Owly Rating

61/100

Appearance 15
Features 12
Performance 15
Health & safety 7
Price to value 12

Bottom line

This Keurig Duo review comes for a fairly new coffee maker, available on Amazon with free shipping (a programmable version) and at Walmart (K-Duo Essentials is not programmable). Keurig Duo is an innovative machine in the Keurig portfolio, though Hamilton Beach has been selling a similar machine for a couple of years now. Keurig K-Duo incorporates a single cup (k-cup) and a carafe (ground coffee). Made with plastic, comes in a fashionable black design. It’s super easy and convenient to use, with only 5 buttons to control the machine. When I bought the Keurig Duo, I also received two boxes of K-cups to help me get started on my Keurig journey. However, we feel that the price-to-value is very low. The coffee maker is very expensive for fairly basic features.

This product can be perfect for

Keurig fans who enjoy using K-cups but who like the idea of being able to use coffee grounds to brew larger quantities of coffee for their family or guests.

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Why choose Keurig Duo over others?

This is an innovative product that brings two coffee makers in one. I can use both K-cups and coffee grounds, and I can choose between brewing one cup of coffee and a whole carafe.

Here are some distinct features of Keurig Duo coffee machine:

  • Multi-functional coffee maker allowing to brew a single cup (k-cup) and a carafe (coffee grounds)
  • Easy and convenient to use (very few buttons to push)
  • Fairly customizable volume
  • Strong brand behind this coffee maker

Who is Keurig Duo perfect for?

As I was testing the product for this Keurig Duo review, I really wanted to understand who would most likely fall in love with this product.

I feel that Keurig Duo can be a compelling choice for those who are looking for:

BRAND NEW Keurig coffee maker

Multi-functional coffee maker that allows flexibility to brew a single cup or a full carafe

Families and individuals who value a prominent brand in the coffee maker space

K-cup compatibility

Who is Keurig Duo NOT perfect for?

Just like with other coffee maker reviews, I would love to remain honest in this Keurig Duo review. I think that there are a couple of examples where where Keurig Duo might not be a perfect choice:

Low budget

An advanced coffee machine with sophisticated features

Plastic-free machine

Keurig Duo Review and Evaluation 🕵️

→ Appearance

Owly Rating

15/20

Keurig Duo is made primarily of plastic. It comes in one fashionable black color option. Though bulky and hefty, the unit itself is quite lightweight (about 8 lbs) and fits on my countertop alright.

I was really excited when I got my own model for this Keurig Duo review. My coffee machine was made mainly of plastic and had a minimalist, but very fashionable black design. The front of the machine featured two ways of brewing coffee: single serve and drip coffee maker.

On the left side, there was a drip coffee maker. I was able to brew coffee using coffee grounds. On the right side, there was a single serve portion, which I used to brew coffee with the use of k-cups.

The control panel was fairly straightforward and featured only 5 buttons:

  • 2 buttons to choose either a single cup or a carafe, and
  • 3 buttons to choose size. I was able to choose between 8, 10 or 12 cups for a carafe, or 8 oz, 10 oz, or 12 oz for a single cup. The Cup and Carafe buttons also had ON/OFF functions (if pressed for several seconds).

This coffee maker came with a sizable 60oz removable water reservoir, which was affixed to the back of the machine.

→ Features and technical specs

Owly Rating

12/20

The primary advantage of Keurig Duo is the ability to brew a single cup and a carafe. Comes with some basic features such as strength control, but lacked in more sophisticated features to brew coffee to my liking. Keurig K-Duo is very similar to the Hamilton Beach FlexBrew, which has been in the market for several years now. It also offers a carafe and single cup brewing, but appears to be at a better price.

Voltage: Keurig K-Duo is made for 120V, and can be used in Canada and the US only.

