This Keurig K-Elite is an upgrade for us from the most basic version Keurig and we are enjoying using all the features. Right out of the box you will need to soak the filter and insert it into the water reservoir. Run the test hot water through the machine to make sure everything is working correctly and to remove any particles that might have gotten into the machine during manufacturing and shipping. Now you are ready to fill the water tank (which is a generous 75 ounce capacity) and make a cup of coffee. A sample box of five coffees and one hot chocolate are included with the machine so you can brew a treat as soon as you finish setting up the machine.

There is a programmable feature with this machine if you want to brew one cup at a specific time. The water reservoir has a blue light in it which is very handy to see the level of water and to remind you that the machine is still on. The Keurig automatically turns off after two hours of no activity. This K-Elite will utilize cups and mugs in sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 ounces. If you remove the drip tray plate you can put a large travel mug under the dispenser. There is a control to brew the coffee stronger even though you are using standard K-cup pods and it actually works. You can't set this feature and forget it, though, you have to press the "strong" button for each cup. You can select the hot water temperature for between 187 and 192 degrees. This comes in handy for dispensing hot water for some teas which have a water temperature requirement.

Keurig K-Elite is a sleek, modern look machine for making single serves of coffee, tea or hot chocolate using the pod method. Non-Keurig pods do work with this machine as long as they are the same height and width as the Keurig pods. Shorter, wider pods from other pod brewing machines will not work. We also use a non-disposable pod with a tiny paper filter in order to use ground coffee. These items are available for purchase on this website. I have brewed iced coffee in a tall travel mug to great success because of the 12 ounce setting. I've also used this K-Elite for hot water for cups of hot chocolate (non-pod) and for instant oatmeal. The only negative comment we have to make is that this new machine still makes as much noise as the old one did while brewing. At least we were prepared for it and didn't wonder if there was something wrong.

Such a pleasure. Makes a great quality brews + more, with very little effort to use the extra features.

I'd expected this much from a Keurig, to be able to easily operate this brushed silver K-Elite machine, after learning what it is all about. I programmed the time, the altitude, and the temperature of the water, which I've kept set lower for good reason. I do not like my beverages to burn my tongue, but it is nice that I have this choice. These particular settings are available with a combination of the button with the gear icons, and the up/down arrow buttons. This was fun to figure out for me, since I usually dislike any learning curve if it is too steep, considering what features I will be getting out of the effort. The instructions are very clear, which is novel.

There are many sizes of drinks you can make with your K-Cups, and the fact that we are using the conventional, and widely-available pods, is quite handy. 4, 6, 8, 10oz hot and strong if desired; 12oz iced; simple hot water in the first 4 sizes. I am struck by all of these choices for such a reasonable price. My old-style original Keurig was less expensive, but it was basic. This one even tells you when to descale, along with the other features.

I was almost able to use this machine right out of the box in just a few minutes, if you don't count the filter preparation. I had a really hard time opening the filter carriage, and when my husband got home he got it figured out right away, with very little effort. That is why we are a good team. There is a trick to it, pressing the side buttons, and pushing the tabs, sliding them outward, and away. The filter is soaked in water for 5 minutes, then it is placed inside the carriage, which then can be closed again, and snapped down into the bottom of the nice generous water reservoir. I use my lucky bottled water since I have a poor water supply, being that our pipes are very old, and mid century. The directions says no distilled water is to be used. I usually keep the reservoirs clean, free from deposits, and I leave no residue of soap if I do use it. The reservoir is lit up, and it blinks when it is not filled.

Once you set your programming, this is a no-brainer to learn quickly how to navigate the controls, at least for me. I find that it is a quiet machine compared to my older one. The drink sizes are quite accommodating, and for these, I do not feel as though this machine overfills my cup-sizes, as my other one does.

