My husband and I participated in the home study for Keurig when they were thinking of marketing them.... My opinion is that the convenience is nice but I actually think you can get better coffee from much cheaper brewers with hardly any more effort and I think it isn't necessary to pay that much for good coffee.....We are coffee lovers and I have brewers from very expensive down to reasonable ...The best coffee I make comes from a Mr. Coffee.....

You can also order the little plastic discs that fit into the top of used K cups to refill with your own coffee. They come with a little fan brush to help clean the filter in the used one. We ordered the 24 pack and refill with Folgers Black Silk and some flavored favorites. I stick a small square of scotch tape over the hole in middle for freshness and to keep form spilling dry grounds before use. Just make sure to let the filter cup dry completely before reusing. We have some that have been reused 10 or more times. Just turn the cup until the punched hole on bottom is lined up with needle. I marked edge of cup with marker for a while, but is just as easy to turn until it falls onto the needle! Ours at home was a gift, and I bought one for break room at work. Loving that quick cup with a little caramel machiatto creamer.....yum!

I just saw an advertizement for a new coffee maker by Hamilton beach it is a 2 in one it has the one cup type like the Keurig and the carafe type all in one. It is not one of the brew stations though since it does have a carafe. Two-Way Brewer (49980Z) I have to admit that is a very nice unit, if we had a use for the single cup type that would be a nice option. We always make a 12 cup pot and it gets used up, my husband drinks coffee all day. I drink one cup in the morning. I had one of those one cup type that had come out a while back that used the pods I used it once LOL I am sure it is packed up somewhere around here.

Annette -- I think I see the source of the confusion. There are three different models in the Moccamaster glass carafe line of coffee makers. These are the base KBG (the model I have), the KB, and the KBGV Select (the one you are looking at.) These differ a bit in how they work and how you fiddle with the brewing. It is a coffee nerd thing. The idea seems to be that slowing the water flow speed through a smaller amount of grounds and the steeping time-on-grounds and a lesser hot plate temperature will give fuller flavor and/or a customized flavor profile when making less-than-full pots. On the KBG model I have, the two switches on the side of the brew plate are simply an on-off switch and a switch that selects between two hot plate temperatures. For those who want to nerd-out and achieve their personal coffee flavor-profile-nirvanna for water- time-on-grounds, you simply pull the carafe back enough to release the regular drip stop. The drip stop is the thing that shuts off the flow from the brewing basket so you can pour a cup while brewing is still going on. So, when you get your extra 30 seconds or whatever of steeping time for what you think is your perfect flavor profile, you just push the pot back into position which releases the drip stop so that the brewed coffee again flows from the basket into the pot. On the KBGV model (the one that you are looking at and which can be had in colors), the two switches on the side of the base plate are the on-off switch and a switch that lets you select between brewing a full pot or half pot. The latter selector automatically adjusts the water's "time on grounds" by adjusting the water flow to the basket and, IIRC, closing the drip stop for a specific time (which I think might be 30 seconds) so that more time is given for steeping when less grounds are used for the half pot. The second switch on the base plate of the KBGV model also drops the hot plate temperature for half carafes in order to avoid over-cooking the smaller amount of coffee during the slower fill. If you want to be nerdily precise with steeping time with some amount of coffee between full and half pots or for less than a half pot, you resort to the manual procedure for the KBG model and experiment until you find the steeping time for your perfect flavor profile. The Moccamaster KB model is for those nerds/experts who know exactly how many extra seconds they need for their personal coffee-nirvana preferences. The second switch on the base plate simply selects the hot plate temperature (as on the KBG) and does not control the water flow or drip-stop (unlike the KBGV). For controlling the drip-stop and steeping time, there is a manual drip-stop slider on the left side of the brew basket. The manual drip stop allows those so-inclined to increase the water's steeping time on the grounds. Longer times increase the extraction. This is a thing for coffee nerds with stop watches who prefer a different and stronger brew and/or different "flavor profile" than you get with the automated brew times designed into the KBGV machine. Does that help?