches tall, forget it. That size will not fit and the bottom plate which is detachable on some models to accommodate taller mugs does not come off. If you are used to a Keurig type design where you throw the Kcup in and press the handle down and away you go, no on that count too. This machine uses a caddy that you have to pull out and set on a hard surface like a table, then you take the Kcup and firmly press it into the caddy until it snaps in ALL THE WAY. If you don't snap it in all the way you will wind up with a huge water/coffee/grounds mess everywhere (yeah, that happened.) Next, you slide the caddy back into the machine and press the front of the caddy down until it snaps in place. Now you have the Kcup positioned. This is a single serve machine with no water reservoir capacity. You pour water in to the amount you want up to 10 ounces. There is one button to push for the Brew cycle, and it take several minutes to brew that one cup. After the brewing stops, the lighted Brew switch will slowly fade until it is completely off. Now, the directions provide that when not in use the unit should be unplugged. Not sure why this is? There is no residual heating of any kind and no lights stay lit. Maybe just a safety precaution. And, by the way, the cord is really short. To be fair, there are pluses here. The machine "steeps" the Kcup for 2 minutes before full brewing starts. It does make a difference in how robust the coffee is. The other plus is that this machine comes with a basket that you can use to brew ground coffee. If that is something you want to deal with, then perhaps this is a useful option. For me, the cumbersome manner that you have to use to insert a Kcup and the ultra small coffee mug size that you have to use are deal breakers for me. I think you can find better options for this price point.

A single-serve coffeemaker that does pods and ground coffee means that this coffeemaker is also a tea maker, as I can go with a favorites tea, as well as coffee pod. The reusable mesh filter basket that comes with the Proctor Silex Single-Serve Coffeemaker allows me the option of saving on the high cost of pods (up to 50 or 60 cents each), while skipping other people's idea of a good coffee and using my own custom grinds or favorite packaged coffees to max out a brewed coffee taste. The pod holder slips easily out leaving space to insert a fine mesh reusable ground coffee holder. I filled about half way with ground coffee and got a really good cup. The coffee maker allows a really big cup under the spout, but not one as tall as my 16 OZ thermal travel/take-my-time-drinking-hot-coffee cup. Dead simple solution is to fill the water storage area to the top (in case it drips out the overflow opening, I sit the unit on few folded paper towels) and slip a wider, larger capacity cup underneath. When the coffee is brewed, just pour it into the (preheated) thermal cup and I'm all set for a good couple of hours with a big, very tasty cup of strong-as-I-like coffee. The pods are OK, but I can make a stronger cup using the filter basket. I've always associated Proctor-Silex with quality and that seems to hold true with the Proctor Silex Single-Serve Coffeemaker. It works great and cleanup is quick and easy. It's ideal for someone like me, living alone with a small kitchen area and the daily thirst for one or two large cups of good, strong coffee made to order in five minutes or less.

Proctor Silex Single-Serve Coffee Maker This single serve coffee maker not only uses K-Cups but it also comes with a little basket so you can also use basic coffee grounds. I had no idea this came with the filter to use regular ground coffee so this was a nice bonus. This machine is the perfect size and does not take up a lot of room on your counter. It is a nice looking little machine. It is easy to use, fill the water (only up to 10 oz) place your k-cup in the brew basket, press down and push the brew button. I like to fact that you can choose to use k-cup products or use the brew basket and use any ground coffee. It is nice to have that flexibility in a coffee maker. The brewing time is about 4 minutes. Once the brewing is complete the coffee maker will shut off automatically and the light will go off. You should wait at least 2 minutes before brewing another cup. When brewing is complete you have the easy clean up of removing the slide out brew basket and toss the k-cup away or grounds which ever you are using. It is recommended that the coffee maker is cleaned at least once a month using white vinegar. The removable single-serve pack holder and brew basket are dishwasher-safe, however read your manual for the appropriate setting. This is a nice small design and very easy to use.

This coffee maker is compatible with ®Kcups. You can also use your own ground coffee or loose leaf tea in it. It comes with the small basket with the piercer for the Kcups as well as a larger basket for making your favorite flavor with your own grounds. It's a rather compact machine, so it won't take up much room on your counter. It is very easy to use and the instructions are quite simple. Because it is a single serve unit, it will only hold up to 10 ounces of water at a time. You simply use the mug/cup that you are going to drink it out of to put the exact amount of water into the reservoir, put the cup under the spout, put your Kcup or ground coffee in the basket and press the brew button. The machine does the rest. In approximately two minutes it brews your beverage. There should be no chance of overflow, etc., because you have put in the exact amount of water for your mug. It's great for a personal coffee brewer. The only drawback that I could see to this machine is if you wanted to fill a travel mug, which is usually bigger than 10 ounces, due to the fact that you have to let the machine cool for at least two minutes before the next beverage (or to finish filling the travel mug) and the fact that you can't choose the darkness or strength of your brew. Other than that, I really like this brewer. Personally, I don't drink coffee, but the Kcups come in hot chocolate and different flavors of tea. I also have loose leaf tea that I will be trying with this machine. Anyway, long story short, I would recommend this single serve coffee maker. Thumbs up!

First of all, this item is smaller than I thought it would be. Secondly, it is very lightweight and the cord is super short. I imagine it's made to sit on a cabinet right next to the outlet. I took this to work to use in my office; however, it didn't work for me because the cord was just too short. When I finally used it I'm not sure what happened. I had this on my desk and I used a k cup. You can use a k cup or brew ground coffee. At any rate, my coffee brewed and all of a sudden I had a cup of coffee but towards the end there were coffee grounds everywhere. I don't know what happened as I followed the directions but I had coffee and grounds all over my desk and underneath the brewer. The brewing time is about 2 to 3 minutes. It works; maybe it is just an operator error.