Brew Both Ways! A Keurig Duo Essentials Coffee Maker Review
I received this product for free from Moms Meet to use and post my honest opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.
I recently had the opportunity to review this newer Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker, which will let you brew either a single cup or an entire carafe with just one machine. You can use both K-Cups and ground coffee here, with multiple brew sizes available in both single cup and carafe.
How handy is that, right? I drink enough coffee that I prefer to brew up a pot in the morning, but sometimes when a friend drops by later in the day it's useful to be able to make just a single cup for her -- or to lay out a variety of choices in K-Cups, to meet people's different coffee preferences during a family gathering.
The Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker is only available at Walmart. But at $99, this is a fairly budget-friendly choice (given its dual functionality), and a great gift idea for the upcoming holidays this year.
How does the Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker work?
The Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker holds a full 60 oz of water in its removable reservoir, which is a good size and easy to refill. Simply fill the reservoir to the max fill line, then choose your brewing method (both sides pull from the same reservoir):
On the carafe side, you just insert a flat bottom paper filter into the basket, scoop in your choice of ground coffee, place your carafe on the heating plate, and select an 8, 10, or 12 cup brew. The machine unfortunately doesn't let you choose a smaller brew size than 8 cups. So, if you're making a pot of coffee for one, you might be better off just using the K-Cup side. A heating plate keeps the 12-cup glass carafe warm, and a Pause & Pour feature gives you 20 seconds to grab a cup before the machine is done brewing. Because sometimes: You just.can't.wait.
On the K-Cup side, just pop in your favorite K-Cup, place your coffee mug or travel mug on the drip tray, and choose either 8, 10, or 12 oz. This brewer is nice because, unlike with some other Keurig models, you don't have to wait for the water to heat up before choosing a cup size.
The Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker brews fairly quickly, but both the K-Cup and carafe brewing methods are on the louder side. The brewer and heating plate both have an auto-off feature.
What's the verdict?
I like my coffee strong and dark, and have always enjoyed it black. On the carafe side, the Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker seems to brew a little less strong than my usual coffee maker; on the single serve side, you get a typical K-Cup brew.
If you have a smaller kitchen, be aware that this is a bulky machine that will take up a good bit of counter space -- less, though, than if you have been devoting space to two separate machines. It brews a little noisily, but is fast and efficient. I also quite appreciated not having to let the water heat up before selecting an oz size on the K-Cup side, which is a real time saver.
My Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker Review in a nutshell
Pros: Easy to brew up a whole pot of coffee in the morning, and then just do a single cup later in the day. The Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker is easy to use, it holds a lot of water in its removable 60 oz reservoir, and you don’t have to wait until it heats up to select a brew size for your K-Cups.
Cons: This machine is bulky, and is a little bit noisy. It really does take up a lot of room on the counter, so consider your available space before purchasing. Also, if you're a fan of bolder coffee as I am, note that a pot of brewed coffee doesn’t come out as strong as with my old brewer. Lastly, you can't set it to brew fewer than 8 cups on the carafe side -- meaning that you're out of luck if you want to run a smaller pot.
Overall: A solid buy, giving you the best of both worlds in one affordable machine. It's always good to have options.
Pick up your Keurig K-Duo Essentials Coffee Maker today
Kudos to Keurig for recognizing that there is a time and a place for both K-Cups and carafes. The Keurig Duo Essentials Coffee Maker allows you to enjoy both, without having to choose.
I've had one for 2 weeks or so it stopped brewing a full carafe and the k cup side wouldn't work right either. I remembered my mom always ran distilled white vinegar through her coffee pots when they was slow or stopped. So I tried about half vinegar and half water and a bunch of white calcium scale came out but it stopped. I turned it off and tried to run it through again and got it to fill the carafe. I done this twice and then done two cleansing runs and so far it works. The k cup side was done as well. Brewed a pot of coffee and will use filtered water from now on.
Not saying this is a 100% fix but I hate dealing with companies and it seems to have fixed my issue.
I recently got the machine as a gift. The recommendation is to use 1tbsp of coffee for every cup, however this measurement is giving me an extremely bitter coffee. I am using the Tim Hortons medium roast coffee for brewing. Could you please recommend what would be the right amount of coffee to use for brewing 8 cups?
I use about 3 or 4 tbsp for 12 cups or a full carafe. So for the 8 cup setting I'd start by using 2 tbsp and if it's too strong or weak adjust to taste.
I tried this and works perfect!! Thank you so much!!! 😀
Oh boy... I am in shock now after reading all of these reviews. We are on our 3rd machine now 🙁 and I'll be calling them tomorrow. This one is about a week old and was working fine until last night. I wanted to brew 10 cups on the pot side, and after 1/2 an hour, there was only 4 cups brewed and the machine shut off. Tonight, exactly the same thing, only this time, the descale button is now stuck on. At first, I started thinking that it was me doing something wrong, but after seeing here that so many others have the exact same issues, I know it's not me!!!
Really thought I would love the duo Keurig because I like the K-cups and my husband likes the carafe. Unfortunately, you cannot brew less than 8 oz. on the K-cup side and less that 8 cups on the carafe side. That really sucks. The 8 oz. on the K-cup side is watered down and if you add more grounds to the carafe side it spills over. Good concept, but doesn't work for me. Keurig, please study this more and make a duo that works for both the carafe side and the K-cup side with a choice to brew less that 8 oz. I will return my duo and go back to using my old single cup Keurig.
My Duo has lasted a good couple months but suddenly this morning it stopped brewing the pot and all the lights are lit and won’t go off. I have clean and rinsed the lines and everything but it will not woke 😭 and of course customer service is down !!
how do you put the basket back in the slot? I just got this kduo and thought I just slid it out.
Same problem here. They are mailing us our third machine. Cannot brew a carafe! Stops at 6 cups and shut down. What a pain!
I solved the problem of spill over coffee grounds by using the Bunn brand of coffee filters. They are taller than the regular ones. I purchased them online. No more coffee ground mess.
I try to make a carafe pot full I turn it on the right button for it but water comes out of Krupp side instead of a full pot