Keurig® K-Duo Essentials™ Coffee Maker {A Review}

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I was gifted a Keurig® K-Duo Essentials™ Coffee Maker for the purpose of review. All opinions are always my own.
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I, like many people, have been a Keurig owner for years. Hubby and I started out with the teeny-tiniest one when we first got married. When that one kicked the bucket years later, we bought another, bigger, Keurig. But as the years have gone by, and we’ve added children to our family, our need for coffee has increased. So much so that recently my husband purchased a small carafe-style coffee maker so we can make more coffee at one time. Was it functional? Yes. But from an aesthetic standpoint, I hated it! My cute little coffee corner had become and ugly, crowded mess!

The carafe was useful when one or both of us had the day off, but on busy work mornings, a quick K-cup of coffee was all we had time for. So since getting rid of one wasn’t really an option for us, what’s a girl to do?

Then I found out about the Keurig K-Duo Essentials Single Serve & Carafe Coffeemaker. I can make both single cups of coffee as well as full 12-cup carafes! Two birds, one stone! We’ve been using ours for a few weeks now and here are my thoughts on the newest edition to our coffee make family –

It’s a large machine that takes up quite a bit more space than our old Keurig, but that’s to be expected considering it’s dual functionality. But while it may be on the large side, it still takes up less counter space than having 2 coffee-makers out together.

The water tank is on the backside of the coffee maker, which is slightly inconvenient for refilling, but not something that really bothers me. The tank is HUGE! I can count on one hand how many times we’ve had to refill the tank so far . . . and we make a lot of coffee!

The K-Duo Essentials doesn’t come with a reusable filter for the carafe’s coffee grounds which was a bit disappointing, but you can purchase one separately.

When we first got this machine, my husband was concerned about whether or not we’d be able to use our reusable coffee pods. He’s a bit of a coffee snob, so buying K-cups is hard (and expensive). I’m happy to report that the K-Duo Essentials worked with our existing reusable pods with no problem!

The K-Duo Essentials coffee maker allows you to choose your size while brewing your coffee. You have the choice of 8, 10, or 12 ounces or, if you’re brewing a carafe, 8, 10, or 12 cups. The carafe section has a heating plate to keep your coffee warm, with an automatic shut-off time of 2 hours after the last brew. When making single cups of coffee, the machine turns off after 5 minutes. The K-Duo Essentials also has the capability to automatically pause the coffee maker mid-brew for 20 seconds, allowing the carafe to be poured, so you don’t have to wait for the pot to finish before pouring your coffee!

Ready for my favorite part? You can turn on the brewer, and then insert your K-cup and make your selection almost immediately! The coffee maker heats, then brews in one simple process. No need to wait for it to heat before selecting your cup size! I didn’t even know how much I wanted this until I experienced it! I can’t tell you how many times I turned on our old Keurig, then walked away while it was heating . . . the completely forgot about it. By the time I’d remembered that I never made my coffee, I’d have to start the whole process over again. This one simple feature makes things so much easier for me.

Overall, I’m loving this machine! It has all the functionality of my old Keurig plus a carafe plus a few little tweaks that make brewing my morning coffee so much easier!

The Keurig K-Duo Essentials coffee maker is available exclusively online at Walmart for less than I paid for my old Keurig!

If you’re in the market for a new coffee maker and want the convenience of a single-serve with the flexibility to brew a carafe, I highly recommend the Keurig K-Duo Essentials coffee maker.

P.S. These are the reusable k-cups we have and use with our machine (affiliate link)