Basket size: This machine is compatible with k-cups and coffee grounds to brew coffee. It does not come with a permanent filter for the coffee grounds basket, but it can fit a flat-bottom, paper filter that is compatible with a 12-cup coffee maker. Keurig recommended that I should use one tablespoon of ground coffee per cup and that I shouldn’t put in the basket more than 15 tablespoons of ground coffee at a time. Exceeding this amount may cause an overflow.

Beverage size: A single serve part allowed me to choose between 8 oz, 10 oz and 12 oz of coffee. The drip coffee maker brewed 8 cups, 10 cups or 12 cups at once.

Weight: When I was preparing this Keurig K-Duo review, I was expecting a super heavy and bulky coffee maker. I was pleasantly surprised that it weighted only about 8 pounds. This was much lighter than expected, given the size of the coffee maker.

Unit size: The unit itself is indeed bulky, and fairly similar to other coffee makers that incorporate both a single serve (k-cup) and a drip coffee maker (a carafe). It was about 12 inches in width, 13 inches in depth and about 13 inches in height. Unlike other coffee machines, this one seemed to be well design. The k-cup portion only slightly opened up, thus taking up another 2 inches of space. This was really convenient under my top cabinet.

Water reservoir: I loved the design of the water reservoir. When I filled it up with water, I was able to use it for both a single cup and a carafe. It saved me time and energy. The reservoir was about 60oz. I was able to remove it by pulling up, though it was quite difficult due to its heftiness.

Additional perks: I was so excited for this Keurig Duo Review. This is the first model in Keurig’s history that incorporates single serve (k-cups) and a carafe.

Keurig Duo allows to brew a cup and a carafe. The coffee machine comes with two ways of brewing coffee: with k-cups (for a single cup), and with coffee grounds (for a carafe).

The machine had an auto-off feature. This coffee maker shuts itself off automatically 1 minute after brewing a single cup of coffee. The heating plate shuts itself off 2 hours after brewing a carafe.

 Pause and pour feature allowed me to get a cup before the entire carafe has finished brewing. I feel like it can be a useful feature, but not super necessary. When I was using coffee grounds to brew my carafe, I was able to pause brewing for about 20 seconds to pour coffee into my cup.

In addition, there’s some other perks of this coffee maker. It comes with a 60oz water reservoir. My machine came with 2 boxes of k-pod cups, and a bag of Green Mountain ground coffee. Quite delicious!

However, the feature set was somewhat disappointing. Throughout the entire Keurig Duo review, I was bummed about the following:

  • the K-Duo Essentials (Walmart version) was not fully programmable (but a more expensive Amazon’s K-Duo is fully programmable)
  • there did not seem to be a water filter
  • the carafe was made with thin glass

I feel like Keurig could have done better.

→ Performance

Owly Rating

15/20

Keurig Duo was on par with some other single serve coffee makers, though took a while to brew a single cup.

Brewing time: I was surprised about the brewing time. It took about 2-3 minutes to brew one cup of coffee (in the single serve portion). This is slightly longer than other Keurig and non-Keurig single serve coffee makers compatible with k-cups. The carafe took about 10 minutes to fill up, which is on par with other machines.

Flavor: I felt that coffee brewed in Keurig Duo was quite good. I felt that K-Elite or K-Cafe brewed better, but Keurig Duo did its job fine. Interestingly, I felt that 12-cup carafe AND a 12-oz cup were typically weaker than smaller volumes.

Temperature: Keurig Duo did not allow me to control the temperature of the brew. In my tests, the water reached about 180 F degrees, which is slightly below the perfect brewing temperature. Keurig recommends that the mug and the brewer should go through a cleansing-brew process prior to brewing. This way, the coffee is supposed to reach higher temperatures and might stay hot for longer.

Noise levels: There were no remarkable noises coming from the machine. It performed similarly to others. There was a small winding noise, but this was nothing unusual.

Cleaning: Keurig recommends that the machine is descaled every 3 to 6 months. I personally found the machine to be OK to clean. Assembling and disassembling different parts was a little challenging (especially to put it together afterwards).

