Don't be fooled by the cheap price tag. In the case of the Proctor Silex 12 cup coffee maker (48575) you get exactly what you pay for; a coffee maker; a very basic coffee maker.

Don't get me wrong, if you plug the Proctor Silex in and fill it with water and its filter basket with coffee grounds and turn it on you will get coffee. But that is all you will get, so don't bother using top-of the line coffee, because it will taste just the same as off-the-shelf. There is no means of flavor capture, so there is no flavor differential.

The Protcor Silex does not instill confidence in the consumer from the time you pull it off the shelf. It's not the inexpensive price tag that causes the concern, but rather the weight of the machine itself, or rather its lack of weight that is the first indicator that this is not your top of the line machine. Without water in its well you could move the Proctor Silex across the counter with a strong breeze, and closing the filter basket takes a degree in engineering that the average coffee drinker does not possess seeing as that there are no indicating marks or bumps to suggest which way the coffee filter should be positioned in order for the lid to close. But its questionability does not end with its flimsy construction.

The Proctor Silex has a number of bells and whistles that belay its questionability. It has a programmable clock, which is very difficult to reset once it has been set the first time. It has a brew strength selector which I have tried, but which seems to make exactly the same strength of coffee each time, and it has a two our automatic shut off, which means that three hours after you've made the pot and decide that you really do want that second cup of coffee, that you go down to find the coffee with a skin of oil across the top.

The Proctor Silex's one redeeming feature is its auto pause and serve, which means that you can fill your mug before the pot has finished brewing without the risk of making a mess.