Proctor Silex 48350 Coffee Maker

The 1961 VW Beetle of Automatic Drip Coffeemakers

Not all of us stop at the local Starbucks for a tall half-caff no-foam skinny vanilla latte every morning. I mean, some neighborhoods don't even have a Starbucks, plus some people find doing that inconvenient, expensive or both. For them, there’s a whole world of coffeemakers out there to let you do it yourself before breakfast.

Ever since Joe Garagiola started selling Mr. Coffee back in the ‘70s, an automatic drip pot has been the country's favorite coffee pot. There are zillions of variations: built-in grinders, timers, cleaning sensor, auto-off… or there’s your basic sixteen-dollar pot. That would be the Proctor-Silex 48350. If this appliancewere a car, it would be the so-called "key and a heater” model without chrome, radio, tinted glass, anything fancy. But the, the great thing about a basic model like this is that there’s not much to go wrong; and when something does the item's so cheap it’s basically disposable.

A Proctor-Silex 48350 is a ten-cup coffee maker, so it makes 60 ounces of coffee. That means 7½ eight-ounce cups or about four sixteen-ounce mugs. It uses the cupcake-style filters instead of the cone-shaped ones. The white plastic pot has just one feature, an on-off switch way down on the right-hand side, which conveniently lights up when the pot is on. Its footprint is a tiny nine inches deep and eight wide, and when it's closed stands less than 12 inches tall. The warmer plate is heated and the basket has a “pause and pour” feature to keep water from leaking out when you remove the carafe.

The top flips upward for filling, which means it has to be pulled out from under the cabinets. A lift-out filter basket is held in place by a swing-away arm, which pours hot water onto the grounds while brewing.

Considering that it's a super-cheap model drip coffee maker, it still does a fairly good job of brewing coffee. Unlike expensive auto-drip models from Braun, etc., the carafe doesn’t have a serious case of the drips. The carafe comes apart for washing, is said to be dishwasher-safe, and the whole thing is BPA-free. It is, however, quite cheaply made and has serious design flaws, especially that swingaway arm. I would rather have a cone-style filter basket, but that’s not available.

If you need a simple coffee maker for your vacation home, office or shop; or just to use as a backup for entertaining, look into a Proctor Silex 48350. Who knows? it will probably outlast the $130 model you have now. 

PLUS: small, little to go wrong, makes good coffee, carafe isn't drippy
MINUS: cheaply designed and cheaply made
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: A Proctor-Silex 48350 is about as basic as you can get in coffee makers. Great for people who don't need shots, foam, and the other frou-frou stuff.