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Black & Decker SpaceMaker ODC405 12-Cup Coffee Maker Key FeaturesTypeCoffee MakerCapacity12 CupOperation SourceElectric Technical Featur...

Spacemaker Black & Decker SpaceMaker ODC440B 12 Cup Coffee Maker UPDATED REVIEW 01/18/08: I've owned the Spacemaker for 4 1/2 months, and it just quit. No lights, no coffee, not...

This is the only under-the-counter coffee maker still available, which probably should have told me something, but I bought it anyway. Designed to mount to the bottom of a kitchen cabinet, it comes with a template, mounting bracket, four bolts with nuts, and some cylindrical spacers to acommodate cabinets with recessed bottoms. A removable reservoir holds the water and sits next to the stainless steel carafe. The coffee basket slides out for filling and is mounted over the carafe. It has an LCD clock and can be programmed to start automatically. It costs about $50.00.

After drilling the holes for the bracket, I installed the bracket. Very easy. Now, the coffee maker just slides in and locks in place. Only it doesn’t. Black and Decker has provided bolts that are over an inch too long. They protrude into the space that should be occupied by the coffee maker. I thought about the spacers, but they wouldn’t have been long enough and they would have taken more of the Space thing was designed to Make. So, I had to decide whether to drive out to Home Depot for replacement bolts or cut them off. I chose the latter, but found I had no cutting disk for my Dremel tool so I grabbed the bolt cutters. I was able to cut off most of the excess, but they were still a little too long and I had to force the coffee maker into the bracket. I did, and it was tight and secure.

The first thing I noticed after installing it was that it “made” very little space (Actually it made none. The total space in the universe remained the same after this installation). There was a four inch clearance between the bottom of the thing and the top of the counter, and that was more than offset by the additional space this object occupied in width and depth. But, I was able to slide the little basket of things we use to make coffee under the SpaceMaker, so I counted that as a small victory.

I cleaned it twice with vinegar as recommended. It seemed easy enough to operate and I liked the fact that the carafe would only hold coffee and the filled reservoir plugged into a niche beside the carafe. No need to pour water into anything.

The cleanings went well, so I made a test pot of coffee. No problems, and the coffee tasted fine. I poured the rest of it into a thermal carafe and noticed that about half a cup of coffee remains in the carafe after it stops pouring. The carafe had to be upended to drain all the liquid. So, 10 cups of coffee means 1/2 cup wasted. Nice. I set it up exactly as I had three times before and set the timer for 7 AM.

Next morning, I awoke to my wife’s screams. She had removed the carafe to pour herself a cup of coffee and the coffee basket slid out. It was full of scalding hot water that had not drained into the carafe for some reason and it flew everywhere, burning her hands in the process. We called EMS and they applied some topical spray. Fortunately, the burns were not severe and her hands were fine within a week.

So, I contacted Applica, the B&D parent company and was fairly promptly connected with one of their corporate lawyers who told me how to proceed if I wanted Applica to review a claim for damages. I did, and it took awhile but Applica settled reasonably promptly and was generally easy to deal with. No lawsuit, but my demand was EXTREMELY conservative as I believe in being honest in assessing damages and did not want to take a shot at the tort lottery.

So, the SpaceMaker is back home with B&D/Applica. It has been replaced by the very excellent and innovative Hamilton Beach Brew Station (which I have reviewed), which also makes no space but DOES make a superb cup of coffee and has not required us to call 911.

Back to open fire camp coffee for me Black & Decker SpaceMaker ODC405 12 Cup Coffee Maker If I want a pot of strong, no hassle, reheatable coffee, I'll head outside and throw some more sticks on the cookf...

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