It is the best coffee maker that I have purchased. The ease of taking it out of the box and setting it on my counter was in less that 10 minutes, ready for our first cup of ground coffee. We purchased the stainless matte silver to go with all our matching Cafe appliances, it looks very nice on our counter. The coffee decanter is easy to clean, keeps your coffee hot for approximately 4 hours (not that it lasts that long), and love the different coffee settings/temp for your 1 cup or the 10 cup pot. I use the paper filters for the pot but just have used the wire basket (included) for the 1 cup. The water decanter is a full 75 oz and is very ease to fill, either take it off or pour directly into it. I have never heard of the "bloom" but have somehow been able to drink the coffee without half and half, no more bitter taste. I say "try it , you will like it" Also the sound of the burr grinder is really quiet, not like the previous "747" we had!

I could tell you about the positives of the machine (it's attractive, coffee brewed on the "gold" setting is delicious, et.). However there is a design flaw that leads to leaking, and this is a fatal flaw in that you're most likely not going to want to keep this coffee maker. Let me explain.As other reviewers have noted, the screw-on water filter housing is very finnicky. It's an acrylic piece that screws onto the bottom of the acrylic water reservoir. You can't just screw it on and call it good. It has to be screwed on PERFECTLY, or it will leak. The only way to tell if it's on right is to either fill it with water and leave it sit for a few hours to see if there's a leak, or to look very closely at the black rubber gasket through the clear acrylic. This gasket needs to be perfectly seated, and if the piece isn't screwed on right, you can often see it by looking at the gasket very carefully--you'll see one side of the gasket is popped out of the recess where it's supposed to sit. Even if it looks right, I'd still recommend filling the reservoir with water and leaving it to sit on a towel on the counter for a few hours to make sure it doesn't leak.The problem is that even once you get the reservoir put together perfectly to where it doesn't leak sitting on the counter, it WILL leak once you put it in the machine. The reason for this is very simple, and it's due to a glaring design flaw you can see for yourself with careful study.The housing for the water filter has a small spring-loaded piece in the bottom center with a rubber gasket. When you put the water reservoir into its holder on the machine, this piece rests on the water intake, which pushes the spring-loaded stopper up, so water can flow/trickle out of the reservoir and be pulled into the machine. The deign flaw is that where these two pieces connect--the bottom of the water reservoir filter and the top of the water intake--is just two pieces of hard plastic resting together. There is no seal or gasket here, so no matter what you do, it's going to leak, because there's no water-tight seal to prevent it.This is why, when you take the water reservoir out, there is often water pooled in the holder on the machine.It's also why, if you fill the reservoir with water the night before, to brew in the morning with a timer, or via the app, you'll get a low water warning and find a puddle of water on your counter around the coffee maker. The more you fill the reservoir, the more and faster it leaks (e.g. it will leak more with 10 cups of water than with 4).I suspect the reason why there are good reviews for this coffee maker is people don't realize it's leaking. The leak is very slow, so you may only notice it if you use the timer function, or fill the water reservoir ahead of time. If you fill the water right before you make the coffee, you may not see or notice the leak, though you may still notice standing water in the reservoir holder on the machine.So if you do buy this machine (which you really shouldn't), I highly recommend that you fill the water reservoir and leave it on the counter for a few hours to make sure you've got the filer housing screwed on right. Then, if there's no leaking, fill it and leave it on the machine overnight and see if you're greeted by a puddle on your counter in the morning.It's possible that some units do have some kind of seal there, and I and others with this problem got units that are lacking this seal for some reason. Or (more likely, I think) they all have this flaw and some people are just not noticing. The worst thing about this, I think, is you may have the unit for a while before you do a timed brew, and so you don't find out about the leaking until the return window is closed.Packing this all up and sending it back for a refund was a hassle. There is either a design flaw in all these machines, or their quality control is so bad that some of the machines are lacking a crucial seal. Either way, your money can be better spent on a better brand. I ended up getting a separate coffee maker and grinder, both by Breville, and the build quality on those is much higher with no problems and no leaking.

I love this machine. It makes great coffee. It looks sharp and stylish. It's the third grind and brew coffee machine that I've owned. Previously had the Cuisinart, and then the breville. They both made terrible coffee. This machine makes wonderful coffee. It was amazing how good the coffee was. But after three weeks off daily use, it stopped making coffee. It would turn on. The screen would indicate that everything was correct, it would grind the correct quantity of beans, and the screen would indicate that the brewing cycle was starting. But no water was going through. It got to the end of the brewing cycle, and the water reservoir hadn't emptied at all. There was just a dry pile of unbrewed coffee grounds in the filter. I tried unplugging and replugging. Tried cleaning all the parts, opening and closing everything, tried brewing from the app, tried brewing from the control panel. Tried different batch sizes. Switched from carafe to mug and back. Tried brewing with the grinder off, with it on. Cleaned everything as well as I could. Nothing worked. Contacted GE customer service. They suggested all of the steps I had already tried. They said it was likely a problem with internal circuitry, and that these machines are not reparable. They did say they would send me a replacement machine if I wanted. But I don't feel like I can trust this model because it broke after such a short period of time. Luckily it happened within the Amazon return window.But now I'm stuck. No way I'm going back to the weak, under extracted coffee of the breville, even though it did work like a champ for 5+ years. And the Cuisinart was even worse.Guess I'll be using a manual.coffee brewing method from now on. I have a good grinder and an aeropress... It's really nice to have freshly brewed coffee just waiting for me when I awaken. But it seems that there is no machine that meets my specifications for high quality coffee brewing AND reliability.I give two stars because it does make really good coffee. It just stopped working so soon after I purchased it.

