I bought this coffeemaker after owning many others (mostly Braun and Krups) and discovering over time that none made a very hot cup of coffee. Those that came close then burned what was left on the warming plate.

First off, this is an imposing coffeemaker. It's nearly twice as large as the Braun it replaces. It's too tall to fit under my cupboards, so it's difficult to make it less noticeable in the kitchen. It's also not terribly attractive. I loved the least expensive Braun because it was simple and attractive looking.

I bought mine as an open unit at Best Buy. That made it a real bargain at $85. Bunn was very helpful at supplying an owner's manual and a lime scale remover.

I've experienced what most of the other reviewers have mentioned. The carafe does frequently leak when pouring, so have a napkin handy. I only had an overflow once, and that was partly (entirely?) my fault. Bunn's definition of a cup is five ounces. Mine is six. Use their definition!

This is what I do for a great post of coffee every morning:
1. Turn on the coffee pot using the "vacation switch." (I run a very energy efficient house, so I'm not going to keep a coffeemaker on all day just so that it can be ready for my three cups in the morning.)
2. Come back 15 minutes later after getting ready for work. At this point, you can hear the maker boiling the water that's already in it. Once the sound of that water heating stops, you're set. It's usually already finished when I come out.
3. Preheat the Bunn thermal carafe with boiling water (microwave 1 minute 25 seconds for about 6 ounces of water). I don't care what anyone says. You simply can't expect piping hot coffee when you're using the coffee to first heat the vessel.
4. While the water is boiling for the carafe, grind four heaping tablespoons of beans in a burr grinder using a medium-fine grind (I use this to fill a one-pint thermos).
5. Pour the grounds into a genuine Bunn filter. I say this not because Bunn makes a better filter (they might, but I'm not judging that), but because Bunn filters are taller. This is critical in avoiding overflow.
6. Pour in the amount of water you want. I use approximately 20 ounces to end up with a full pint in my thermos. Note that it's difficult to be exact with this machine. Because there's already water in the maker, you never know exactly how much is in there. It's generally around three cups. However, on days where I've forgotten to
turn it off or on the rare occasions where I haven't made coffee for a few days, there is some amount of water lost to the atmosphere. On those days, adding 20 ounces gives me LESS than 16 ounces in the end. The larger the quantity of coffee you're making, the less critical this becomes. I would NEVER try to make one or two cups of coffee in this thing; it would be impossible.
7. Pour the water in the Bunn carafe into the thermos or the cup you'll be drinking from. Once again, hot coffee into hot cup = no heat loss.
8. Close the lid on top of the Bunn. Do not, do not, and don't close the lid until you have everything else ready. Otherwise you'll have a mess. Once the water starts coming out, it comes out quickly!
9. Turn off the vacation switch on the left of the coffeemaker.

To sum up, this coffeemaker is neither beautiful nor unimposing. It also has several shortcomings. So why did I buy it? Well, every coffeemaker I've come across has shortcomings. This one happens to make very hot coffee that tastes good. As long as it continues to do that, I'll buy another when this one dies.

Recommended: Yes