Electric Percolator Classic Style Coffee Maker with Heat Resistant Handle Base and Detachable Cord with Stainless Steel Stem and Basket, 12-Cup, Silver

We were looking for a replacement for our Keurig and this West Bend percolator was the winner. In our opinion a good percolator is the secret to a good cup of coffee. And this is a good percolator. We especially like that the water level indicator is on the outside of the pot near the handle. This makes it so easy to read & fill.

It works great Nice color Great size Use it everyday Quality stainless steel Coffee grounds don’t get through Easy to use Very consistent Makes great coffee Use it everyday Coffee very hot and tasty

Works well, love the flavor from a percolator. Takes about ten minutes for 12 cups, it’s a little noisy but that’s part of the experience to perked coffee. Easy to clean. The power cord could be longer for more plug in options but not a deal breaker. It’s nice to have the clear window on handle to see how much brew is left. Very happy with purchase.

Very please - it perks (a little louder than I would like) but the coffee is excellent and hot ! I wish it would cut off on its own it you have to unplug it But all around I would buy it again

Love the coffee pot. Makes the coffee very quickly and tastes so much better than the drip type and much hotter. Forgot how good coffee could taste. Very pleased indeed.

Just as background, I grew up in a household where we used both stove-top and electric percolators for brewing conventional heavy grind retail coffees. I’ll add that I’m also a past member, joining in 2006, of the US Specialty Coffee Association. I maintain a small roasting and commercial brewing counter in my home shop. Coffee and all its brewing gear is my avocation. Wanting to get back to percolator-brewing, we bought this Westbend unit about 38 days ago. About one week ago after having brewed our morning coffee, I smelled what I know as an electrical-insulation burnt-odor and/or a burnt coffee odor. For the first few days I suspected the coffee. To isolate the issue I brewed a few different coffees. Each time there was that same odor combined but overwhelming the coffee aroma. We double-checked the coffee by brewing with my Melitta pour-over system; no odor other than the aroma of the coffee. I then looked at the inside of the percolator and noticed a dark spot, silver-dollar size, near the inside edge of the brewing area. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a hot-spot, over-heating and either caused by the heating coil element’d proximity to the bottom of the brewing body, and/or the burning of insulation material. Whatever it is, I’m concerned it’s a safety hazard at this time. I never remember my parents, or me in my early adult years, returning any electric percolators. After years of use they usually went to storage only because we wanted the newer designs or larger capacities, not because they failed. But that was in the 60s through the 80s. Unfortunately with what I’ve seen in more recent household appliances, I’m not surprised with quality control issues, but certainly disappointed. I ran a review-search on this percolator and found a number of both ‘burnt odor smell’ issues and even more concerning, negative reports on West Bend’s warranty coverage service. I’ll start by contacting Amazon as we’ve only had the machine for 38 days. Obviously, if your looking for a percolator, I’d highly recommend looking at other percolator options. And specifically, I’d suggest using the Amazon review options/resources to check for related key word issues.

I really tried to research percolators as much as I could, and decided to give this West Bend a try. It arrived quickly and was packed well. I am replacing a Faberware that quit working due to thermostat problems similar to what everyone else has said about Faberware. Compared to the Faberware, the West Bend is not constructed as well. The gauge of the metal is thinner on the West Bend, and overall it seems more cheaply made. Of course it only cost $38, so maybe it's just a case of you get what you pay for? The metal isn't polished quite as nicely either. However, appearance aside, the pot does seem to brew OK but as others have mentioned the clear plastic cap leaks and you have to wipe it up. You have to wrap a cloth or paper towel around the top handle for each batch. There is no seal between the handle and the cap and clearly it needs one. Also, so far the coffee isn't very strong for the amount of grounds I'm using. I have tried it with a paper filter and without, and each way the coffee seems to back up and not drain through quickly enough and ends up spilling over the top which means the water isn't picking up the flavor and strength as much as it should. When the cycle is complete, which is about 1 min/cup as advertised, the coffee remains in the basket a long time. In fact, a couple of times I had to use a spoon to help move the grounds around to get the remaining coffee in the basket to drain through after waiting 10 minutes after the cycle stopped. This is with regular grind coffee! It seems to me that there are not enough drain holes in the basket. Back in earlier days of more high quality percolators, some of them had a fine mesh in the baskets rather than just a few punched holes. I haven't been able to try it since I was able to return the Faberware, but what might work with this West Bend unit is to use the basket and basket top from the Faberware 12 cup unit inside the West Bend. Not sure it fits, but if it does that might work well. The Faberware parts are thicker gauge and nicer overall, and it seemed to drain the coffee better from the basket. That is just speculation for others think have a Faberware laying around... I'll try this pot few more days and possibly return it to Amazon if things don't improve...

I bought this unit as a replacement for a Mr. Coffee drip-brew that died after 5 months. This was a very disappointing turn of events because I expected a lot more out of that coffee maker. I brew coffee daily, but coffee makers should be able to last longer than 5 months. Anyway, I decided to switch to a percolator because I decided the bells and whistles of the modern drip-brew didn't really do me that much good and the quality of the coffee was only decent at best. I originally ordered a percolator made by Presto, but the shipping was so slow I cancelled the order and opted for this West Bend model, which was Amazon Prime-Eligible and arrived in two days. I usually use a dark roast (French or Italian roast) with distilled water (the tap water where I live has a lot of lime in it). The coffee out of this percolator is fantastic. It's quick to brew and easy to use. The best feature of this percolator is something very simple, the thermostat. This percolator brews at the perfect temperature, and when it's done it'll leave the coffee at a perfect temperature, about 200 degrees. Also, there is no auto-shutoff, so you can expect your coffee to be at a perfect temperature until you unplug the percolator. This is really great to me because my previous maker shut off after two hours, but the coffee wasn't hot enough to enjoy until it had been sitting on the burner for about 40 minutes. That meant I had to slug down all the coffee in the remaining time or turn the burner back on, which was a slight pain in the neck. I pace myself, but I drink coffee from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, so I like it hot and ready when I want a cup. Some reviewers have complained that this percolator has a plastic dome rather than glass, but I don't really think that's a big concern. Firstly, this percolator is very affordable, so you have to expect cheaper materials. Second, considering the era in which it is manufactured, it's not at all unexpected that a manufacturer would use cheaper materials without compromising quality. Some percolators out there don't even have a clear plastic dome, so being able to watch it percolate is kind of a cool treat. The overall fit and finish of the percolator is quite nice, especially considering its price. If you're a coffee drinker that depends on timers, auto-shutoffs, pre-ground beans, built-in clocks, and other amenities, this might not be the maker for you. However, if you are enthusiastic about the flavor and quality of your coffee, percolators in general are a great choice, and this percolator specifically is a cheap and easy way to try it out. The quality of the coffee that comes out of this percolator is amazing. This is my first percolator, and I just figured bitterness and harsh flavor were something that you just had to expect from some blends, but this device proved me completely wrong. For the first time, I brewed a strong French roast and got a rich, brown, flavorful cup of coffee without any bitterness. It was almost off-putting because it didn't taste anything like what I was used to, so it took a bit to appreciate the pureness of the brew from this machine. I highly recommend this percolator.