8 Best Coffee Makers of 2026, Lab Tested and Reviewed
These appliances from Cuisinart, Nespresso, and Ninja make great-tasting coffee and are convenient to use, receiving outstanding scores in our tests
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Making coffee at home instead of paying for it at a coffee shop will probably save you money. But that’s only if the coffee you brew at home is satisfying enough to keep you from going back to paying for a better cup elsewhere.
Consumer Reports can help. We rate more than 160 coffee makers, from basic drip models priced as low as $18 up to high-end machines costing hundreds.
You can learn more about the different types of coffee makers in our coffee maker buying guide and explore all your options—including price, dimensions, and capacity—in our complete coffee maker ratings. Love espresso drinks? We’ve assessed some popular espresso machines, too.
Below are reviews of the best coffee makers we’ve tested, grouped by type and listed in alphabetical order. CR members can click on each model name below for more detailed ratings and specs.
If you’re not already a CR member, click below to join and gain access to all the ratings and reviews of every product we independently buy and test, including big-ticket items such as refrigerators, dishwashers, cell phones, TVs, cars, and more.
Best Drip Coffee Makers
Drip coffee makers are the most popular type because they’re easy to use. These machines deliver coffee by “dripping” water through ground beans. Top-rated drip coffee makers feature an automatic shutoff, and some have additional features such as a removable reservoir and an indicator to let you know when cleaning is needed.
The Bunn HB Heat N Brew Programmable drip coffee maker may take a relatively long time to brew a pot (12 minutes compared with the quickest machines that brew in 6 minutes). But our testers found that it’s very easy to use, brew performance is very good, and the carafe is easy to handle and pour from. Even better, it earns an excellent score for ease of cleaning, and Bunn drip coffee makers receive excellent scores for reliability and satisfaction.
If you want a basic glass-carafe drip coffee maker, consider the Cuisinart PerfecTemp 14 Cup Programmable DCC-3200. (It comes in copper, too, as the DCC-3200CP.) It earns an excellent rating for brew performance, reflecting optimal brew temperature for the best flavor. It also has very good scores for convenience and carafe handling. It can be programmed to have fresh coffee waiting when you wake up, and you can adjust the brewing strength to make your coffee weaker or stronger.
Don’t be deterred by the unusual design: The top-rated Cuisinart Programmable DCC-4000 is a 12-cup coffee maker with excellent brew performance. Our testers also found it easy to use and clean, and its carafe-handling score is very good, meaning it’s easy to hold and pour from. Cuisinart, as a coffee maker brand, receives an excellent score for owner satisfaction in our member surveys, and a very good score for brand reliability. Altogether, it adds up to place this drip coffee maker at the top of our ratings.
Best Single-Serve Coffee Makers
Single-serve coffee makers serve one cup of coffee at a time rather than two or more. These highly rated appliances feature automatic shutoff, height-adjustable drip trays, and removable water reservoirs.
Several features set the Keurig K-Café Smart apart from the rest of the single-serve makers. It has WiFi connectivity, and there’s a hot and cold milk frother that can help you whip up a fancy café au lait. It has six temperature settings, and you can adjust your brew strength, perhaps allowing a slightly milder brew for your afternoon pick-me-up. In CR’s tests, this machine, which uses K-Cup pods, delivers superb results in our brewing range, convenience, and size consistency tests.
Nespresso machines require Nespresso capsules, which tend to be more expensive than K-Cups. But if you like cafe-quality drinks, you may think it’s worth it to pay up and use the Nespresso CitiZ EN267BAE. This machine produced exceptionally speedy cups and has a very good brewing range, meaning there are several ways to customize your coffee to suit your taste. This coffee maker also comes with a milk frother. Plus, we found it easy to operate and clean. It has a removable reservoir, and you can see the water level from the front and sides of the machine.
The Nespresso Creatista Plus is another single-serve coffee maker equipped with a milk frother, plus an espresso setting for making fancier drinks. The first cup and subsequent cups brewed quickly, and our testers found this coffee maker very convenient to use, clean, and refill. The temperature of the coffee produced, however, was inconsistent. This machine has a capsule collection bin.
Best Dual Coffee Makers
Dual coffee makers can serve either a single cup or a whole pot of coffee, depending on your needs. The best dual coffee makers brew a single cup quickly, allow you to customize a pot based on your preferred brew strength, and brew at an optimal temperature for the best flavor. They also come with an easy-to-handle carafe.
The Hamilton Beach Advanced 5-in-1 (49965F) excels in our drip coffee brew performance tests, so you’re very likely to get a satisfying cup. Its ease of use is also excellent, according to our lab testers. It offers brew-strength controls and a small-batch setting. It does a little less well when it comes to its pod coffee capabilities, receiving a very good score for first cup speed, but just a mediocre score for subsequent cups. When using a pod, it’s not particularly good at tailoring your coffee’s strength to your taste.
Dual coffee makers are all about convenience. On the pod side, the Ninja Espresso & Coffee Barista System serves up a single cup especially quickly, earning an excellent score in that measure. Subsequent cups are also very quick, which can’t be said for all pod machines. If you intend to use it to fill a travel mug, though, be aware that it only fits mugs less than 8 inches. For making a pot of coffee, it earns a very good convenience score and brews a full pot in 6 minutes.
How CR Tests Coffee Makers
For drip coffee makers, we conduct a brew-performance test in which we measure how long the water stays within the optimal brewing range of 195° F to 205° F. We calculate each machine’s convenience score based on how easy it is to fill the reservoir, place the filter, read markings on the machine, and operate it. We assess ease of cleaning based on the effort required to empty the coffee grinds and wipe down the hotplate and exterior, noting any crevices where ground coffee could get stuck. For carafes, we evaluate handle comfort and balance, how easy the carafe is to pour from, and whether it dribbles or drips when you pour.
For single-serve pod machines, our engineers evaluate the temperature and size consistency of individual cups of coffee. Because convenience is key for these machines, we test how quickly each model produces a first cup and how quickly subsequent cups are brewed. We also score each pod machine based on how much control you have over the size and strength of your coffee.
Dual coffee makers are rated based on both drip and pod coffee maker criteria.
We also incorporate data for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction using survey responses collected from thousands of CR members.
Learn more about our tests in our coffee maker buying guide, where you can also find tips on how to shop for the coffee maker that’s right for you.
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