Having owned previous a Hamilton Beach coffee maker that worked flawlessly, I can say that upgrading to the Flex Brew was a breeze to set up and prepare for our first brew. Everything so far has worked well during the first cleaning and the controls are easy to understand and operate. It also helps if you familiarize yourself with all of the features and parts that come with your coffee maker. Another great product.

I have been using this coffee maker for about two months. So far I've been pleased with it. I like the ability to brew K-cups and also have a traditional drip maker and carafe. I can't speak to some of the negative reviews criticizing the reliability, so far it has been very good for me and I brew at least two K-cups a day and use the carafe side once every few weeks. The only issue I've had is that sometimes the K-cup will burst, as some other reviewers have noted, and coffee grinds spill out all over the front of the machine. You will have to clean up the front of the coffee maker, the counter it sits on, and also go and clear the needle mechanism. This does NOT happen all the time and in my two months of use I've identified the cause to be certain types of K-cups that may not have a secure seal on the foil on the top of the K-cup. So far I've been able to brew fine except for the Sam's Club decaf K-cups. And even then it's not every K-cup, probably one out of every 15 or 20 cups. Other Sam's Club flavors work fine. But when it happens it is a hassle. The issue may be the way the K-cup mount on the Hamilton Beach FlexBrew works. My old Keurig has a cartridge that cradles the entire body of the K-cup and the needle clamp section seems to fully cover the top of the K-cup. The FlexBrew hold the K-cup well enough, but the needle assembly seems to push down on the center of the foil with a circular rubber part that forms a seal against the puncture point but leaves enough room for imperfect K-cups to burst through the edge of the K-cup's top (when the K-cups brew the FlexBrew pushes a lot of pressure into the K-cup). Again, it doesn't happen all the time, it seems to depend on the quality of the K-cup. Still, if the manufacturer could remedy this and send out replacement needle assemblies to the owners, it would make this a 5 star product for me. Other things I liked: - The single-serve side also has a basket that you can use with regular coffee grounds. Many coffee aficionados I know claim this preparation of coffee yields a better cup of coffee than using K-cups, although personally I'm happy either way. - The carafe has a great spout that pours smoothly and doesn't create spills. - The price is great for a machine this versatile. One other thing to note: other reviewers may have mentioned the single-serve side requires you to fill the reservoir each time you brew. That is true and while it is a slight inconvenience, I got used to it pretty quickly.

I bought this as a birthday present for my wife. She loves coffee makers and was intrigued by the machine's purported abilities. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that this is not a 2-way coffee maker. That's because the K-cup feature does not work. Coffee grinds and water go everywhere when you attempt to brew a single serving using a K-cup. It makes a total mess of your machine and countertop. You are also left with a cup of coffee loaded with coffee grinds/sludge. Yuck!! My wife and I have tried it over and over again and the outcome is always the same. We waste a bunch of K-cups and have to do a lot of cleaning. At this point, we have seen enough. We could not be any more disappointed with this purchase. We have never had such a crummy experience with a Hamilton Beach product. From here on out, we will just use the carafe side and give up on inserting K-cups into the single serve side of the machine. Don't be misled by my 1 star rating. If I could have given this a 0 star rating, I would have done so. However, the lowest rating I was allowed to give was a 1 star rating.

Loved the concept of this coffee maker...... but the single serve side would explode coffee grinds and hot water everywhere. Also not a fan of having to put your specific amount of water in order to brew a single cup. So sad but had to return it. Looking for a Keurig now.

I absolutely love this coffee maker! I love that you can make a full pot but can also make a full 14 oz. travel cup in the same machine! I can use the single k-cup pods or make a cup with ground coffee. I was able to eliminate the need for a Keurig and a coffee maker and freed up much needed counter space. I like the taste of the coffee from this machine so much better than the Keurig. The only thing I wish this machine had that it does not is a separate power button for each side or a "keep warm" button for the pot side. If I make a pot and then someone makes a travel cup, it shuts off the pot and will not allow you to turn it back on to keep it warm, so we have to work around that, but otherwise it was an excellent purchase!!

We've had this probably about a year and a half, and woke up to the same problem reported by others - water all over the counter top. Evidently, the "rigorous testing" is not like real world use. We really liked it otherwise, but I think we'll look at other options.

We bought this coffee maker and absolutely loved it. We had it about a year and it started to leak out of the bottom. We did not buy any warranty and we loved the coffee maker so much that we just bought a new one...what are the chances of it happening again, right? Wrong. The second one also started to leak out of the bottom and of course, did not buy a warranty on the second one either. Guess I should have read the reviews first before wasting my money on a second one. Sad thing is that I also bought my brother one as well. Very disappointed to say the least. Hamilton Beach needs to do a recall on these or something.

I have bought two of these. First one lasted about three years. Second only less than six months. Go to their toll free number for warranty and tells you to use website. Not every customer has that access. I do but when go there they tell you to send them an e mail which I did. The K cup side died and despite all my best efforts no way it would pump liquid. Even with out K cup. Will see what they do to make this right. But I am not holding my breath. Very seldom I give a poor review but best look elsewhere for a quality dual coffee maker. Fortunately I saved my old Keurig which I replaced with this as it took up less space than Keurig plus carafe coffee maker. Time break out the old machine!

purchased 3.14.2020- woke up today 8.8.20. same spot on countertop since purchased. today it decides simply not to work. returning it. wont replace w same. it doesn't get very hot anyways so I'll try something different. years ago I had a $20 todays cost proctor silex that lasted for 20 yrs that I bought for $12 when i was young and broke so maybe another one of those. Pretty tired of buying stuff i have to replace again and again

Kinda slow, no reservoir for water with k-kup side. Have to put the exact amount of water for the cup your using when using k-kups and if you pit too much itll run all over the counter top. I like the fact it does both k-kup and caraff but its very slow even the k-kups take about 3-4 minutes to make one cup of coffee.