Smeg Coffee Maker Review Is it worth it?

Christmas of 2018 a Smeg Coffee Pot was at the top of my list. I lusted after it’s slick design and since we have our coffee pot in our bedroom (view our old coffee bar here) It has to be cute as well as functional. I read no reviews about the Smeg I added it to my list 100% based on looks. Looking back that might have been a mistake. We had our coffee maker for over two years and got to know it quite well as between Joe and I we drank a pot a day. However when the coffee maker broke in December of 2020 we decided it’s time for potentially, a new brand.

My overall feedback on the Smeg Coffee Pot is not good but I will say, It’s not all bad either. There were some great qualities about it that made us keep it in the first place and then, keep it for an additional two years.

Pros of the Smeg Coffee Maker

The overall look of the Smeg is very sleek and retro. Since we have our coffee bar in our bedroom I wanted something that fit in with the decor and didn’t stick out like square piece of plastic against the wall. Some reviews say that it is too big and round and does not fit under their counters but since ours is sitting on a coffee bar we didn’t have an issue with that. The size of the coffee pot doesn’t feel much bigger than other models on the market or even our Keurig.

The coffee pot itself is very easy to clean. There are not small crevices or levers. What you see is what you get. A quick wipe down and it looks good as new. The coffee pot comes with a reusable filter that is easy to clean as well but we always would use a paper filter as well.

The taste of the coffee is great. No matter if you are brewing a local batch or something off the shelf from the grocery store. The coffee has a great crisp and hot taste to it. Sometimes with the cheaper models of coffee pots you tend to get that chemical/plastic taste in your coffee but this always tastes fresh.

Cons of the Smeg Cofffee Pot 

After two years of use I would say that I have a pretty good gauge on the ins and outs of this coffee pot. While the design is cute and modern it does come with some serious quirks.

Design wise the lid does not flip all the way back so you have to pour the water into the pot from a very high height which usually results in water spilling everywhere. You can see we have a tray to catch the spilled water and keep a stack of towels inside the cabinet. The water issue could be easily resolved if the lid opened to a wider angle.

The loud beep. The smeg pot blares a beep so loud when turning on and shutting off that you have to be prepared to wake the baby. There is no way (to my knowledge) to turn down the volume. I guess the bright side is that everyone knows the coffee is on.

The constant descaling. The red light that appears on your smeg coffee pot means it needs to be descaled. We have well water out in the country so it’s about once a week that it would need to be descaled. You have to do this by holding both the far left and the far right button down at the same time until they turn red, beep and start to filter through.

Auto Shut Off. The coffee pot does not stay on longer than 20 minutes. Either you have to make smaller pots or you have to keep clicking the on button every 20 minutes  as long as you are drinking coffee. This results in the large beeping each and every time. Again, when you are trying to keep your kiddo asleep for just a bit longer… you’re playing with your own schedule every time you turn it on. Every morning we have to turn our coffee pot on 2-3 additional times. The auto shut off is great if you forget to turn off your pot but 20 minutes is not long enough. The longer your coffee sits on the burner the more bitter it becomes so the intention is to make smaller batches. In a perfect world… I might.

Final Review

I think the final straw for me on this coffee pot was the customer service when it broke. When it broke over Christmas 2020 it was very difficult to get help remedying the issue and in the end there was no remedy. The Smeg coffee pot retails around $200 so one would expect it to last longer. When this coffee pot broke we had to provide the proof of purchase, fill out a form, find the receipt and even the SKU on the box we saved (because we are that people) We were told there was nothing they could do because these products only have a 12 month warranty. I then contacted William Sonoma where it was purchased and have yet to receive a response from their email website contact or Instagram. The William Sonoma customer service was almost more disappointing to me than Smeg because a large (90%) of the items in my kitchen have been purchased from William Sonoma.

In my opinion, customer service means just as much as the product performance itself. Both disappointing.

Upon hearing nothing from William Sonoma or Smeg Joe took it upon himself to watch some youtube videos about repairing it himself and he kind of did! He took it almost totally apart at the top, reassembled and descaled it heavily a couple of times.

We have continued to use it but it doesn’t quite run the same as it used to. We are continuing read reviews and research a new coffee making but many people have suggested that they love their Ninja Coffee Bar.

I do wish that our experience was different because I do love how the coffee pot looks and brews the coffee but in the end I would not recommend spending the $200+ on this coffee maker.