First off, it makes great coffee which in the end is what it's all about but there are some things that make the machine frustrating to use. As for the grinder, there is no option to use less or more coffee if you wanted to. The machine will grind whatever the machine is programmed to use. It is probably timed based and not weight based if I had to guess but whatever it uses, you have no control over it. Also, if you want to change the grinder to go more fine, you should run the grinder when turning the burrs, but there is no setting to just run the grinder without a brew, which there should be if you adjust your grind size often between single cup and a full pot. I will say the grinder does look to have good consistency in grind size.The machine is kinda messy, especially with the single serve basket. It usually will leak something on your counter when you go to clean it out. I feel like they should have done something to prevent this. Also, after a brew coffee grinds will continue to drop down. I ended up just putting a paper filter under it to catch what would fall out during the day. The brew basket holder is the worst design as you cannot remove it to clean it out and it gets messy with grinds and liquid. Crazy you cannot remove this piece to clean.I do own their other SCA coffee machine and have been using it for a while now. This machine has a better carafe. Wider opening and easier to clean although I do wish they allowed you to take apart the actual lid to clean it better.The app of course is amazing and so easy to use to setup a weekly schedule or just run a one off brew. Because it has a built in grinder, it's easy to forget to put in the filter and you will have a mess if this happens. If it happens to you once though you probably won't forget again. Also, when putting the filter into the water holder, make sure you have it placed correctly in. Otherwise the water can leak out. I recommend pouring the water in the first time over the sink to be sure the seal is good before placing it in the coffee machine.So the question is, this brewer/grinder combo or a stand alone brewer and stand alone grinder. I think if you want to spend a little more money, their brewer only option and a Baratza Encore or even better, a Fellow Ode Gen 2 grinder, and you will have more options in your control. You will be able to choose how much coffee you want to use. You will have more options for a single cup brewing. You can get a Clever Dripper, French Press, Aeropress, V60 or any other pour over option you can use with a stand alone grinder. Getting the all in one combo is convenient but does limit you. Just something to think about.All in all, a good all in one machine that makes a good cup of coffee.Edit - Tips:1) When you install the filter into the bottom of the water resovior, make sure you place it correctly that it sits flat. When tightening the screw on piece, make sure the rubber piece is completely inside and not caught towards the outside. If this happens, it will leak out the bottom. I suggest filling the water resovior over a sink to make sure the seal is correct and you don't have any leaking before putting it onto the machine. If it is leaking, fix the bottom to make sure the seal is correct.2) To help with the mess of grinds falling after brewing, I usually put a paper filter into the brew basket piece that is attached to the machine and close it. Since there will be grinds stuck to the top as that is where the grind shoot is, this will catch anything that falls while not using the machine. It will prevent grinds from building up into the basket or just dropping down onto the machine. It will all be caught in the paper filter.3) When brewing single serve sizes, to avoid water spilling, after the brew is done, switch the brew chamber to a full pot and then open the brew chamber. No water will leak down if you do this.4) This might sound counter productive to the reason for getting this machine but this will help you make the best coffee possible. When using the built in grinder and keeping the hopper full, there is no way to reduce the amount of coffee the machine grinds and for me, it is grinding more coffee then I want for my brew. The way to get around this is to get yourself a scale and weigh out the amount of beans you want to use. Then only add that into the hopper. This way your coffee to water ratio can be exactly what you want it to be. You will still have fresh ground coffee in the morning, but using the exact coffee amount you want to use.

I must admit the design is what first caught my eye but the combined coffee grinder, coffee maker, and thermo carafe have exceeded my expectations. With new kitchen, I needed to consolidate counter top appliances. Replacing coffee maker and coffee bean grinder with one appliance was a first step. My better half sleeps late every morning while I start my morning around 6am so having a thermo carafe helps. Performance has been flawless and the many optional settings helps to meet all our coffee needs. We conducted a coffee taste test by preheating thermo with hot water, using "Gold" setting, 200F, 10-cups using Starbucks French Roast. Best pot of coffee we have had from any machine that we have owned. We also confirmed that thermo keeps coffee drinking hot for 2-hrs as described. Web app features that allow you to control everything and to save 4-favorites has been very useful. I have saved 10-cup Gold and 5-cup thermo preheat as examples. Water reservoir that holds 75oz (1.5 full pots) allows me to run the thermo preheat, dump water and then run the 10-cup gold without having to refill the water...great engineering. Having this beautiful Cafe design that matches our Cafe refrigerator was a bonus. Love the stainless steel with copper accents. Highly recommend.