As I sit here listening to the thunder reverberate throughout the house, I ponder the great mysteries of the universe. Mysteries that have, no doubt, plagued mankind for eons--mysteries such as: Why do I own a left-handed coffee maker?
At 1 AM, I am positive that I could find something better to do. Sleep...sleeping would be good. The thunderstorm took care of that. It's fine, though, since we don't get many good thunderstorms here in Ohio. It's one of the things I miss from back home. Yes, I would prefer to have the thunderstorm during waking hours, so I could appreciate it more, being fully rested after a good night's sleep. This, however, is generally not the case.
Back to the coffee-maker...A Cuisinart DCC-750 The model has been discontinued. I received one new for Christmas, so the discontinuation is somewhat recent. There are those of you who will argue that there is no such thing as a left-handed coffee maker--the lady I spoke to at Cuisinart, for example. Even after I pointed out the design flaws, she insisted that I was wrong. She is entitled to her ignorance and her opinion.
She vehemently denied that this particular model was some designer's sick and twisted game of *Hey let's screw with the half asleep coffee drinkers* gone wrong. Some of you may own this particular model, or a similar model from another manufacturer. You know exactly what I am talking about. For the rest of you, I will explain.
When I go to my coffee maker for a cup of coffee, I reach for the carafe with my right hand. This is because I am right-handed. The space on my counter for my coffee maker is best used if said coffee maker is positioned at a 45° angle to the front of the counter. This allows a natural reach-bring-pour-return movement that flows like a gentle stream.
All is well until one wants to make a new pot of coffee. The fresh grounds are in the basket, the carafe is full of fresh water, and you are ready to pour the water into the maker. This is where contortion comes into play.
There is a little graduated plastic window down the right-hand side of the coffee maker, so you can see the amount of water in it. When pouring water (with right handed grip) into the maker's tank, you can not see this little window...unless you have the neck of an ostrich. Big deal, right? Fill the carafe and pour it in. That should work, correct? That would be a big fat NEGATORY! Apparently, for a coffee maker that makes 12 cups of coffee, it is an industry standard to use a 14 cup carafe. Emptying a full carafe of water into the coffee maker at 4:30 am...in the dark...and stumbling away to the shower is just what they want to happen!
Apparently, there is a little hole in the back of the coffee maker that, somewhere around the 12 cup mark, drains any overages out onto the counter. When you return from your shower... in your socks...you find the excess water all over the floor in front of the counter. At this point, you are just awake enough to be upset. After stomping away-splat-stomp-grumble-splat-grumble-splat-stomp-in search of dry socks...and probably your slippers, you manage to have a cup of coffee.
I actually managed to put a couple of ideas into writing and made notes to call the company to ask about these design flaws. I also asked to be put on a notification list, if and when a right-handed model was released. After she laughed at me, and informed me that they will not be updating the design, she had the nerve to wish me a nice day!
I enjoy making custom knives and doing some woodworking and leatherworking on the side. I never intended to make a business of this. I started out by handcrafting a couple of knives that I needed. I could have bought the knives elsewhere, but was unhappy with the choices available to me. I decided to fall back on skills I acquired as a kid on the farm, taught by my grandfather. What you see here is the result of my hobby-crafting.