Customer-reported technical issues

After publishing this Keurig Duo review, we have received a lot of feedback from Keurig Duo users. Our readers reported a plethora of problems with the coffee maker. You can read their opinions on Keurig Duo coffee maker underneath. Here is the snapshot of issues they have reported:

  • Cheap plastic
  • Very basic coffee maker at a high price
  • Stops working after 2-3 months
  • Not brewing a desired amount of coffee
  • Shuts off for no reason
  • Single serve side not working correctly

I have not experienced any major breakdowns while testing and using the product. There are a couple of challenges with the product though:

  • The add-water indicator comes on way too early, when water reservoir is still 1/3rd full
  • Made with cheap-looking plastic

→ Health and safety

Owly Rating

7/20

I appreciate Keurig’s efforts in the BPA-free area. However, I am disappointed that Keurig puts so much plastic in their coffee makers.

I was disappointed in Keurig Duo. As I was preparing the review, I tried to research what the product is made of.

On one hand, Keurig claims that all the plastic its coffee machines and K-pods are made of, is FDA approved and BPA free, and hence, safe to use.

On the other, the practice showed me that Keurig Duo is made mostly with plastic (and, unfortunately cheaply-made plastic). Whether it is BPA-free or not, this plastic comes into direct contact with scorching hot water. As you may know by now, I am personally very concerned about using products in which boiling water touches plastic.

The BPA-free status is helpful to know, but it typically does not guarantee that there are no other potentially dangerous substitutes used in the production process.

Reports show that many manufacturers replace BPA with other types of plastic. These types include but are not limited to BHPF (fluorene-9-bisphenol), TPP (triphenyl phosphate), and bisphenol S (BPS). The exact health effects of the BPA substitutes, such as BHPF, TPP and BPS, are unknown at this point.

Keurig does not publish information what kind of materials or chemicals are used, so I am not able to verify.

Further, I strongly recommend that anyone who thinks about purchasing a machine that uses K-cups should first do a thorough research on the health and environmental concerns that have been associated with the use of K-cup brewers and coffee pods over the years.

→ Price to value: is Keurig Duo worth the money?

Owly Rating

12/20

Selling in a $$-$$$ price range, Keurig Duo is a bit more expensive than its competitors. I liked the coffee maker, but felt that the price was a bit too high. This is especially given that features were not super advanced. A very similar coffee maker, Hamilton Beach FlexBrew, tends to appear at a more competitive price.

At present, Keurig Duo sells at a couple of stores, including Amazon and Walmart. The price tag is at $$ for a non-programmable version of K-Duo Essentials at Walmart. Amazon carries a very similar product, K-Duo, which sells in a $$$-$$$$ price point, but is programmable.

Overall, the cost seems a bit higher than other coffee makers featuring a single serve and a drip coffee in one unit. The retail price might be reasonable for individuals like using K-cups but would also like to have the flexibility of coffee grounds.

However, the retail price seems a bit high given that the product does not have some of the more standard features such as programmability or temperature control. In my opinion, price-to-value ratio is neat, but not great.

Should I buy Keurig Duo? Owly’s verdict! 🔨

As I attempted to show in this Keurig Duo review, this is an innovative coffee machine that may look attractive to Keurig lovers. It might be nice to have the flexibility of both k-cups and coffee grounds in one machine. It can also a great option for those who want to be able to brew not only a whole carafe, but also a single cup of coffee.

Personally, I am a bit put off by what I perceive to be lacking features. For such an innovative product like Keurig Duo, I was expecting an advanced appliance with full programmability and temperature control. Sadly, for $$, Keurig did not show off.

Nevertheless, I still think that Keurig lovers may really enjoy this machine for its functionality and convenience.

Will you get Keurig Duo? What was your experience with Keurig Duo? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, under this Keurig Duo review!

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