Mr. Coffee FTX33GTF 12-cup Coffee Maker Review

I don't smoke cigarettes (or anything else for that matter) and I don't drink alcohol. I do enjoy a good cup of American-style coffee and have always appreciated Mr. Coffee products for their simplicity, longevity and ability to brew a cup of coffee that I like.

My wife was unhappy with a Sunbeam coffeemaker that we had, so we bought a new Mr. Coffee FTX33GTF 12-cup coffee maker at Costco for $30. On the box, the FTX33GTF is attractive and has all the features I could possibly want. In use, the FTX33GTF is annoying and inconvenient, and it doesn't make coffee any better than the Sunbeam coffee maker that we threw out.

The Mr. Coffee FTX33GTF 12-cup coffee maker makes 12 eight-ounce cups of coffee. No one actually drinks cups that small, so the reality is more like eight real-world cups of coffee. That's okay, though... my wife and I usually prepare just two mugs of coffee and the FTX33GTF will do that fine. My first complaint has to do with loading the FTX33GTF. You have to flip up the top to load the coffee and pour water, and the FTX33GTF is too tall to fit on my kitchen counter under a cabinet. I have to pull it out from under the cabinet to use it -- inconvenience number one.

Fiddling with the basket where you place the coffee grounds is more difficult than other coffee makers I have and it's actually easy to forget to use the plastic basket. I dropped a paper filter in the FTX33GTF without using the basket and it made a BIG mess. Fiddling with the plastic basket is inconvenience number two. Every time I pour water in the FTX33GTF, the design of the reservoir causes some water to dribble onto the counter.  That's inconvenience number three.

The worst is yet to come, however. Mr. Coffee decided to make the FTX33GTF more stylish than its older coffee makers and in the process created a front panel with lots of controls that are annoyingly hard to read. Every time I push the button on the front panel, I have to bob and weave to make sure I can read the legend under the button. Take a look at the control panel picture that I supplied above and you'll see what I mean... there is poor contrast with the lettering and the lettering is too small. The shiny background surface is dazzling and collects smudges, both of which limit legibility.

Finally, the faux analog clock is a silly affectation. Give me a digital clock and spare me the dumb attempt at replicating an analog clock. I'll give the clock on the FTX33GTF this: It's so bright that it makes an effective nightlight.

The upside to the FTX33GTF is much shorter than the downside, since it does actually make a good cup of coffee. I like a good old-fashioned American coffee, such as Folgers or Maxwell House, and they work fine with this coffee maker.

My bottom line is that the Mr. Coffee FTX33GTF 12-cup coffee maker is reasonably priced at $30 but the design has sacrificed function for style. That is always a poor choice and this appliance suffers for it. I recommend that you avoid the Mr. Coffee FTX33GTF 12-cup coffee maker and get something that's easier to use.