I'm not particular at all about looks really, although that Krups linked above is pretty dang nice looking for a coffeemaker! I'm thinking black/stainless so it matches appliances. Our coffeemaker and toaster were both from Walmart. I paid $5 for the coffeemaker on clearance and $7 for the toaster. They started out white, now the toaster is yucky yellow around the slots and has scuffs that don't come clean. The coffeemaker still comes clean, but coffee on a white coffeemaker cannot be ignored for a considerable amount of time. I think it gurgles and sputters coffee out while it's going, because I wipe the stupid thing off every day, and when I get it out, there are more spots. Times and clocks aren't important. We don't use a timer now, because I put it away every day. We're hitting the time of year now where everything with a digital clock in our house is off because the power flickers at least once or twice a week, or daily when it gets even hotter. linelle- I agree about ugly toasters. The toaster isn't important enough to me to perform flawlessly, form over function here. Just make the bread crispier than when it went in and don't burn down my kitchen and look decent in the process. I'm not really that particular about my coffee either. I don't drink it for the taste, I drink it so I can function before noon and I like the smell when I open the container. We're not serious coffee drinkers. Folgers is good enough for us.

They look great, now. But in 10 years they will probably look dated -- or worse, break. Then what do you do? You can build in an oven and replace it when it wears out with an oven that will fit the same hole - because wall ovens come in standard sizes. But coffeemakers do not. There is no guarantee that even Dacor will make a coffemaker 10 years from now that will exactly fit the hole in your cabinet. You are just asking for trouble. Nor does it necessarily make better coffee. If you want a coffee bar, build in a tiled (corianed?, silestoned?, granited?) recess and put your stand alone, replacable coffee maker in that. You can even run a small faucet into the recess for handy water-- but if you do, also add a drain for the certain-to-come day when you overfill and water goes everywhere -- or worse yet, the kids decide to see what happens if.

>... has such unit, but I don't know how great the coffee is. If I were debating whether to do an in cabinet coffee machine, I'd spend a full Saturday going around to the showrooms of the brands and models I was considering, and doing real live taste tests using the (showroom demo) machines. Bring your own coffee of course, and maybe even your own tap water (this may be a bit over the top), and a few friends to get a mix of opinions. I'll add one more comment, which is totally my own opinion. A countertop appliance with water and/or drain plumbing connections, is where I'd draw the line and say such an arrangement should be in cabinet/built in. If the appliance did not have the plumbing connections then it's ok as a stand alone counter top appliance. My pet peeve here is the water and or drain connection would make the appliance, as great as it looks (in the above picture), be almost permanent in a specific counter top location. You'd be sacrificing prime counter top space to an almost permanent machine. So if you're going make the device tethered like that, go all the way and put it in a cabinet, or alternatively in a cabinet niche with a slide out bottom surface with permanent cabinetry on both sides plus above or below.

The manufacturer pedestals all are meant to be bolted to the machine, so you can slide the entire unit out if needed to service or access the back. Basic pedestals have large drawers where you can store supplies, or even use as hampers. Fancier pedestals can include another washing machine (see LG sidekicks). Whether on pedestals or not, I find almost all front loaders too tall to fold laundry on top, but you could still use a shelf above for more storage if you wanted. With your own built pedestals you would still want to bolt the machines onto the pedestals as a safety issue (and to protect your machines and floors from the machine smashing down). So you would want to make sure they can take the shaking and flex, and you would need to unbolt to move them and it would be even more work to take them off. I have seen them done many times, but just things to be aware of. Oh, and the times I have seen them done they were more solid boxes - I’d be concerned about the durability of “open” pedestals, or if it would affect the machine warranties since it is not a solid platform. But for space savings stackables are nice. I have a laundry room with side by side washer and dryer on the manufacturers matching pedestals on my second floor (no problem reaching controls or soap trays from standing) but I put stackables in my mudroom to have a second laundry on main floor near kitchen and garage entry. I am 5’4” and don’t have difficulty reaching into the dryer tub on top without a stool - and the tub lights up and it is not that deep that things go missing in there :) i would not put cabinet in between machines. Far less convenient to move set laundry to the dryer, and exposes the cabinet to more moisture.