Our drip coffeemaker just died. It seems like we go through coffeemakers every year or two. And our latest one was not cheap- it was a fairly high-end Cuisinart model.
Is it normal for coffeemakers to die after a year or two with everyday use? Seems like we’ve gone through several different brands and models, from cheap no-nonsense to fairly expensive models like our most recent one, but none of them seem to last very long.
From a durability point of view the less working parts the better. So I’d say a pour over, french press, or stove top coffee maker.
If you want to stick with the fancy ones doing some descaling every few month will help it last longer.
A good drip coffee pot should last a decade or more.
No clue what your budget is, but I’ll be back with a highly recommended one we’ve had for about 6 years now.
It is the insulated decanter style, as these are actually a lot better than the ones with a hotplate.
I was mistaken, we’ve had it over 8 years. (time flies).
It is the Capresso 485.05 MT600 Plus 10-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker with Thermal Carafe,Black. They appear to be discontinued but the equivilent is the Capresso 435.05 Stainless Steel 10 Cup Thermal Coffee Maker ST300 This is about $120 not on sale.
Good luck. There is a lot to think about. Perhaps the biggest things are ease of use, how many cups you like to make at a time and do you like to make extra and have it later. Anything with a hot plate is terrible except for immediate consumption.
French Presses have their niche, but they have many drawbacks.
I think the best combo is a good burr grinder, a very good drip pot and good beans to your taste.
My wife absolutely loves the coffee maker I bought her last year.
She uses it every day, and it’s worked perfectly for over a year so far:
We had a KitchenAid that lasted for several years until my wife dropped the carafe and broke it. I’m sure it would have lasted many more years otherwise. One thing I really liked about it was that you could remove the reservoir to fill it. One thing I didn’t like about it was that the clock would lose about a minute a week. But I still would have bought another one if I could have found one. (We wound up replacing it with a Cuisinart, which I like but not as much.)
Those Italian “macchinetta”-type coffee makers are hard to screw up (unless you leave it on the stove too long); some brands are better than others—I like the ones with a little pressure regulator on top of the nozzle.
Take a look at this Ninja coffee maker which we’ve had for a while now, gets used every day, and is holding up well. It also makes lattes and espressos.
Seconding this thought. I have a Moccamaster. Not many moving parts. The coffee brews into what’s effectively a thermos, and it does a very good job keeping it warm without cooking it the way a hotplate does. I’ve only had it for a year or two, but I expect it to last. There just isn’t much exposed that can go wrong.
This percolator coffee pot is the best one I’ve ever had. We’ve had it for seven years now.
Percolators really make a good cuppa.
Mr coffees and their ilk all end up as e-waste before long.
The simpler the better. My French press has lasted years.
We went with a Ninja brand. It had great reviews on Amazon, and we down a Ninja blender that’s been a real workhorse. Thanks for the recommendations everybody!
I have a Capreso brand utterly generic barebones 6-cup drip maker. It’s 5 years old and it’s predecessor was 10yo when I dropped & shattered its carafe. It cost ~$25 at Target. Indestructible if you can avoid juggling the carafe.
I do run a carafe of white vinegar through it every couple of months. Cycle the same vinegar through about 3 times then discard it & run 2 changes of fresh water through to clear out any hint of vinegar. It’ll last forever.
The idea of spending $50 (or $500!!?!?!) on a cooffeepot is ludicrous.
AeroPress. Google it. You won’t be sorry. Well, the downside is, cheap, Chinese kettles get replaced every year instead, although to be honest, the last one broke in luggage rather than breaking down.
This. If you never clean your machine it will become clogged with mineral deposits and stop being a good, durable, coffeemaker no matter how good it was to start.
Coffee makers fall into my category of devices for which basic/inexpensive is a preferred, less risky option than elite/expensive. Of course, I’m a gourmand who doesn’t understand or need French press/cold brewed/triple-filtered coffee made from ultra high-altitude beans consumed and then excreted by free-range fruit bats.
I picked out a Mr. Coffee model when we moved here, and it’s held up well for nearly three years now. I think I’ve done the vinegar cleaning thing maybe 3X in all that time.
My Mr. Coffee ‘under shelf’ mount drip is going into its 22 year this week. We do the vinegar pass every couple of months. YMMV.
Do you have hard water where you live? If so, that, more than bad luck, may be the cause of your troubles.
A friend and I have identical coffee makers. He - whose house has water with a high mineral content - is on his third same-model machine while mine keeps chugging along.
mmm
We also currently have a Moccamaster. Brews good Joe, but not the “easiest” to use in terms of adding grounds/water. And the carafe spills as badly as they all do! 
Pretty pricey as well.
If it were solely my choice, I’d go cheap and simple, descale regularly (we do it every time we open a new box of filters), but just assume it would crap out regularly at which time I’d replace it with another cheap and simple.
We do have hard well water, but we have a reverse osmosis filtration system that we always use to fill the coffeemaker.
Usually when I buy things I’m of the ‘pay now or pay later’ mind. I don’t go cheap. Or at least not too cheap. But after letdowns in the past with coffee makers and home printers I’ve bought cheap, with the logic being that when it craps out in no more time than a more expensive model would break down, at least I’m not out of pocket as much.
To that end I have now had a Black & Decker coffee maker for about 20 years and it still makes coffee each morning. Unrelated, I have a cheap HP Printer/Scanner/Fax that’s been performing well for about 5 years or so, so far.
Back to coffee; I recently acquired a Nespresso machine. Now that’s a money pit! Coffee pods are way overpriced and I have yet to find out how long the machine (& milk frother) will last but I don’t have high expectations.