BLACK+DECKER CM1160B vs Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker

Two cups of the same coffee, two very different machines around it. These budget drip makers share the spec sheet down the middle. Both pour a 12-cup glass carafe. Both run a 24-hour programmable timer, both add pause-and-serve, a water-level window, and a washable filter basket. Neither has brew strength control, so the coffee itself comes out roughly the same from each. That matters, because it strips the decision down to hardware. You aren’t weighing flavor settings or carafe upgrades here. The real fork is how long the pot stays hot versus how the machine is built and how much counter it eats. Get those two trade-offs straight and the pick almost makes itself.

BLACK+DECKER wins on the practical edges. The CM1160B measures 12.3 x 8.3 x 11.0 inches, a smaller footprint than the Mr. Coffee in every dimension. Height is the one that counts. At 11.0 inches it slides under most upper cabinets, where the Mr. Coffee’s 13.8-inch frame often won’t fit without pulling the machine forward to brew. The Duralife glass carafe is rated to take thermal shock from rinsing and reheating, and the front water window lets you fill to the exact cup line before you start. Then there’s the warranty. The CM1160B carries 2 years of coverage against the Mr. Coffee’s 1. On a sub-budget drip maker the warming plate or heating element is usually the first part to fail, so that second year of coverage is the most concrete advantage on either side of this matchup.

Mr. Coffee answers with one number that matters in daily use. Its warming plate runs for 4 hours before auto-shutoff, twice the CM1160B’s 2-hour cutoff. Brew a full 12-cup pot at breakfast and the last mug is still hot near lunch, with no trip to the microwave. The Grab-A-Cup auto pause stops the stream so you can sneak an early cup, and Brew Now or Later schedules a pot up to a day out. Those are the same tricks the CM1160B calls Sneak-A-Cup and 24-hour programming, just under different names. The lift-and-clean basket pops straight out for rinsing, the same chore the rival asks of you. Its glass carafe sits a touch taller to match the larger body, and the water window runs up the side so you can read the fill level at a glance. Across capacity, carafe material, timer, and pause-and-serve, these two are dead even on paper, which is exactly why the keep-warm gap carries the decision.

If you brew once and graze the pot across the morning, the Mr. Coffee’s 4-hour keep-warm is the spec you’ll feel every day. Picture a home office or a two-person household where the carafe gets poured at 7, again at 9, and once more near 11. By that last cup the CM1160B has already cut its plate at the 2-hour mark, leaving you to reheat. The Mr. Coffee is still holding temperature. Flip the routine, though, and the math flips with it. If you brew, fill a travel mug, and walk out, the warming plate never gets a chance to matter. In that case the shorter body, smaller footprint, and longer 2-year warranty push the BLACK+DECKER ahead.

Buy the CM1160B if counter space is tight or you plan to keep the machine for years. Its 11-inch height and 12.3 x 8.3-inch base suit cramped kitchens and dorm shelves under cabinets, and the 2-year warranty outlasts the Mr. Coffee’s by a full year. Choose the Mr. Coffee if your pot sits out and gets sipped slowly, where the 4-hour warming plate doubles your hot-coffee window. Households that drain a 12-cup carafe in one sitting won’t notice either gap, since the keep-warm timer and the cabinet clearance both stop mattering once the pot is empty and put away. For them the two are close enough to decide on color and which one fits the spot on the counter. One last tiebreaker: if you tend to forget the machine is on, the BLACK+DECKER’s earlier 2-hour shutoff is the quieter safety net, while the Mr. Coffee trades that for the longer warm hold. A small office where one person brews and refills through the afternoon leans toward the 4-hour plate, since it keeps that pot serviceable until the last late cup. A single morning round at home leans the other way, where the shorter cutoff and smaller body do the job. Pick the behavior that matches your kitchen and you’ll be happy with either pour.