I am very happy with the quality of the brew, and it is the early morning before the sun comes up. It is the hottest temperature ever, at this time of year, and at the moment I am enjoying iced coffee with a tad bit of Stevia, as it is 81 degrees in the early Spring in a coastal state. I am so partial to the donut shop brand K-Cups for this brew, all of the other types, strengths, brands are very nice, and the variety is great. I have had coffee, hot chocolate, brewed tea, iced coffee, iced tea, and tea from tea bags and hot water. There is a nice sampling of some great flavors and strengths as a starter pack that comes with this purchase. The K-Cups I get from the grocery store are in quite an array of choices, so this is my preferred coffee machine. I know, if you are concerned with recycling, there are solutions. Just do a search on the internet.

The instructions, again, are well-put-together, and the warnings must be observed. I am very pleased with this choice!

Enjoy!

Only had this a few weeks but, I'm very happy with this new Keurig. Hopefully it lasts longer than my Keurig 2.0! I love that it has a 12 oz cup option.

Replaced a more expensive Keurig K575 with this model. The K575 was incredibly slow, the assembly complicated poorly constructed, very difficult to clean, and routinely lost settings. The K-Elite is a sturdy assembly. much is shielded from the coffee and hot water stream and cleaning and service is easy.

The controls are much easier to use; push the button for cup size rather than scroll through a digital display to make selections and there is a better selection like coffee temp, strength, ice coffee brewing, etc. The K-Elite is a measured three times faster when brewing coffee.

This K-Elite brewer was brought into the household to allow me to take our previous old faithful K-cup brewer to work to replace a dead Keurig Vue brewer (that I had been using with a K to V adapter). That Vue brewer died when it triggered an overheating condition that it would not come back from. Given the relative failure of the Vue system to gain traction in becoming the true next generation of K-cup style brewing, I really wasn't that badly broken up about that machine quitting on me. On the other hand, if the K-cup brewer at home were to fail to function correctly, it could lead to a full on meltdown by my coffee addicted spousal unit, so anything that I put in at home must be reliable.
When I first got this new unit and went through the setup, I wound up failing on that reliability requirement. I'm a guy and in order to keep my guy card I have to try to do the setup without looking at instructions, no? It can't be that tough, especially not considering that the documentation that is included with this is sparse at best (yes, I did look at it). It really wasn't that tough, but... the options that must be set for the auto-on and auto-off feature are NOT necessarily as clear as they should be. For the first day or so of having this K-Elite brewer the options were set to turn off automatically leaving someone to wait impatiently for the unit to turn back on and be ready for brewing again. Not a good thing when she who has not had coffee must have it before the morning will be civil.
That failure sent me looking back through the documentation to try to figure out how I may have gotten the setup wrong. The sparse documentation did kind of, sort of, maybe, point me in the right direction but they were less than as clear as I would have hoped. A few more words and a few more pictures would be useful and perhaps lead to less of a problem or potential problem for users. It was possible to turn off the auto-on and auto-off feature and I have done that, leaving the brewer ready 24x7. Pretty much a necessity in my home.
On the other features for this brewer - this is a newer brewer by far when compared to our old faithful. The old brewer did no employ the newer label reading technology that this newer unit does. On this unit failing to use an "authorized" K-cup can cause problems and frustrate users. I wish that Keurig had never opted to use this anti-competitive approach, but as someone that does purchase my K-cups off the shelf in stores, I've not really had any problems with using the cups that I have.
Spousal unit was initially slowed in using this K-Elite in one particular area - simple hot water dispensing. On the old brewer you simply lifted the lid, left out the K-cup, and then closed the lid and pushed the button for whatever size cup you wanted. It then dispensed hot water and you were done. On this new K-Elite brewer you can still get a cup of Hot water but you have to press a button for that first, then press the cup size button. You don't just open and close the lid as before. It isn't that big of a deal, just something you get used to that wasn't there on older models.
I have one other negative with this unit compared to the older model - the tray that holds the cup/mug on this unit seems less stable or less likely to stay firmly in place compared to the older tray system. It is functional, but seems to be an area that was better before and should simply have been left as is.
On the positive side, this unit does brew up K-cup beverages as it should, in a nice variety of sizes. It also offers up a feature that had been in the Vue series - "stronger" brewing. If you are looking for a bit more strength in your brew that can be a nice thing to have.
All told, this is a 4 star item for me. I like it, but don't think it is perfect.