Water Line To Coffee Maker - We compared three options

(republished Appliance World Home and Office Dec 2018)

Let me begin by explaining how this review ever happened.  It began here at our own break room, when we noticed rather routinely, a fair amount of water on the counter near the coffee maker.  There are about twenty coworkers whom use the room most days and often no one bothers to clean it up or fess up, for that matter.  

We actually had a meeting about it, of all things.  During the meeting, I was tasked with finding options available, along with cost estimates, to replace our coffee maker with something that "had the water already plumbed to it".  They picked me because I had just finished reviewing - Office Refrigerator Options, last month, so they figured I must be an expert on appliances.  I think the truth being more that no one else wanted to do it.

After an hour or so of google searching possibilities, I decided to offer up these options:

I will share with you our group's findings in an abbreviated manner.

Jerry, who is our Handy Man / IS Guy, was asked to sit in on the meeting.  I displayed images of each option on the overhead monitor so the group could visualize what each product looked like, as we discussed features.  I gave three images of each and went through the manufacturer's highlights.

Hands down, the group liked the looks of the BrewExpress, which priced out in the ballpark of $400 to $450.  It mounted inside the wall and had an impressive looking façade.    Jerry was intrigued by the mounting that would be required, so he searched with his smart phone for the instructions, while the group discussed it's other features.  He later chimed in that "it would be necessary to bust into the wall and to plumb out a water line, and then redo the drywall to finish off the job".  There was also mention of the need to bury the electrical connection, at the time of contruction.  He told the group it was all "do-able", but would require a fair amount of time on his part.

Next, came discussions of the Bunn.  Several people in the group had worked at larger places that had Bunn Coffee Makers and they had mostly good things to say about them.  They worked well and were an extremely fast way to brew a pot.  The unit, which was quite a bit larger than our old coffee maker would sit right on the counter.  Bunn makes a nice product.

But, it's overall size was made an issue, when Claire reminded our group of the limited amount of space we have on our counter as it is.  Our counter being only a few feet long.  Then, I distinctly recall a bit of a gasp in the room when I presented the price tag, which  was being quoted as high as $761.  Most of the attendees were more use to the kind of price one sees when they compare coffee makers at Target or Costco, which Cindy from our marketing staff had  happened to have just done for her own personal use only a few weeks prior to our meeting.  She told our group, "we could buy twelve coffee makers for the price of the Bunn", but Jerry quickly reminded her that those twelve did not include a water line hook up, and thus we would not be solving our problem.

Then came the Coffee Maker Water Line by UMJAVA.  Jerry googled the installation video off their website, which happned to be around three minutes long, while the committee looked at images and discussed it's versatility and the fact it could be installed on most coffee makers.  Jerry reported that he could get it installed pretty easily in about twenty minutes, if we so choose.

Our group was instantly reminded that our discretionary spending budget was running low for the year and that we had spent several hunded dollars more at the summer picnic than we had anticipated.  The price tag for the Coffee Maker Water Line Kit by UMJAVA was merely, $19.95 so less than twenty bucks was an eye opener.

So, with a show of hands the Umjava won out.  I remember Jerry's hand being up in the air as well.  He commented that he was glad he wouldn't be needing his "sledgehammer" for the job, even though one member of our group did vote for the BrewExpress, and wore a sour looking face.

Jerry's plan was to tap off the refrigerator water line which happened to be no more than seven feet away.  Dedre offered a suggestion that they consider getting a new coffee maker to go along with the Coffee Maker Water Line by Umjava.  Cindy offered to go along with Dedre to Target that lunch hour and select one.  It was Jerry who then suggested they look for a model which has a water level filling window, but Cindy quickly said  that would not be a problem since almost all of them have one.

NOTE:  It has been almost six months since we installed the new coffee maker and the Coffee Maker Water Line Kit by UMJAVA.  I can gladly report that our spilling situation resolved.  Along the way, we discovered how easy it is to make coffee now that we no longer need to go to the sink and fill up a pot, then pour it into the back of the coffee maker.  Cindy and Dedre selected a red coffee maker which looks nice there on our counter, in the break room.  We spent a fraction of the money the other options would have cost.  So for us, the least expensive option won out.

It usually does.